There are three shows at this years comedy festival specifically based around the 35 year old role-playing game called Dungeons & Dragons. One is a sublime musical play, one actually has the audience participating in playing the game late at night, along side famous geeky comedians and then there’s this one, which is a sort of zany, comic masterclass in what it’s all about. So if you have a loved one or mate who dabbles in the dark arts of D&D and have always been a bit curious, this is the show for you, it may even entice you over.
The two completely unrelated McKenzies Ben and Richard were our sturdy guides down the maze of stone corridors and statistics. Characters developed by the performers in earlier shows worked well for this one. Ben as the Game Master (GM) was an extension of his professorial ‘Man in the Labcoat’ and Richard…. well, lets face it, he’s never too far from his demented Dalek persona from ‘Robot vs World.’ They actually made a brilliantly inspired comedy team. Ben was the straight geek and Richard his goofy second banana geek. Its delightful to experience a couple of fine comedians work so well together on a show about a common passion.
We were introduced to the mysteries of the 20 sided die, (oooooh), player’s game personas (elf, wizard, fighter, bard etc) and how and why statistics are attached to them, the startling variety of scary monsters they must face and kill, and what a +1 sword actually is. There was also a section of the show where you get the history of the game and how it inspired other games and has since evolved into nonstop, world wide, on-line roleplaying games which was Richard’s area of expertise. Richard started to get a bit too excited about telling us about World of Warcraft until Ben pulled him back and reminded him that their show was about D&D. The important thing for you to know is that throughout all this explanation and demonstration, the show never forgot to be silly, entertaining and above all hilarious! The role players in the audience were lucky enough to get a few more knowing laughs out of the show.
The last 5 to 10 minutes of the show were set up early on when volunteers were recruited to join the boys in a mini sample game. Setting up their characters was used to introduce us to various aspects of the game and then, finally we got to see it in action. I was delighted to be sitting near a role-playing father who was prompting his keen, participating, teenage son. And so the legend passes. The exciting part of the audience participation was that their choices affect every performance in a different way. Tonight the monsters got kissed, it was not that surprising to me, they were pretty adorable monsters but it caught the hosts off balance and made for a raucous finale.
As I alighted the stairs into the packed out Vault Theatre at Caz Reitops Dirty Secrets (its a classy little bar in Smith St Fitzroy), I thought it sad that something obviously so popular should be in such a tiny cramped space, but soon it struck me, this was the perfect venue. It is a stone walled dungeon! As word gets out this adventurous show is going to remain pretty chockers (it’s already starting to sell out) so if you are at all interested in Dungeons and Dragons, I’d get in and book real soon. Better yet, bring a loved one and let them know what you are up to on those Saturday afternoons when you should be cleaning the gutters, or doing your homework. I’ve had many role playing friends but have never been remotely interested in playing Dungeons & Dragons myself, and I had a ball at this show. It has even inspired me to go along to this show’s late night sibling Dungeon Crawl where you get to experience the last ten minutes of this show for a full hour and participate in a game with comedy celebrity guest role players, who talk about their own role-playing experiences. Meanwhile, +1Sword is essential geek viewing, don’t miss it. Cloaks are optional.
For booking details visit the Comedy Festival website