Tag: Seon Williams

5 Good Reasons To See Innes Lloyd: A Bond Among Us

5. The Duo: Innes Lloyd: Innes Lloyd have been performing their brand of nerdy homages at the Melbourne Comedy Festival since 2015. Starting as an improv duo with Innes Lloyd Men of Your Dreams, they have evolved into spinners of genre-bending yarns. In 2017, they incorporated every adaptation of the Jules Verne classic Journey to the Centre of the Earth into a rollicking hour show. Innes Lloyd adapted Dracula in 2019 and wrote and performed an original sequel, Mina Harker Monster Doctor in 2021, both featuring the wonderful Jennifer Speirs as Mina. In between festivals, they are seen doing one-off tribute shows celebrating nerdy anniversaries such as the 40th anniversary of The Muppet Movie‘s release and the 50th birthday of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

4. The Venue: The Butterfly Club is a bustling hub of exciting, alternative comedy. There are tonnes of amazing shows throughout the festival. Why not get a drink at the fabulous cocktail bar and plonk yourself down for an evening and enjoy the names-before-they-become-names.

3. The Story: Everyone has done parodies and comedy shows satirising James Bond for decades. Nobody needs to see another pseudo-Austin Powers cabaret. A Bond Among Us instead explores the life of the villains. Why does a person become a Henchman? Is it just the money? Or is it a devotion? In this show, we explore the rise and fall of Upper Hand, a henchman who grew up with one sole purpose: to kill James Bond.

2. The Fabulous Cast: Joining Innes Lloyd for this show are Seon Williams and Louisa Fitzhardinge. Seon is a brilliant theatre, television and film actor who has come straight from Scott Middleton’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to lead this production as our lead character: the Henchman Upper Hand. Louisa is a talented singer, actor and improviser who is no stranger to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Her solo show, Comma Sutra, was nominated for Best Cabaret at the Perth World Fringe Festival. She can be seen in the long running improvised mystery play at the Butterfly Club: Murder Village.

1. The Best Nerdy Alternative To Stand Up: Do you enjoy cinematic homages? Do you enjoy learning Fun Facts? Are you looking for a fun evening without being yelled at or belittled for sitting in the front row by some guy in a flannelette shirt? Then this is the show for you!

Innes Lloyd perform A Bond Among Us at The Butterfly Club Apr 11-17 at 7pm

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2022/shows/a-bond-among-us

Dr. Duck – General Quacktitioner

By Colin Flaherty
Dr Duck
After a triumphant debut at last years’ festival, Dr Duck (Andrew Keen, Seon Williams, Ross Purdy, Olivia Solomons, Jon Walpole and Eidann Glover) are back with another hour of sketch madness. Sinister fishermen, an inept James Bond, bureaucratic Neanderthals and an educational piece of fruit are some of the crazy characters we meet in this amusing smorgasbord of scenes.

As with most sketch comedy the quality varies with each scenario but there are enough great ideas to keep you amused over the hour. Some are single joke premises that form a series of recurring jokes with a tepid punchline. One sketch is blatantly signposted as filler but despite being full of clever meta references it does exactly what it says on the tin. Other scenes go on a bit long and the punchlines aren’t quite as punchy as they could be. The upshot is that the journey usually contains plenty of hilarious lines, eye-rolling puns and wacky concepts to keep interest up and laughs rolling.

This is broad comedy and the cast sell the material hard; projecting to the back row and exaggerating all gestures and vocal inflections. It’s always great seeing performers exude their enthusiasm to the audience to make sure everyone has a great time. Purdy is less theatrical in his performance than the others but the oddball roles he is given are appropriate for his delivery style and have plenty of wacky dialogue to carry them.

The cast build their worlds using minimal props and lots of mime which works a treat. Transitions between scenes are pleasingly brisk and the choice of music accompanying the blackouts are cheekily related to the preceding sketch for an added giggle.

General Quacktitioner is a solid offering from this young sketch troop. I’m sure they’ll have enough interested in this fun hour to come back next year with another Anatidae/Medical pun title.

General Quacktitioner is on at The Tickle Pit until April 9
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/the-duck-will-see-you-now