16th – 27th July 2024
A cowboy (Daniel Pirie), madam, inventor (Vilma Kitula), sheriff, doctor and priest (Cameron Harris) all walk into a bar. I won’t spoil the punchline.
“The cast were entertaining and purposefully ridiculous”
The set is sparse: “A bar made out of some sort of wood (probably), and the rest is audience imagination,” we are informed by the man behind the bar (Luke Rose). Until then, he has been sweeping the floor, and under the audience’s feet to ‘Girl from Ipanema’, stopping to stare at people occasionally, and not say anything. If you had made yourself comfortable in your chosen seat, you probably wouldn’t be by now.
Broken Gods’ latest offering witnesses a number of characters entering one by one, trying to figure out what has landed them all in this Wild West bar run by this strange barman. Not one of them has any recollection of how they got there “None of this makes sense!” and it takes a lot of soul searching, conversations about gold, morality, and delving into their past to connect the dots. Cue the religious references and the lightbulb moment.
The cast were entertaining and purposefully ridiculous, providing slapstick moments throughout. A different member of White City Youth Theatre joins them each night of the run to play the Prospector/Inventor’s Assistant. Broken Gods must be commended for the outreach work they undertake, and percentage of their ticket sales they donate to this organisation.
Sadly, however, despite the confident and talented actors, the script let them down. The storyline was weak, there was no real depth, the concept was nothing new and became repetitive. It was, I’m afraid, ‘The Bad and The Silly’. The audience appeared to be split into two – those who clearly found it hilarious, and those who were left cold, including myself.
Rhea Shepherd
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