REVIEW: Law Revue 2019’s “Married At First Citation”
By Alexi Barnstone
Law Revue stands distinct from other revues. Known for its political commentary, the skit based satire tends to run parallel to the big news of its respective year, mocking and jabbing as it goes along. This year did not disappoint. As Liberals have continued to provide us with bamboozling political content, Law Revue has done brilliantly twisting that content into comical perversions of reality. A perfect and hilarious example of this was the ‘nationalized Healthy Harold’, where a classic from Australian schoolyard culture was taken and morphed into a new poignant form. The skit had me turning in my chair as ‘Nationalised Healthy Harold’ threatened to get mad if the children criticised Adani or the Liberal Party. Lest we forget, our Prime Minister did say we needed less activism in schools after the climate change protests earlier this year.
Naturally, the revue was not confined to politics. It also dipped its toe is some clever pop culture and millennial takes. My personal favourites included a skit where Harry Potter and an accompaniment of wizards could not remember the actual name of ‘he who shall not be named’, as well as Adam and Eve swiping left on Tinder in the garden of Eden.
A big congratulations is in order for the directors, Floyd Alexander-Hunt and Stephanie Noronha, and assistant directors, Coco Frohilch, Genevieve Couvret, Prudence Wilkins-Wheat and Noah Vaz, for their ability to turn the Everest Theatre into a non-stop laughing extravaganza.
It wouldn’t be law related if the show hadn’t had a “my dad is in a seat of power” scene. And this Law Revue was true to that necessity. The ‘my dad is a judge scene’, where the defendant, lawyer and judge son, father and grandfather, had the crowd in stitches.
The revue took an interesting direction to stage co-ordination, opting to have three separate skit groups stand amongst each other on stage, with the light on one at a time. Because multiple skit groups could set themselves up at a time it sped up the transition process, which definitely allowed for the flow of the show to occur seamlessly. The lighting was crucial to ensure that the stage did not feel cluttered, at times one sketch did walk across others which was a little odd. Overall it was well organised, no doubt a result of good work from stage manager Javed Ali.
The songs were a real highlight, carrying on the excellence displayed last year. From anti-vaxxer content to a couple who love each other so much they want to become a human centipede, the musical numbers had the audience giggling profusely. Credit to choreographers Maddie Scott, Maddy de Dassel, and Dale Scutts as well as music directors Sean Perry and Michael Taurian and singing Director Lucy Shanahan. The Say-Huawei rendition of ‘Say My Name’ was a personal favourite, especially when they opted to recreate the vocal runs displayed at Beychella. Bold move, but very well executed.
The show was a definite crescendo, with an aggregate of better skits being performed in the latter half. After intermission the performances became more grand and the cast seemed to really settle in. But let’s be real, what revue isn’t a crescendo?
Last but not least, “yeah the band”. The live band definitely deserves some praise too. From Eye of the Tiger to Anderson Paak’s Come Down the range in musical accompaniment styles had the audience humming along and trying to guess the name of each song. Some of the funniest skits came out of their work. For example, the Toy Story remake; the theme song performed while toys sat in a pile in the middle of the stage. It pretty much sums up the whole show. Absurd, but brilliant.