“Creative Space – The Ultimate Advertising Agency…the truth is out there – it’s in the creative space, where no one can hear bad publicity.” With a show description like that, I came into the show expecting a character piece featuring a zany advertising executive with a ponytail who spouted lots of double speak and pitched all sorts of insane campaigns. Instead we got a bloke by the name of Craig Millar presenting an hour of observational humour based on advertising that explored the expected issues of that field.
The titular agency was barely got a mention save the occasional “We here at Creative Space…” that preceded material that more often than not came from the viewpoint of a consumer rather than the industry, making the agency concept redundant. In fact, the show covered similar ground to Matt Elsbury’s work on the same topic albeit less grumpy.
The structure of the show was well planned out with minimal irrelevant asides. He included some of the industry’s terminology in setting up some of the material so he had obviously done his homework, but he didn’t delve into into the industry side too often. Instead he made witty comments about the absurdity of the advertising we are bombarded with on a daily basis. I had noticed that some of the concepts have been covered elsewhere so I could predict where they were was going, but others in the audience would have approached it with fresher eyes than mine.
Craig kept the laughs coming throughout the show despite a few quiet patches. They were handled with some self deprecating comments and deconstruction that were amusing at first but gradually became annoying. He did a great job in holding the attention of some punters who looked as though they could have been trouble and ploughing on despite some rather loud ambient noise leaking in from the next room, a testament to his ability to hold an audience.
He carried himself well on stage, projecting a friendly persona with a glint of cheekiness in his eye. His brief characterisations to illustrate points (such as his Bogans as consumers) were wonderfully portrayed with brilliantly exaggerated physicality, bringing hoots of laughter from the punters. The rest of the time Craig merely stood behind the microphone, gestured occasionally and relied on his words to convey the message.
The material wasn’t particularly ground breaking or thought provoking, but there was enough to please all comers. Overall it was a pleasant hour of stand up delivered by a confident performer.
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