• theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  • theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  Art Murmurs - Wellington Reviews

Reviews

Gay Icons

22/3/2018

Comments

 

by Laura Ferguson

Picture
Ivy Bar has huddled in a good crowd for the first show of Gay Icons, the comedy show from James Malcolm and Neil Thornton. It’s only Tuesday and it’s already been a long week so I’m looking forward to laughing and with Thornton and Malcolm, I can guarantee I will.


Gay Icons opens with a characteristically diva moment when it is announced that tonight’s special LGBTQIA+ guest star has. . . cancelled. Not to worry though, as Malcolm and Thornton seem only too eager to have more stage time. The dramatized air continues as neither are willing to concede they aren’t the headliner and so flip a coin to determine their sequence of appearance.
 
Through this process, 2017 Billy T nominee James Malcolm is our first act, airing his comedic laundry in a churning of sexual Disney escapades, bonding with a peer who happens to be your mum’s boyfriend and how Malcolm’s lack of an attention span leaves these overtures on a spin cycle to become effete. I particularly love Malcolm’s seeming delicacy, his cupped hand gestures flowing as if in water and then, bam! A barrage of filth comes pouring from his lips. Every laugh we elicit is meaningfully addressed by Malcolm with a “Thank you” and I giggle furtively, feeling complicit in the next dirty story from my previous mirthful approval.
 
Perhaps the lack of the guest star has disconcerted the timing of this show, but there is a slightly underwhelming end to Malcolm’s set before Neil Thornton replaces him. I felt like Malcolm had been cut short a bit, leaving us on a joke that would probably have been a callback in a later one, but as enjoyable as his set was I can’t begrudge the jarring overly much.
 
Neil Thornton’s wild, thrashing verbal tirading energy is our second half of the night. At once intelligent, observant and quick-witted, Thornton couches his comedy in a barking anger I find immensely entertaining. As he often directs this anger at himself and at those phobic of a gay presence in the world, we are onboard with his rants. So often, I’m not only laughing but nodding my head in agreement as Thornton makes his way through gay marriage, names of LGBT bars, Grindr and the Labour party.
 
Gay Icons may have lost one of its icons tonight, but I am none the worse for it. In fact, I loved being able to hear even more new material from these two comedians. Malcolm and Thornton turned Ivy lively with many a hoot, roar and tinkle of laughter to be found, depending on your preference that is.
 
Gay Icons and other shows of the Fringe festival can be found here.
​
Comments

    Local Honest Reviews

    At Art Murmurs, our aim is to provide honest and constructive art reviews to the Wellington community.

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    All Age Appropriate
    Art
    BATS
    Beauty Standards
    Black Comedy
    Body Positive
    Circa
    Circus
    Comedy
    Comedy Festival 2018
    Comedy Festival 2019
    Comedy Festival 2023
    Comedy Gala 2022
    Community Theatre
    Dance
    Devised
    Documentary
    Drag
    Drama
    Emerging Artist
    Exhibition
    Experimental
    Female Artists
    Feminism
    Feminist
    Festival
    For Kids
    Fringe
    Fun
    Gallery
    Gryphon Theatre
    Hannah Playhouse
    Heart + Music
    History
    Improv
    Interactive
    International
    Interview
    Ivy
    Lighting
    Local
    Mental Health
    Monologue
    Music
    Musical
    Neurodiverse
    New Writing
    New Zealand
    NZ Comedy
    NZ Fringe
    NZIF
    On Tour
    Performance Poetry
    Photography
    Photospace Gallery
    Physical Theatre
    Political
    Politics
    Premiere
    Pyramid Club
    Queer
    Race
    Roxy LIVE
    Science
    Scruffy Bunny Improv Theatre
    Sexual Violence
    Shakespeare
    Site Specific
    Site-specific
    Sketch
    Solo Show
    Song
    Spoken Word
    Stagecraft
    Stand Up
    Storytelling
    Tahi Festival
    Te Auaha
    Theatre
    Thought Provoking
    Thought-provoking
    Thriller
    Toi Poneke Gallery
    Verbatim
    Victoria University
    Violence
    Virtual Theatre
    Weekly
    Wellington
    Wellington Footlights
    Wellington Repertory