So I’ve finally gotten around to seeing Asher Treleaven’s highly regarded and awarded show ‘Secret Door’ I had not seen his previous Doors, Cellar or Open – which was also nominated for the Barry Award – but I had enjoyed Asher’s work for years doing spots, working along side Ali McGregor and hosting The Oyster Club comedy night at Toff in Town as well as some truly dazzling street performances. As we took our seats the PowerPoint screen on stage announced ‘This Man is a Liar’ and I’m still not sure how that added to the show. I had heard his Festival shows could be polarising, risky or funny but unfocused and as this one began I was a bit worried. It was all awkward silences and some waffly banter. It didn’t help that the cold, Wednesday night audience was only about a quarter full. But with a fanfare of The Cosby Show theme tune he soon got down to business.
Asher has put a lot of work into this show and it shows. It has a strong structure, compelling and thought provoking themes and it flaunts his considerable talents as comedian and showman, with just a hint of an unhinged undercurrent. The main theme here is about feeling alienated by society’s expectations of manhood. He broke it down to 3 main areas represented by 3 hated male public figures who he feels embody the very worst aspects of the male world. The first topic was male violence and how he is completely baffled by yobbo/thug culture. This part of the show in particular was really fresh and so pertinent to the mindless violence that threatens our weekend social lives. More importantly it was hilariously funny. I loved his discussion of different ways of responding to a threat of violence and my favourite suggestion from him was to treat them like toddlers and distract them with glitter, so they don’t notice you’ve scarpered. This part of the show takes in sport and homophobia (particularly funny when he brings these two concepts together) which leads to the second part, sexuality.
He gets pretty down and dirty when exploring male sexuality but I found none of it gratuitous; then again I’m not easily shocked. Every now and then he touched on (as it were) the female side of things then stopped himself, saying “I’ll keep that for the next show”. The climax of this section of the show was his big party piece, which was reading a very rude bit from a Mills & Boon novel in his unique and enormously, satisfying style.
The final segment was about the business world, ambition and generally screwing things up for everyone. Secret Door was a mixture of shrewd observation, some rather raw personal stories (though that warning from the PowerPoint screen at the beginning was floating about in the back of my mind, so who knows), biting one liners and fetching flights of fancy. Though he doesn’t employ any of the actual circus skills from street performing, his physical dexterity is a considerable component in Asher’s captivating performance. I was thrilled that this lived up to all the hype and acclaim. For me it was also a fascinating and unusual insight into the male world, even if he doesn’t feel he quite fits into it. This might be your last chance to see this Critics Award winning, Barry nominated and Edinburgh Fringe Newcomer nominated show in Melbourne, so book your ticket now!
Visit the Fringe website for booking details.