Presented by Sound & Fury
Reviewed 15 February 2014
Since first seeing American comedy trio Sound & Fury (Richard Maritzer, Patrick Hercamp and Ryan Adam Wells) perform an hilarious sci-fi parody three or four years ago, this reviewer has thought these performers the best thing since sliced bread – but, unfortunately, bread can go stale.
This, sadly, seems to be the case with their latest offering – the murder/thriller parody salute to the Master of the Macabre, Alfred Hitchcock.
There are some very clever and funny ideas and technical gimmickry involved. The fantastic opening involves Hitchcock himself and more than a nod to his classic television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. There is also a ‘tip of the hat’ (or where Hitchcock is involved, perhaps that should be ‘a stab in the back’) not only to a huge proportion of his movies, but some of his stars. Even the recent bio-pic of Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, gets a look in. This cleverness does, unfortunately, require a lot of knowledge on the audience’s part to work – this is the first problem with the production.
The second problem, at least on opening night, is that the trio didn’t seem to be firing together all that well, with their usual spark fizzing a few times. This could well be because they need to settle into the space allocated to them… which brings up the third problem – the space. This cannot be blamed on the performers, but a lot of the humour occurs on the floor, which isn’t raised that high above the audience. This results in quite a bit of essential business being missed by a lot of the audience; and it’s all a bit cramped for the action required.
Hitchcocked by Sound & Fury is still fun and diverting (especially if you are viewing them for the first time), but the boys have done better – and I’m sure will again.
Reviewed by Brian Godfrey
Venue: The Bally, Gluttony, Rymill Park, cnr East Tce and Rundle Road, Adelaide
Season: 15 February 2014-2 March 2014
Duration: 65 minutes
Tickets: $20.00 – $27.00
Bookings: Book through FringeTix online or phone 1300 621 255
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