[2015069] POP POP
Penny Greenhalgh @ Tuxedo Cat – Rivers Studio
6:00pm, Mon 23 Feb 2015
The photo for POP POP in the Fringe Guide is, frankly, hideous… and the kind of thing that screams confidence. And that, alone, is enough to get me to see a show.
Penny Greenhalgh creates curiosity with her first impressions: creeping in from the rear of the room, she whispered desired “responses” into the ears of the audience, creating an odd – and very slow-moving – ripple of appreciation. There’s a (contradictory) surety to her initial onstage bumblings, and a conviction behind the statement that POP POP was written as an arena spectacular, but subsequently scaled back to a small room experience.
Greenhalgh’s “ice dancing” demonstration (with rollerblades) is a gangly and uncoordinated hoot, and undoubtedly dangerous to both herself and her audience; her attempt at crowd-surfing with an audience that barely hit double-digits likewise risky. And, as is rapidly becoming the norm, I was dragged up onstage to help perform a radio-play version of her soon-to-be breakout hit, “51 Shades of Grey”… the script was hilariously terrible, and required me to make a ton of animal noise sound effects. At least I got to kiss Penny at the end of the piece (leading to a panicky phone call immediately following the show to my Significant Other).
Another Gaulier graduate, Penny Greenhalgh garners a lot of laughs from putting herself into awkward – and dangerous – situations, and then just stewing there awhile. It’s an intriguing presentation from an amazingly confident performer; I’ll certainly be in line to see what she does next.
(69) POP POP: A bumbling bedroom-sized arena spectacular. Got to kiss Penny onstage… feel guilty leading with tongue. #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 23, 2015