Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2009
Space Show
The Suitcase Royale
4 April 2009
Melbourne Town Hall
Semiotics, Campbell and universal archetypes aside, The Suitcase Royale Space Show has the best fart joke of the festival.Space Show
The Suitcase Royale
4 April 2009
Melbourne Town Hall
Now the fart may represent the hero’s vulnerability and public downfall, but this late night must-see isn’t about serious ponderings – it’s about trying not to poo from laughing.
The Suitcase Royale (Jof, Miles and Glen) have been rummaging though Melbourne and international junkyards for theatre since 2004. With a fan base developing in Europe and the UK, locals can still see their ideas developing at Last Tuesday Society gatherings.
Anarchistic, absurd and a little bit naughty, they fill their suitcase with painted foam and fake wood panelling and blast their way through the final frontiers of art, as the universally manly space travellers Kevin Bacon, Kerry O’Brien and Chuck Norris.
Motivational space-guru Pizza Box Space Man reminds a disillusioned space rock god that, “To be bad you have to be sensationally good”. Working with found objects (arty talk for junk), the set and costume design makes a 1970s episode of Dr Who look like the new Battlestar Gallactica, and their script feels like a collage of grade seven space essays. The Suitcase Royale Space Show is atrocious – which must mean that it’s better than sensational.
One reviewer said that The Suitcase Royale could be the Aussie Mighty Boosh. Bugger that – these guys are better. See them before they are whisked away by the lure of television fame.
