Comedy Soba Stadium, The Noodle Palace February 5th
With seats packed, slideshow primed and Confederate flag draped upon the lectern at Noodle Palace’s Soba Stadium (a.k.a. Central Tafe’s lecture theatre), Murder in Mississippi feels every part a deep-South true-crime detective’s briefing. Australian documentarian, comedian and writer John Safran, with his trademark style of prank-journalism, tells the tale of his Capote-esque travels to Mississippi solve a baffling murder case – or at least try to.
Not unlike his previous television broadcasts in which he explores the sensitive topics of religion and race with tongue-in-cheek sincerity, Murder in Mississippi is a look behind the scenes of the immaculate conception and execution of Safran’s debut non-fiction journey of the same name.
The show itself, while entertaining on merit of Safran’s presentation style alone, seemed slightly cramped in the format of live comedy. Featuring clips from his previous documentaries such as Race Relations and John Safran vs. God, save for a segment originally banned from airplay on the ABC, many diehard Saf-fans will find themselves re-watching clips they’ve already seen on mid-to-late evening television programming. Safran’s on-stage narration in between clips provides an interesting and often gripping insight in to how he even ended up there in the first place.
Indeed, many audience members would have hoped the Q&A session at the end of the show was allocated it’s own hour, with raised-hands left unanswered due to lack of time. Touching on topics spanning Safran’s entire career and, of course, unashamedly tell-all, this insight in to the art of surpassing the Point of No Return added much appreciated humanisation to Safran’s ultimately personal tale.
It’s a tease, of course, and he won’t reveal the ending to the tale he explores in his book, but you won’t really care. If you’re a fan you’ll no doubt enjoy the live audiobook experience from one of Australia’s most notorious government-funded comedy figures.
Grab your tickets to the last 9pm showing of Murder in Mississippi on Sunday the 8th of Feb before it’s sold out completely. Check it out in the Fringe Guide here.
