By Annette Slattery .
What Rory Sheridan did, he did for love. And you won’t regret what he did for love.
So who is Rory Sheridan and how did he come to be the leader of an Antarctic Expedition. That is the story that David O’Doherty tells in Rory Sheridan’s Tales of the Antarctica.
Rory Sheridan is the son of a tent salesman who falls in love with Kate, the daughter of a long underwear salesman. It is Rory’s destiny to travel to the Antarctica to advertise the underwear of his lover’s family dynasty in order to win Kate’s fathers approval. From Ireland to Boston to Buenos Aries to Antarctica, a series of bizarre accidents leave Rory Sheridan in charge of the HMS Pelmet, a rabble of high risk sailors and an ever increasing slew of ‘pack cats’. Now Rory Sheridan must find a way to keep his crew occupied whilst the Pelmet is trapped in pack ice for two years and he must somehow figure a way out of his dire circumstances.
It is from some of the distractions that we get some of the greatest comic moments of the show as Sheridan invents some of the most popular group games that we know today. It is here that we also get my favourite phrase of the festival; “cat and kitten care”. Rory Sheridan’s diatribe of venomous hatred of penguins is another highlight. Of course pointing out highlights in this show is a bit like trying to identify the best bits of the world’s most delicious cake.
I’ve seen the DOD perform low key stand-up comedy, occasionally from atop a chair, I’ve seen him gently rock my world on his electric organ and I’ve seen him run around in his pyjamas with Maeve Higgins. Once I even saw a bit of his bum crack, but that’s another story. However none of that was as impressive as this, this captivatingly funny and deeply loveable character comedy.
David O’Doherty presents Rory Sheridan’s Tales of the Antarctica is on at the Melbourne Town Hall. There are two shows left in this short run, Sat 21 Apr 5pm, Sun 22 Apr 4pm