Presented by Offending Shadows. Tandanya Café. 24 Feb 2016.
Sound & Fury are a trio of… well, they’re orators, actors, singers (one of them is), comedians, writers, and all round sophisticated lovable idiots. They hail from the US of A and Adelaide Fringe audiences love ‘em – they are 3-time winners of the Adelaide People’s Choice Award. They’ve been coming to our shores for years and may they long continue to do so.
Richard welcomes the audience and asks for a show of hands of those who have been to a S&F show before. Quite a few hands go up, sometimes two from the same person because they think a Mexican Wave is about to happen. He then asks who has never been to a S&F show before, observing some more hands go up. Richard then asks who is seeing their first S&F show, and as almost all the same hands go up as for the previous question he mimes that alcohol might be their problem. It’s simple stuff, but it revs the audience up and we are already butter in the trio’s hands, ready for a fun night out.
Lord of the Thrones, as it’s title suggests, is a comedic and irreverent mash-up of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. If you know nothing about either of the well-known literary works, or you haven’t seen the films, don’t worry because it doesn’t matter a scrap, and by the end of the performance you’ll still be none the wiser!
There’s audience participation, but don’t let that put you off. Prior to curtain up, the trio choose a member of the crowd to become an integral part of the show – in fact the hero! Our hero is on stage the whole time, in costume, and with dialogue but its all recorded into a dizzying array of sound cues so there’s no learning. Hero just mouths anything when prodded by one of the trio and it’s oh so funny! However, a Fringe show with so much tech, a myriad of oh-so-funny costume changes, and a bizarre collection of hand properties is bound to go awry, and it did. Sound ‘died’ but the trio took it in their stride and gave a hilarious display of their ad lib skills while one of the number scurried to fix it up.
S&F can take such problems in their stride, and use it as an unscripted opportunity for even more humour; if that’s possible. They are a class act.
Kym Clayton
When: 24 Feb to 12 Mar
Where: Tandanya Cafe
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
