REVIEW: Science Revue 2019 "CSI: RO Rogue Operation"
By Adam Torres
For the first time in my memory as a revue-goer, the line to collect tickets at the box office stretched through the Seymour Centre foyer and trailed out the door.
I considered two hypotheses:
The length of the line foreshadowed the length of the notoriously long Science Revue, or,
There was hype around CSI:RO Rogue Operation, and the sheer amount of interest generated was simply too much for the Seymour Centre foyer to handle.
I’m pleased to report that the second was true, and that the hype was justified.
Hal Fowkes and Ella Kerr directed just shy of 60 performers, and each of them appeared to have a hand in CSI:RO Rogue Operation’s stunning opening number. In particular, dance directors Wilson Deng and Caitlin Fenech deserve kudos. More dazzling than the glitzy opening number, though, was the way in which the almost 60 performers radiated pure talent in the dozens of sketches that followed.
Emilia McGrath’s versatility as a performer warrants praise. Her portrayal of Moaning Myrtle was side-splitting by virtue of its accuracy — which is to say McGrath was abrasive and intolerable — while her performance as a murderous baby in court was starkly different: charming and adorable, McGrath was the cutest widdle baby to grace the stage.
A special shoutout must also go to revue newcomer Pearl Cardis, whose natural ability to lean into absurdity made a strawberry jam-based beauty routine seem eminently ordinary. Her ability to make an audience burst into laughter by saying “spaghetti” speaks volumes to her arresting stage presence and keen grasp of comedic timing.
Charlie Hollands deserves props for his skills in improvisation. When an audience member spoiled his dad joke, Hollands was not frazzled: with abject sadness, he responded, “yeah”. Similarly, when the audience cheered at the prospect of the show being called off because of a gun fight gone wrong, Hollands and Ro Roberts didn’t allow the sketch to be derailed.
Maxim Adams and Riley Dolahenty shone, the pair playing characters entirely dictated by the props they were holding. The transition from totally tubular surfer dudes to tinny-slinging Aussie larrikins was seamless and genuinely impressive. Any residual doubt in Adams’ ability to play characters with whom he shares little in common was eradicated: one sketch saw Maxim Adams play a journalist-cum-mass murderer with an 18-inch penis, a role he played with great conviction.
CSI:RO Rogue Operation boasted some masterful sketch-writing. A love story between a man and a Bop It (“bop it” became “fuck it”, “date it” became “marry it”) took the audience on an unexpected and emotionally contoured journey: sympathetic sighs echoed through the York Theatre as the ageing Bop It flatlined, “hold it” repeated until its last moment.
The revue didn’t include much science content: a fantastic musical number trumpeting the importance of women in STEM was one of a few ostensibly science-related sketches. Here, Allie Tame and Mendy Atencio’s vocal directing unleashed the cast’s potential.
This was one of many sketches where CSI:RO Rogue Operation played to one of its strengths: music. A live band has become something of a Science Revue staple, and for good reason. An absolute delight, the band was well-utilised and clearly valued by the cast and production team. A particular highlight was something that could be described only as a live-action game of Mario Kart with the soundtrack provided by the band. After intermission, frazzled band members, instruments in tow, sped through the aisles àla The Simpsons theme. Rightfully, they received rapturous applause. Band directors Jack Needle and Nicole Lewis must be congratulated for overseeing the tightest revue band I have ever seen.
Science tells us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This wasn’t quite true of CSI:RO Rogue Operation: its high peaks were not met with deep valleys. This is, of course, not to say that the show was flawless.
Technical difficulties plagued the revue for the (somewhat excessive) length of the show. Microphones malfunctioned, so many song lyrics were inaudible. PowerPoint presentations with lyrics were provided, but these didn’t work either. AV sketches glitched and froze, and the projector display had a mind of its own. However, the cast must be commended for powering through this unperturbed.
There was far too much dead time between sketches. At one point, the stage crew cleaned up a splattering of spaghetti in pitch blackness and deafening silence. Left to their own devices to entertain themselves, the audience started a chant: “Stage crew, stage crew, stage crew!”. Such periods of awkward silence and inactivity were occasionally rectified with band interludes or voiceover sketches, but these techniques were sometimes used during quick transitions instead of lengthy ones.
While most improvisation was entertaining, one improvised line to the effect of “India and Bangladesh are basically the same” was poorly received by the audience. An attempt to regain favour by saying “[they both make] spicy food” added insult to injury.
The show — like last year’s — was too long. While the calibre of content was generally high, some weaker sketches could have been done away with. Moreover, some sketches dragged on despite having reached the extent of their comedic potential, and perhaps could have done with some more rigorous rewrites.
These mishaps might have been disastrous had it not been for the unrivalled talent of the cast, band, and dancers, who rendered most shortcomings trivial. And so, while comedy is far from an exact science, the reliably hilarious CSI:RO Rogue Operation came very close to proving otherwise.