Cabaret
Casa Mondo, The Pleasure Garden January 3rd
I arrived late to Ballpoint Penguins. A trio of black-tied barbershop singers had already begun their comedic performance as I sat down on an uncomfortable plank of wood amongst a clustered audience of sandal wearing over 55’s. I looked around; I was certainly the youngest by at least twenty years. Thus, I thought that I would be well positioned to provide a contemporary perspective on the show I was to review.
The barbershop comprised the three part a cappella harmony of soprano (Colleen Dixon), alto (Kerry Egan), and Tim Fisher covering tenor and bass. They presented a collection of delightful musical numbers covering the bland suburban topics of Ikea shopping and Tupperware. The performance itself graced the satirical comedic style of Tom Lehrer, however, remained on the safe side of politics.
It was clear that the underlying theme to each song was circulated around the cynical view of the baby boomer generation living in modern Australia. They drew reference to ‘70s style dinner parties and being able to ride a bike helmetless down the coast of WA – something you cannot do anymore, apparently. Notably, the song ‘Let’s Thank the Government’ featured lyrics discussing how Australia once was carefree and idealistic, which became a nation of fear and lightning speed information, something the penguins do not approve of. The penguins attempted to appeal to those of an older kind, performing material that the almost-retired can relate to, in which I believe they were very successful: ‘hell’ was replaced by ‘heck’, ‘shit’ was replaced by ‘shite’, and the act of foreplay was replaced with the sexier, vacuuming and washing dishes. This would be something that popular Fringe performers would be amazed by.
The songs featured phrases including, “my kid is 28 and still has not moved out yet” and “we know it’s unpopular to like white bread and iceberg lettuce, but we love it”, each one more old-fashioned sounding than the last. Each song was a witty love letter for the past. As I turned around to look at the audience I realised the penguins brought older folk together as they sat laughing at some joke I might be too young to understand.
Ballpoint Penguins runs from Thursday the 5th of February until Friday the 6th of February. You can find tickets on the Fringe World site here.
