I dread writing reviews for Nick Suns’ shows. Something about his style defies description – or at least any description that makes his shows sound as enjoyable as I find them. The opening night of Lost and Found in the Spaces between the molecules of Guava Juice on my Kitchen Table was perhaps his least describable performance.
Nick seems to take great delight in making his show as difficult for his audience to enjoy as possible. A large portion of his performance was delivered through a microphone with ridiculous amounts of reverb that rendered his material almost indecipherable. While that sounds like a bad thing, it actually provided a great foundation to produce some great absurdist improvisation.
Buried under the constant echo, Nick rehashed a good deal of material from his comedy festival show, but neither he nor the audience seemed particularly focused on the jokes. Bouncing between playing with sound effects and awkward audience interaction, the pre-written material served merely as an anchor point to stop the show falling into complete chaos.
About half way through the show, Nick put the reverb on his microphone under control, but then followed it up by hiding under the mixing desk while he conversed with his inner turmoil. This was followed shortly after by turning off the stage lights to perform the rest of the show under the faint glow of blinking blue fairy lights. While actions like these could easily be dismissed as pure self indulgence, Nick has a nack for making the self indulgent fun.
It’s unclear as to whether the rest of the season will be as chaotically absurd as the opening night, as it takes a very patient audience to allow a comedian the freedom that Nick enjoyed. If you’re willing to indulge him in his madness, you’ll certainly find a unique experience.
For bookings and further details see the Fringe Festival website