REVIEW: Commerce Revue 2019's "Boardroom Blitz"
By Tasia Kuznichenko
Office Christmas parties. The once-a-year anomaly that makes everyone forget where they are; what is right, what is wrong and what may be just a little bit too raunchy to say to your boss on a normal work day. This year’s Commerce Revue brilliantly channelled all these fluctuating emotions in Boardroom Blitz.
Upon entering the ‘office’ (or the Reginald Theatre as it’s usually known), the audience were familiarised with the outstanding cast by way of the ‘Employee of the Month’ wall. The stage was festively draped with tinsel and motivational posters such as “Stress Reduction: Bang Head Here” and the aptly-named Britney anthem, ‘Work B**tch’ faded as people took their seats. This all set the scene for an enticingly choreographed opening number – ‘Boardroom Blitz’ that established all the office romances and colourful characters that would guide the show.
Just like a well catered boardroom meeting, the skits had everything the palate could desire. There were doses of childhood nostalgia; with an ABC Kids pitch meeting of ‘Round the Twist’ that highlighted the delirious weirdness of the Twist family, to a hysterically, tragic depiction of Stevie from the Saddle Club that ended with Prancer being sent to a glue factory.
Prancer ending up here was one of the sadder sketches in the show, despite the musical accompaniment.
The cast didn’t shy away from more politicised numbers. Alison Cooper made it scarily easy to imagine a world where Grant Denyer was Prime Minister. Policy issues such as a total world war comedically being decided with what the Family Feud ‘survey’ said. At times some skits did border on feeling a little childish with the primary school popping up more than usual. These skits, relying on crude jokes as opposed to the quirkiness of the underlying office setting, made one question whether the revue would have been better set in a playground as opposed to a boardroom.
What ultimately overshone this small blunder, however, was the empathetic and multi-faceted characters created by director’s Abbey Lenton and Max Peacock. Heart-warming skits such as a Subway love story bonded by a burnt, 6-inch meatball sub, had the audience letting out involuntary awws and cheers.
This sketch snapped! Just like the bread on the final night.
This was also exemplified by the eventual triumph of Declan Coyle as he finally moved out of the ‘friend zone’ with Sophia Morrison. Their reoccurring skits not only produced an abundance of laughs but more importantly made the audience want to relate to the tribulations faced by the actors.
Prove it…. Prooove it…. PROOOOOVEEE IT!!!
An aspect that deserved special praise was that the skits often took hilariously unexpected turns. An example was the Dr. Seuss inspired erotica reading, performed by a silkily robed James Mukheibir. The audience were unable to hold in laughter when the Grinch sauntered down the stairs to reunite with his star-crossed lover – a Whovian! The humour was not only unpredictable, but also skilfully improvised in times of technical difficulties that could have led to discontinuity. When the projector accidentally glowed with the Apple login screen during Harry Licence’s and Campbell Taylor’s mono-syllabled cavemen dialogue, they reacted ingeniously with faces of pure splendour, seamlessly making the digital error into an existential crisis for the prehistoric era.
That moment when you notice a mac screensaver and you don’t even know what a computer is.
The second half of the show did feel slightly less memorable than the first. Skit lengths bordered on either leaving more to be desired, or alternatively, feeling too long for the subject matter. A thematic follow up to the Dr Seuss crowd-favourite ‘Grinch’ skit, ‘Horton Hears A Poo,’ sparked more groans than laughter. What never failed to stir engagement within the audience though was when the revue returned to its roots – the office Christmas party plot. Voices were always harmonious, dance steps perfectly in time, and parodies of musicals such as Les Mis’ “One More Drink” and Jersey Boys’ “Oh What A Night” were fabulously witty and smartly arranged.
Boardroom Blitz’s cast provided just under two-hours of sheer Christmas silliness, with a dash of humanity and just the right amount of Jatz and spiked punch to go around. If offices were actually as titillating as that of the Commerce Revue Corporation, we’d easily be seeing sick days go down.