Ben Sutton and Rob Campbell have joined forces to present A Little Bit Like , their first venture into the Melbourne Fringe.
The tone of the show was exactly as presented in their promotional material, a comical tension between the guys that played Ben’s enthusiasm against Rob’s apathy. It was established before the boys hit the stage with some backstage squabbling and these believable personas were maintained for the duration of the show.
Structure wise, the show was a collection of sketches, both live and filmed, with Ben and “Bob” providing links at various points. The introductions to some of the video pieces made use of the show’s title with the boys describing the upcoming sketch as being “a little bit like…” which occasionally seemed a little forced. The banter between them during these appeared awkward at times, but it seemed to have been scripted this way, building upon their portrayal of “Ben” and “Rob”. If I’m not reading too much into it and this is true, the layering of characters in this way was very well done.
Despite some rough camera work the filmed sketches were great, providing many belly laughs (I was almost rolling on the floor during some of them!). A bizarre and highly amusing collection of characters have been created to inhabit these sketches with fantastic concepts for them to play with. Plenty of overacting was employed which added to their charm. These pieces came dangerously close to being over long, especially the Vox Pop, but generally the pay off of a great punch line compensated for the longer journey. The endings to the videos were rather abrupt at times, leaving the audience unsure of whether to offer a round of applause. It seemed that the Techie was also unsure, resulting in a few moments of dead air and premature starts.
The live sketches were just as interesting as the pre-prepared items. They mostly revolved around two characters interacting with each other seated at a table, not moving around much as all. These low energy performances suited the lackadaisical Rob perfectly and usually gave Ben the opportunity to frock up. The endings to the live pieces were better defined than the videos and just to reinforce them, Ben would give the audience a cue by removing his wig and taking a small bow.
At the end of the show there was a fairly halfhearted attempt at resolving the tension between the performers which led into the final video piece, Ben miming to “My Heart Will Go On”. It went on for the entire duration of the song, which I found a little unbearable. If it was a parody of a music video (thankfully I haven’t seen the original) the length would be justified. The reoccurring image of Ben seducing the camera is unfortunately burned into my retinas!
“A Little Bit Like” was a top first effort by Ben and Rob. It was bit rough around the edges but I generally like my comedy that way. Polishing it up too much may spoil the attitude of the show, making it an entirely different beast. I look forward to seeing what the boys come up with next.