The Mullet Brothers Save The World
30/05/2006 - 03/06/2006
Production Details
Created by Greg Ellis and Steve Wrigley
Music and sound design by Steve Gallagher
The Mullet Brothers… is a show which unleashes creative chaos on the Wellington stage in a way that it has never been before. Its a show that combines the steady hand at the tiller of The Improvisors with the wild, rock ‘n’ roll stylings of Greg Ellis and Steve Wrigley (aka SFN).
Its improvised comedy at its most extreme. And it solves the world’s major problems.
The show centers on Terry and Darren Mullet, two simple men from Taita who accidentally solve one of the world’s major problems every night. They can do this because they are idiot Savants – unwise in the ways of the world but a genius in one particular field.
And did we mention the fact that they’re Bogans?! Be it aids, cancer, the Middle East, global warming – whatever – these 2 brothers manage to blunder their way to a solution that has eluded the world’s great and good up to now. It’s an improvised buddy movie where 2 men attempt to bring you a cast of thousands. And it’s a show that puts the idiot back into idiot savant. We’d love to tell you more about it but we can’t – the rest is up to the audience.
For this show Steve and Greg have persuaded Steve Gallagher, Chapman Tripp winning musician and sound designer, to throw his weight in behind the show.
Dates: May 30 – June 3 @ 6:30pm
Venue: Bats Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Tickets: Adults $16, Conc./Groups 10+ $12
Bookings: Bats (04) 802 4175
Theatre , Comedy , Music ,
1hr
Formidable skills
Review by John Smythe 01st Jun 2006
The Mullet Brothers – Darren (Steve Wrigley) and Terry (Greg Ellis) – save the world a different way every night. That’s the great thing about stoner-style memory loss, you get to recreate reality over and over according, not so much to your own fancy, as by way of audience suggestions.
It’s an improv show, well conceived and even better executed. Assassination is the order of the day the night I’m there. At the behest of their memory jogging audience they recall how they saved the world by defoliating the US of A of a Bush or two, by way of home baking.
Beyond their formidable skills as Theatresports-trained improvisers, their broad knowledge of history, geography, politics, current affairs and pop culture in all its genres is in itself impressive. Starting with a skeletal structure they flesh out an extraordinary range of characters and plot elements in the process of fulfilling their given quest.
Their partners in creative crime – or whatever it might be the night you go – are Steve Gallagher on keyboards and Cyan Corwine on lights.
Special moments may earn a slo-mo replay. The dramatic ante may well be raised – as it is the night I’m there – with a rerun in the style of Shakespeare: a game Greg Ellis is especially good at playing.
My only slight gripe is that they shout a lot, which is little wonder given the adrenaline that must be pumping through their veins and synapses at the time. Even so, some modulation – with the musician allowing it – would improve the show a lot.
Because they’re aware that referring back to elements invented earlier is an especially satisfying in live improvisation, Steve and Greg put the proverbial cherry on top with an end-credits series of out-takes. Near genius.
Check them out at BATS and/or via www.theimprovisors.co.nz and www.myspace.com/sfncomedy
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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