Human - Simon Taylor

Simon starts with a roadmap to his show- a little magic, a story, a song and a poignant ending all of which he delivers.

His magic is of the variety that looks inept all the while using a great deal of eptness to amuse and deliver the surprise.

The first part of the show explores multiculturalism, diverse languages and the stereotypes we all know and mostly love, mate.  There is a very clever demonstration of how migrants’ language changes through the generations and Australian’s love of verbal economy. There is a neat segue into a road story which is used to place and explore varieties of masculinity. He says he is worried about his, especially when faced with Bruce - his hyper-masculine rescuer from a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere. Difficult to say, but he does end up in a motel room with Sarah.

The second half is not as satisfying as the first, it drags a little and unfortunately from where I sat I couldn’t hear the words of the beautifully sung song above the music – I could see it was heartfelt!

This is very clever verbal theatre with just enough movement to bring it to life, supported by effective vocal sound effects and really snappy timing.

Ruth Richter