Accidents Are Prohibited On This Road
Russell McGilton @ Adelaide Casino – The Loft
9:30pm, Sat 5 Mar 2011
I’m a big fan of travel stories; a recent example was one of the first show I saw this year, Wanderlust. Martin Dockery created a thrilling tale of one man’s adventures on the road, and managed to be both poignant and riotously funny and sexy.
But this post isn’t about Wanderlust… it’s about Accidents Are Prohibited On This Road. Which is a shame, because I’ve got very little positive to say about that show.
Opening with a typically awful Snowtown pun, Russell McGilton attempts to create a sense of humorous wonder with his travel tales; the trials before getting on the plane, being relentlessly hunted for sex by a woman in a hotel, being charged by rhinos. But none of it really works that well, either as a travel (mis)adventure or comedy; the laughs are few and far between, and the content is less-than-thrilling.
To be fair, his description of being robbed in Uganda was a pretty decent bit, as were the details of the meditation retreat he went on… but McGilton’s uneven delivery, and awful audience interaction, robbed any goodwill that may have been generated.
In retrospect, maybe Accidents wasn’t really as bad as I remember feeling at the time; but during the Fringe there’s so much more on offer that is far, far more enjoyable than this blandness.