Gary Starr Performs Everything

Damien Warren-Smith is a dead set comic genius. Honestly, I laughed so hard I could hardly catch my breath and afterwards my jaw and diaphragm ached. Here he plays Garry Starr, an actor recently sacked from the Royal Shakespeare Company, has decided to rescue theatre from death by “demonstrating” (or sending up) as many genres as possible wearing nothing but a ridiculous Elizabethan ruff, some shimmering red pasties and a pair of leggings that make Bowie in Labyrinth look demure.

Part physical comedy, part burlesque, part clowning, part excuse to whack random audience members with pool noodles, this show mocks all kinds of theatre from slapstick and rom com through to Noh and Shakespeare. Gary squeezes an act of Hamlet into a minute, fellates strands of spaghetti and performs a circus routine on possibly the lowest high bar in existence. He’s athletic and has enviable core strength, dancing mock hip hop, tumbling and pressing up to a slow headstand. He plays with gender roles and social norms, finding the lower limit of appropriateness—and then gently and adorably steps right over that line into total outrageousness.

The main ingredient in this spicy concoction is Warren-Smith’s rapport with the crowd. He works the audience like putty. He makes them cringe just enough to put them off kilter but not enough to lose their sympathy. He teases out every joke as far as it can possibly go until he gets them roaring with laughter, often foreshadowing a cheeky move to make the audience wince and giggle in anticipation. He shocks, but only enough to make you laugh. He invites people to participate, but never past their comfort level and he never humiliates anyone. The audience participation segments mostly rely on people falling into Warren-Smith's carefully plotted comedic traps, but if things don’t go to plan he adlibs around it and makes it even funnier. I have to give a special shout out to the young woman who was asked to play a seated, dead Juliette, who could not stop herself from squealing with increasingly raucous mirth until she was doubled over and snorting.

Image by Amy Kowalczuk

Be warned, the show is risqué. The surprise value is part of the humour and I don’t want to give anything away, but there is a degree of nudity. If you have a very prudish, easily shocked older relative and you don’t want to kill her, it’s probably best not to bring her along. But if that doesn’t faze you it’s seriously the funniest show I’ve seen in years. I recommend grabbing a ticket if you can.

Cathy Bannister