For the past eight years, Justin McGinley has been one of Australia’s foremost proponents of physical comedy with his Vaudeville styled act. His latest show Antics Shop is yet another solid show of clowning, mime and slapstick.
Even though it’s not described in the festival program or flyers (the only documnent that explained the shows’ concept was the press release, which I read after the show), Justin’s catalogue of tricks and scenarios are built around the various objects in the titular shop with the items acting as a launching point for stories about the previous owners. A punter off the street may not have gathered this from the title alone so it would have appeared to them as just a random collection of vaudeville bits without any clear segues.
The performance itself was a wonderful display of his well honed clowning, mime and magic skills. He used a backing track to interact with the imaginary characters in his magical universe and even played multiple parts. The stories that he relayed were amusing in both his excellent comical demeanor and the wacky situations in which he placed his character. His form of slapstick was of the classical form in which he came across as a lovable loser that the audience could side with.
The few moments when he had to deal with uncooperative props were dealt with a lightheartedness that endeared him to the audience. He did spend a bit too long on a hat trick that he kept missing but the audience were clearly cheering for his underdog character and wanted to see it pulled off. A large number of his stunts have been recycled from previous performances and sat well in the context of this show. His new tricks (I’m assuming they were new as I hadn’t seen them before) were fantastic new additions to his repertoire.
Antics Shop was a lovely, family friendly show that kept the punters laughing and smiling throughout. Its clever overall theme may not be apparent to all who see this show but this oversight will not detract anyone from having a wonderful time.
For more info and booking details go to the Melbourne Fringe Festival website