Look Out, It's The New Blak
The Age
Thursday May 4, 2006
COMEDY FESTIVAL REVIEW: NATIVES STRIKIN' BLAK *** Melbourne Town Hall, until May 7
THE Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Company returns to the Comedy Festival for the second consecutive year with a miscellany of gags.Having cast aside the subversive drag of Captain Cook, formidable local performer Lou Bennett does a great deal to unpack the Burke and Wills saga with humour. While her shift in prospect to this powerful story is laudable, and at times rather funny, I could have done without the poofter jokes.This comic reconstruction of two bungling white blokes lost in the bush, however, has much to commend it.John Harding strides through promising material and affords a stinging critique of Australian patriotic fervour. Dennis Fisher works an RSL floor-show schtick that certainly bears moments of great kitsch originality.Gorgeous youngster Coen Brown almost runs away with the show thanks to high camp, high energy and some very respectable writing.The night, however, belongs to a gent called Max McGuire. While some of the other acts are faintly tinged in their construction with a kind of committee aesthetic, McGuire stands alone as a stand-up who refuses to be disciplined. He is brutal, crass and blessed with a device that cannot be taught: comic timing.He's simultaneously adorable and scary. This cranky kitten feel never fails to make me laugh. McGuire is one to watch.This ensemble effort is certainly worth a long hard look.
© 2006 The Age