In Fitzroyalty, Simon Brodie attempted to give both locals and tourists an overview of the microcosm that is Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. Being a resident for ten years, he has appointed himself a qualified tour guide for the area. Being confined to the upstairs space at Palookaville on that very street may have seemed a little redundant, but Simon made up for it with a highly entertaining presentation.
Holding the show in a gallery space allowed Simon to have a painted graffiti backdrop which helped set the mood of the grungy yet artistic place that is Fitzroy. A set of traffic lights were used to provide some of the lighting which didn’t illuminate him too well, but as the main focus was his script and projected slides it didn’t detract from his performance too much.
This show itself was a one man operation with Simon working front of house as well as operating all the technology, with some of it misbehaving as it is wont to do. As he readied himself, the art installation theme was reinforced with an interesting sound presentation playing the soundtrack of Brunswick Street complete with a blast from the past, the Fitzroy Football Club theme song.
An introductory section provided background about Simon which seemed to be his usual stand up gear. This flowed naturally and led perfectly into the main thrust of the show. The tour proper was divided into three sections: Past, Present and Future. Through a sequence of “historical photographs” (complete with Sepia tint) and “artifacts” we were treated to a history lesson of the area that contained plenty of facts and a lot more fiction. Pointing out features and people in the slides, he weaved his comedy magic with outlandish factoids and a story arc about the founders of the area and their descendents.
As we progressed through to the present day, the stories increasingly became about Simon’s relationship to Brunswick Street. More often than not, they detailed his dodgy deeds and indiscretions which built upon his introductory section. Again these appeared to be components from his stand up but they were well executed and hilarious. Simon had bogan attitude to his delivery which gave the tour a slight anthropological edge (he was far from the arty type you would expect in this suburb) and allowed us to easily warm to him. A nice touch to the presentation was the use of traffic signal audio to move the tour from location to location. A clever segue that brought the action to you. He also employed wacky sound cues to follow some of the jokes which was fun.
Fitzroyalty was a fun mix of comedic lecture and personal stand up. While comedic tours are not new, Simon made it a unique experience by adding some personal twists and injecting his life into the presentation.
For booking details visit the Comedy Festival website