Sarah Jones’ Magical History Tour

By Cathy Culliver

There’s really nothing to not like about Sarah Jones; she’s sweet, warm and engaging with a healthy dose of self-deprecation. And the lady is one fine ventriloquist.

Her latest show Sarah Jones’ Magical History Tour takes the audience through the history of ventriloquism while introducing a host of colourful characters along the way.

There’s Maxwell the magical parrot (who may or may not survive the show), the mermaid Helvetica and Dennis Hall the tennis ball, to name a few. Jones also manages to make one of the audience members her puppet, which makes for one of the funniest moments of the show.

If there is a criticism of this thoroughly enjoyable show, it would be that more material on the history on ventriloquism is needed; instead of it being the focus of the show as the title would suggest, Jones only devotes a small segment to it.

What material she does have, however, is as interesting as it is entertaining. For example, did you know that early ventriloquists didn’t use puppets at all? Instead they used their skills to trick people into thinking it was a spirit talking to them.

Jones also mentions that although it used to be a popular art form in the days of vaudeville, she is now one of only four ventriloquists left in the whole of Australia. It seems sad and a little alarming.

Given Jones has only been performing ventriloquism for two and a half years, we can only hope this talented performer keeps going from strength to strength and keeps this art form alive for some years to come.

 

Sarah’s Show has finished it’s season in Adelaide.

Marcel Lucont – Gallic Symbol

By Cathy Culliver

Marcel Lucont probably doesn’t even need anyone to review his show. He’s already a pretty vocal and enthusiastic supporter of himself. As he reminds the audience, if you enjoy his show, you are correct.

The suave Frenchman bills himself as a classic specimen of a man, irresistible to women and supremely talented in, well, everything. His new show Gallic Symbol opens with him singing “I’m so much better than you”, just in case you were, you know, having any initial doubts.

Monsieur Lucont is of course just a character played by UK native Alexis Dubus, but you could be forgiven for being duped into thinking this really is a Frenchman who really does think that much of himself.

Dubus has the character down pat; the clothes, the bare feet, the glass of red wine cradled in one hand … not to mention the general air of arrogance and disgust for everything that is not French. It’s all utterly convincing and completely hilarious.

And such is Dubus’ mastery of the French accent that at one point Marcel performs a mocking impersonation of an Englishman; if you bear in mind this is actually an Englishman impersonating a Frenchman impersonating an Englishman, that’s no mean feat.

The show itself is a mixture of songs, poetry and stand up, all seemingly to serve one purpose: to point out to the rest of the world where we’re all going wrong, and to tell us what we can learn from the French.

What’s amazing however is that Marcel Lucont still comes off a very likeable, dare I say even loveable, character. Maybe it’s his confidence, and his “f**k that” attitude to life. Nothing can rattle him, not even jumping out of a plane; he’s just too damn sophisticated and French for that.

This is a very funny, very clever show. Marcel Lucont is no doubt destined for great things (as I’m sure he also firmly believes) so make sure you catch him while he is still honouring us with his presence in Australia.

 

Marcel Lucont – Gallic Symbol  is on for the full run of the Adelaide Fringe Festival at Tuxedo Cat.
http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/marcel-lucont-gallic-symbol/bf2a286e-8a63-4ecd-8e30-77f70046e730