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

Reviews

Maggot

28/3/2018

Comments

 

Hamish Boyle

Picture
Maggot is the absurd, expectation-subverting twice-removed daughter exiled to the colonies after a steamy night between The Goon Show and Monty Python. There is a damn good reason this show has the accolades it does. From the writing to the performance to the confounding choice of the show’s own title, Maggot may well be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on stage.

This show is particularly tickling for those who even have a modicum of knowledge about storytelling structure or performance: so basically everyone. Every single opportunity to joke and subvert the “normal way” to set-up, follow through, and pay off a scene, is taken. The moments where you think you know how it’ll play it out know that you know and subvert the expected subversion. Anything and everything goes, and it happens snappily. Incredibly touchy cowboys will only just be wrapping a piece up when the next act literally comes screaming around the corner. Every skit in this wonderfully broad medley of characters and premises is simultaneously given the time it needs to flourish, and succinct enough to keep a great pace.

Dang, did this show give me performer’s envy. Elle Wootton, Angela Fouhy, and Freya Finch clearly enjoy flipping between all the accents and physicalities; they’re a perfect comedy trio. From Finch’s pop-star turned artist who is 100% outstandingly uncomfortable all the time, to Wootton’s self-indulgent witchy magician, to Fouhy’s Mania Incarnate via cheerleader, each character is so distinct from the rest. Thus, every single skit has a dynamic interplay between characters, which is consistently pushed to its potential.

There’s a remarkable sense of comic timing. The three know exactly how long to hold an greatly excruciating pause, as well as when to slash in with a punchline. They also play with the audience effortlessly. Everyone and everything in the room is included in the skits. The trio know when the audience will laugh, and we do. We laugh. A lot. I heard every permutation of laugh I know there to exist, and that was just from myself.

This is my favourite style of comedy, of show, of performance and it’s utterly amazing to see it done so effortlessly well. Thinking back on this show, I’ve had to stop writing this review a couple times in order to stop giggling at the idea of Fouhy’s bro-clown being perplexed by her own act. This show doesn’t just boggle the mind, it breaks it down into a fine paste and paints the walls with it. Maggot showcases a complete, gleeful disregard for the sane and I love it for existing.
Comments

    Local Honest Reviews

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

    Archives

    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
    April 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 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
    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
    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