[2015089] Only You Can Save Us
Sekrit Projekt @ Tuxedo Cat – Cusack Theatre
6:00pm, Sat 28 Feb 2015
The Significant Other and I had just been hobnobbing with the Festival arts community – drinking bubbles, eating pork belly, chatting with Bill Viola (how good were his videos?) – and arrived at TuxCat in good cheer. With a few minutes up our sleeve before the show, we grabbed some beers – big mistake.
Why’s that a big mistake? Because in the warmth and humidity of the Cusack Theatre, even sitting in the front row, additional carb loading made me sleepy. Again.
But I don’t think snooziness affected my perception of Only You Can Save Us as much as it did Azimut… because Sekrit Project’s show appeared to have one trick that it milked ad infinitum.
Just a glance at the brief programme gave a good idea of what to expect: with characters listed as Captain Hero, John Villaine, Doc Science, The Girl, and Sarge, you’d expect that it was going to be chock-full of stereotypes.
And so it was: this simple tale of good-versus-evil felt like someone had taken every populist sci-fi universe, chucked it in a blender, and created a tongue-in-cheek lo-fi homage to classic B-grade sci-fi movies. Nothing is taken seriously – hey, there’s even a (well done!) dance break in the middle of the show – and everything is completely overplayed: Captain Hero’s heroic poses are ludicrously done, and John Villaine’s evil monologues put Bond villains to shame. The odd action scene (torch lightsabres! balloon enemies!) underline the lo-fi aesthetic.
But despite all the goofy content and exuberant performances, I found myself drifting off more than once. I blame the carbs, I really do. But what I saw was most certainly enthusiastic Fringe theatre, and there was certainly some fun to be had prodding populist sci-fi tropes.
(89) Only You Can Save Us: Fun exploration of sci-fi tropes and stereotypes. #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 28, 2015