LoveHard: Tales From The Elsewhere – The Old Joint Stock Theatre

Never before have I seen such a terrific parody of the classic 80’s sci-fi movie genre as comedy duo LoveHard have created in their new show Tales From The Elsewhere. Take all the classic examples such as E.T., The Goonies, Back To The Future, the recent phenomenon Stranger Things, strip them down to their nostalgic clichés and inject them with the energy, hilarity and genius of LoveHard; that is what this show is. And it is utterly, utterly brilliant.
 
Jacob Lovick and Tyler Harding look as if they have arrived at The Old Joint Stock by time travel, wearing funky 80’s jackets and headphones. And yes this duo consists of…well…two people, but they constantly and effortlessly swap through an entire suburban American town of individual characters in (literally) a whoosh. Distinctive voices and small mannerisms distinguish the cast members of this sci-fi story of a group of ordinary school kids, who discover some mysterious cassette tapes at a yard sale and inadvertently initiate a monster invasion putting their town in jeopardy. Jumping from the group of high school misfits, their crushes, bullies, moms, teachers as well as a pair of dim-witted undercover agents and cops to list but a few, the energy presented in this duo is so fast-paced and it is remarkable how they can remember each character’s certain aspects. Also their use of space around the small Old Joint Stock stage is effectively presented.
 
The humour relies on parodying the genre but also LoveHard parody themselves, especially at times breaking character and corpsing (particularly during a scene with a hunchbacked old man). Their one-liners and recurring gags are so clever, witty and to some extent reminiscent of the contrast of sarcasm and innocence of Rick and Morty as well as the humour of Leslie Neilson in Police Squad and Airplane!
 
What is also excellent about this show is that while lighting and sound effects are used, it is a very natural and organic form of theatre presented by this double act. It is simply the pure creative minds among two comedy geniuses that entertain and make us laugh for an evening. Wherever they are heading to next it is crucial that you grab yourself a ticket and witness LoveHard do what they so brilliantly do. I would rush to watch them parody any form of genre or tell any form of hilarious story as amazingly as they did in Tales From The Elsewhere.