A Diva Double Bill - Blue Orange Theatre

An Audience Gorgeous George

A lovely retelling of the famous wrestler's backstory, and the character he came to be.

Alex Brockie was fabulous (and gooorrrgeous!) as George himself - and all the other characters he made so believeable! Flawless accent and character changes kept the story engaging and thoroughly entertaining, and shows off the evident skill and passion of Brockie. The transition between George from the 'king of the castle' in his glittering cape and loud fluorescent suit to the comparatively depressed and isolated character he descends to become was done wonderfully, making us all feel true sympathy and pity.

Audience interaction was played well, with great light-heartedness from the start, keeping us involved with the story.
The amusing and frequent breaking of the fourth wall has cleverly been written in to become integral to the story, while giving nothing away to the audience until right at the end, when all loose ends are revealed, creating a moment of great poignancy as we reflected on the whole story.

Brief musical interludes also worked well to suggest the passing of time and change of location, setting up the scene for the next set of action, and working effectively as an aid for creating the necessary mood for George's next story.

Too Tall to Tribute?

A delightful story of the struggles of a young actress, told bold-faced and with great enthusiasm.

Laura Nicholson performed a hysterically funny set, which was instantly relatable and engaging to all. Confronting topical problems and 'guilty secrets' we all share head-on was very refreshing, and was done in such a way to illicit just the right amount of humour without pushing the boundaries too far (cue 'the box'!), effectively alleviating the tension with perfect comic timing where necessary.

Nicholson has a stunning voice, and the incredible ability to use this to become many characters - Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears and Tina Turner being notable favourites! Her impressions were spot-on and had us howling in our seats, along with wonderfully awkward asides that made this hilarious performance totally believable and endearing.

The use of basic and sparse sets for both acts worked very well, allowing both to be properly creative and free with their space, using only props that added to and enhanced their respective performances without any unnecessary bumf purely for the sake of it.

Both acts must be commended - to present alone for almost an hour must be incredibly daunting, to do so amidst (good-natured!) heckling even more so - neither were fazed and performed very well throughout. The writing from both Brockie and Nicholson was creative, engaging and funny and a true delight to watch!

I look forward to more theatre from Alex Brockie Productions - they are not afraid to challenge concepts that others would shy away from, and try something a little different, with great success!