[2014080] Alexis Dubus – Cars And Girls
Alexis Dubus @ Tuxedo Cat – Room 1
7:15pm, Tue 4 Mar 2014
Alexis Dubus is one of those familiar faces around the Fringe that’s always ready to give a smile and have a chat; since I first saw him perform in 2009, I’ve always tried to make plenty of room for Marcel Lucont. The discovery that he can also do a good show without his alter ego left me full of confidence that Cars And Girls would be great entertainment.
True to its title, Cars And Girls involves plenty of autobiographical stories about… well, cars and girls. Sometimes both feature in the same story – the first major tale involves Dubus hitchhiking to Morocco with a girlfriend – but the two themes remain largely separated… not that the script suffers in any way.
Bookended by an adorable story surrounding the World Naked Bike Ride (a tale featured in embryonic form in Dubus’ previous show about Nudity), there’s plenty of hitchhiking and drugs and odd circumstances: Alexis’ experiences at Burning Man rightfully own the middle of the show, with chance encounters on the Playa that seemed almost Adelaidean in nature (and the Imperial March being a bizarre highlight). The content alone, though occasionally venturing into twee territory, is worth its weight in gold…
…but then there’s Dubus’ performance. The entire monologue is delivered in rhyme, with an effervescence that makes you feel as if the stories are racing along. But he’s so sure-footed on stage – and his style is so charmingly casual and relaxed – that I remain convinced that Alexis could converse in rhyme all day, if he so chose. Even the few stumbles during the show – he had forewarned that he’d had a big night, and an even bigger day – were well handled.
Cars And Girls was a lot of fun, to be sure; but Dubus also manages to inject a lot of heart in there, too, without getting soppy or melodramatic. And that, coupled with a friendly and engaging presentation, made this a real treat.
(80) Alexis Dubus – Cars And Girls: Effervescent and bloody funny rhyming travels of the road and heart. #ff2014 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) March 4, 2014