By Alanta Colley
Adelaide-born duo Gravity Boots unleash their most recent batch of exotic, surreal and enchanting sketch comedy on the unsuspecting audiences of Adelaide this Fringe. From Victorian starlets on the run from odd monsters, to macabre children’s television presenters, and on to defective and murderous androids, we meet a cacophony of demented characters each more obscure, sculpted, and strange than the last. Each sketch echoes the absurdism of ‘League of Gentleman’ and Kubrick, but takes the genre a step further, somehow creating a robust internal logic that you are momentarily immersed in, though find yourself shaking your head with confusion seconds after its conclusion. The effect is deranged delight.
The two augment their poetic ramblings with a bevvy of accents, props and poses, though are far from reliant on these. An inexplicable and prolonged costume change mid show only added to the peculiarity. In this particular show all the characters seem to embody varying degrees of femininity; but what that might mean is as clear as mud. The two work exceptionally well together; perfect co-authors in their illusory manifestation.
The duo, James Lloyd-Smith & Michael Cleggett, who’ve been crafting their unique art for several years now have really honed the finer aspects of performing in this show. They continue to create vivid and hallucinogenic characters on the most unpredictable adventures. Though since their run last year in Edinburgh, some time being mentored by Paul Foot and with the help of director legendary Adelaide surrealist comedian Steve Sheehan, they’ve established the occasional pause during their onslaught of complex and verbose prose to allow the audience time to reflect and really appreciate the absurdity of what they are witnessing. The effect has been a transition from the sort of theatre where you are holding on desperately to every word trying to elicit some sort of meaning, to art that you can absorb and appreciate all the more. It’s been fantastic to watch these two own their material in this way.
Prepare yourself for surrealist lashings of the erotic, the macabre, and the entirely unpredictable. You’ll remember this show long after you leave the theatre.
Gravity Boots – Can you believe we’re in a forest? is on from Feb 16 to March 16 at the Tuxedo Cat – Raj House
Details at the Adelaide Fringe Website: http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/gravity-boots-can-you-believe-were-in-a-forest/ad66b9bf-676a-4bfc-a997-bf85ffbbe464