Alexis Dubus Verses The World One Spoken Word At A Time at Tuxedo Cat – Adelaide Fringe Review

Tuxedo Cat – Mayall Room, Fri 26 Feb Alexis begins the gig with a song on a toy ukulele (the music is recorded) – it’s a funny effect, quite silly and a small taste of what’s to come, and considering its comedy, his voice is rich and rare – a delight. The show could have been listed in the spoken word section of the Fringe rather than comedy as such - note the pun in the title. Still word play, when well written and performed, is as amusing as any straight stand up (I would suggest actually better) and there's the bonus of a lot of fun with words along the way, such as Origanism, when you fold your lover up in unusual ways and proceed to… Alexis loves to use words to set-up comic twists, taking us to a very different place to what we were expecting and the audience peals in appreciative laughter. There were visual gags as well, (as well as the toy ukulele). For instance Alexis’ performance of a modest striptease. There are songs that are really performed poems, a bit of spoken word with a beat and melody; there are straight out poems and Alexis reads from his printed poems, presumably in order to ensure that the words, twists and silliness are all delivered as they ought to be. And they are jam packed with word play, fun, humour, rhyme, alliteration and the meaningful mistaking of similar words for comic effect (I’m sure that there must be a word for this!). So if your idea of comedy is more about playfulness with the English language and you’d be interested in pieces (some of verse) inspired by travels around the world, then pay the price for this mystery trip on a banana skin through our weird wonderful world. Clayton Werner Alexis Dubus Verses The World continues at The Tuxedo Cat – Mayall Room from 7.15pm until Tue 8 Mar. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 or adelaidefringe.com.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets.