Luke Rollason is a clown of the physical, and who knew a human body could move in so many ways! I found myself strangely affected by the animal forms he re-created, feeling sorry for a love-torn jellyfish or a recently disabled hummingbird. He re-creates natures creatures in such an absurd form that you can’t help but laugh, in a kind-of I’m-baffled-but-this-is-so-random-I-love-it way. It’s a weird and wonderful physical comedy show where you’ll find yourself surprisingly heartbroken at the tragic love story of jellyfish told through the format of moving hands.
Although slightly lacking in story (the story in the blurb of a BBC intern saving extinct animals by making an Attenborough document was not brought to life on stage), the individual moments of this show were delightfully ramshackle and created with a strange talent. As Rollason takes us through the sound effects and special effects departments we’re treated to charmingly crap drawings and DIY sounds alongside a physical recreation of the rituals of various animals. There’s an impressive use of non-intimidating audience participation, which succeeded in making everyone feel involved and part of the show and therefore rooting for Rollason to do well. From creating spiders webs to enacting the mating ritual of a seahorse, this show is squished full of the random and the bizarre.
Like the storytelling, the message of this show feels slightly shoe-horned in at the end, with a half-hearted sentence about a hot earth and extinct animals, but something tells me that wasn’t entirely the point of this show.
Check out Planet Earth if you’re looking for something bizarre, original and ridiculously fun!
Monkey Barrel @14:30
August 8-14, 16-26
Find out more and get tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/luke-rollason-s-planet-earth-1
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