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By Penny Carroll
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A COVID pivot on a grand scale, Malthouse Theatre has been transformed to immerse audiences in an exciting choose-your-own adventure.
How do you put on a show during a pandemic? That’s the question the Malthouse Theatre team grappled with during Melbourne’s extended lockdown last year. Their answer was to reimagine theatre with an immersive production that comes complete with social-distancing measures baked in.
Malthouse Theatre transformed to immerse audiences in an exciting choose-your-own adventure.
Credit: Supplied.
The result is
Because The Night with two separate casts and a sprawling set that encompasses the entire Malthouse complex in Southbank, including two theatres and carparks.
VulgarGrad
DATE
Time
This event is part of the 2021 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Is the gulag a laughing matter? Is alcoholism a joke to you? Are songs written by, for, and about Russian criminals anything to chuckle about? Maybe that gravel-voiced rough diamond of stage screen, Jacek Koman, and his band VulgarGrad are guilty of making light of these serious matters? You be the judge! It’s folk-punk-polka-ska-swing – so dance!
Sometimes good men do bad things…
VulgarGrad bring you the old songs of the Russian thieves (called blatnie pesny or blatnyak), along with punk classics of the Perestroika era and a strong dose of contemporary St. Petersburg swearing ska. Their latest album is The Odessa Job (2019).
Melbourne International Comedy Festival review
Damien Power starts his show with a few minutes of affable crowd work. If you’re familiar with Power’s acclaimed previous efforts – he’s been nominated for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s top award three times – this may come as something of a surprise.
Renowned for wrestling with topics like the unbearable weight of the human condition or the breakdown of Western civilisation and making it all funnier and more accessible than it has any right to be, Power is still fuelled by existential angst but this year’s trip is more a leisurely drive than a ruthless pursuit of perfection.
The week s best comedy on demand
The week s best comedy on demand. For more streaming gigs use the find live comedy search box with online as the region.
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DARK HUMOR: Slightly randomly, Comedy Central in the US has made this episode of its documentary series about black comedy available to view on YouTube. In it, stand-ups including Gina Yashere, Roy Wood Jr., Sinbad, and Lil Rel Howery remember their earliest memories of comedy and celebrate their comedic influences:
DOORSTEP COMEDY: Stand-up streaming service NextUp has launched a second series of this show in which a camera team have visited comedians at home to see what they are up to during lockdown. It s the first original series made by the platform, which says everything has been done in a Covid-safe way. Episodes are released every Friday with Terry Alderton, Colin Hoult, and Olga Koch featuring this series.