Akmal: Transparent Is All About Love, Family, Life, Taxes And Reality TV – Adelaide Fringe Review

Royalty Theatre, Sat 25 Feb. Akmal begins the show apologising for being a lot shorter than he looks on TV, but he proved to be big enough to fill the large stage of the Royalty Theatre. Although as measured by the description of this show which includes ‘the funniest show ever in the history of comedy’ – Akmal: Transparent probably doesn’t quite measure up. After all, it’s a man with a microphone on a stage rather than the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here star. Oh, but wait a minute, it actually is! Akmal: Transparent is about sharing some quite personal stories, about family, his ADHD, his recent tax problems, insights into his reality TV sessions and a bit of audience interaction. Actually, it was apparent that Akmal had been hoping for more audience interaction than he got – we seemed to be a quiet lot, not providing a lot for him to bounce off at all. But that wasn’t too much of a problem for this seasoned performer; he has plenty of tall tales and nearly true just waiting to be told. Yet he isn’t beyond letting an audience know that, “Now don’t you get worried madam, it’s really all bullshit – none of it is true.” Whether that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth or not is irrelevant. Akmal can breathe a story into life and he can take an audience along into his shared imagination space, besides which, Akmal’s ‘Abraham at the burning bush’ is far more entertaining than the Genesis version! 4 stars Clayton Werner Akmal: Transparent continues at The Royalty Theatre, at various times, until Sat 18 Mar. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 or adelaidefringe.com.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets. #ADLfringe