By Jayden Edwards
Pull up your socks, straighten that tie and prepare to sit up straight and speak only when spoken to, The Bedroom Philosopher (aka Justin Heazlewood) is taking us back to high school.
Off the back of some big airtime on triple j with his anti-hipster anthem “So Hungover”, a bundle of live touring, comedy festival shows and CD hits, Beddy Phil returns to the festival with his new show “High School Assembly”.
Upon walking into the Forum theatre, the audience is greeted by the musical stylings of school band “Sex on Toast”. The band are kitted out in the Croxton High School uniform and are, well, really bad. Yep, the high school band to the tee. This perfectly cringeworthy cover band sets the tone for the nights performance.
The familiar stiff high school principal leads proceedings from his lectern, introducing the barrage of high school stereotypes. The drama kids, the class clown, participation certificates and Rock Estedford performances all feature. The performances are spot on, so spot on it will have you flashing-back to your own school experience so fast, your mortarboard will spin.
Fan’s expecting to see The Bedroom Philosopher’s own musical comedy will be disappointed, as this is well and truly a ensemble cast play. Beddy Phil does appear as a “special guest of the school” to perform an educational (and unfortunately, not very funny) song but for most of the night, assumes the role of a hand-full of characters, accompanied by his sizeable cast.
There’s a heap of variety in the show, and there are some gems in there, like an perfectly awkward love ode and hilariously inappropriate Rock Estedford entry, but a lot of the acts fell well and truly flat.
The show achieves the feel of a high school assembly remarkably, but that’s just the problem. High School Assembly’s were not fun or entertaining. That’s not to say the show isn’t entertaining, but it could be so much better that it was.
The underlining problem with this show is that it doesn’t go far enough with it’s characters, less subtlety and more depth could have gone a long way.
An A for effort, but needs to apply himself more.
Bedroom Philosopher’s, The High School Assembly plays at the Forum Theatre.
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/high-school-assembly-bedroom-philosopher-s-the/