Jack Druce : Adventure Peach

By Alanta Colley
>

Jack Druce is a decent, upright, sort of fellow. As he points out he has an uncanny resemblance to the archetypal wholesome 1950’s boy as depicted in American adverts for Coca Cola or a diner. One couldn’t imagine such a figure having any less than pure thoughts and ambitions.

Playing off this archetype Druce examines the concepts of bravery and adventure; synonymous with the boy hero of Tin Tin and other comics of Druce’s youth. What does bravery mean in a modern day context? How does one imbue adventure in their day to day lives? There’s comedy in the contrast between Druce’s confessed passion for bravery and adventure and his gentle on stage persona.

Druce tells the tales of love that didn’t quite eventuate, and the perils of dating. He compares the ideals of being the sort of person who can talk to complete strangers, with the outcomes of run ins with the world’s more eccentric characters in public. Rather than hunting baddies or discovering buried treasure; Druce’s adventures tend to be more about what he finds in a refrigerator, job opportunities he finds on Gumtree, missing something live on the internet, or discovering the rules you’ve been playing a game by your whole life aren’t universally accepted.

This show holds plenty an anecdote, and the self aware Druce reflecting on how the situations he finds himself in look like to an outside examiner. This is not dramatic or life changing comedy; Druce focuses more on the more tiny details of life than the snowy peaks. In this sense Druce’s comedy is quite relatable. This isn’t a big laugh show, but it is pleasant enough.

A gentle and genial night of comedy.

Adventure Peach is on at Trades Hall and Melb Town Hall until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/adventure-peach-jack-druce