From Odin to Anansi, Urbane Legends: Comedy, Mythology, and Storytelling is a folklore themed revue by Modicum Theatre, an independent company of students, amateurs and hobbyists looking to gain experience in all areas of production-making.
Three actors with three stories each: Bec Thorman, Leigh Fitzpatrick and Jamie Cook hold court for an hour-long performance in the loungeroom at Northbridge’s The Moon, a venue whose low lighting and assembly of squeezed-in couches lends an appropriately casual vibe to the stand-up storytelling event. The setting is minimalist, limited to a spotlight and a stool, and the piece amalgamates comedy and narrative.
The tales are familiar, woodcutters and mermaids, magical sacks and mind control; the delivery, a winningly awkward blend of theatrical and intimate. There are jokes, there are ghost stories, and there are meandering re-imaginings of the kinds of myths and legends you heard on school camps. The actors’ performance skills are as varied as you would expect from self-proclaimed amateurs and hobbyists but the show does have entertainment value. The spoken word is self-aware and sarcastic; Thorman has great command of the pregnant pause, and Fitzpatrick’s vocal projection just commands as they narrate accounts of the weird and the macabre, dissected with commentary and delivered with humour.
Unpolished and approachable, Urbane Legends evokes nostalgia for an old school, fireside kind of storytelling, despite its satirical approach. The trio of young Perth artists behind this production will be performing their celebration of storytelling as part of Perth Fringe until Wednesday, February 6.
Kim Kirkman, Theatre Now Perth
