Promise In Patchy University Revue
The Age
Tuesday April 14, 1992
Who will you feel in the morning? _ the Melbourne University comedy revue (Melbourne University Union Theatre, daily at 8pm until Saturday and 2pm matinee on Saturday).
THERE are some moments in `Who will you feel in the morning?' when the Melbourne University players hit the highs of comedy.
As in the sketch which parodies the tragic circumstances of a certain brand of cooling fan that tends to combust spontaneously and cause house fires.
One man's tragedy is another's comedy as the undergraduates rip into the news treatment of a grieving, working class mum who is more concerned about her destroyed curtains than the dead kids.
The theme is developed with hilarious results as a search is mounted for the ``guilty" fan, culminating in a police line-up of assorted cooling devices.
Also very funny, and certainly the audience favorite, is a version of the world chess championship in which the challenger is one of those loudmouth television wrestlers who comes on all aggro and ham acting.
Overall, however, the show is a little patchy and not outrageous enough for a student production.
Predictable attacks are mounted against the university's vice-chancellor, Professor David Penington. Apart from a well-written opening scene featuring the V-C, the constant references to Professor Penington seem half-hearted and not very funny.
A sketch sending-up Social Security Department bureaucracy simply doesn't work and should be ditched.
The most encouraging aspect of the revue is the quality of individual performances, giving evidence of much potential at the grass-roots of Melbourne comedy.
The actors are versatile, original and remarkably professional in their execution of a demanding schedule encompassing most entertainment forms.
Showing the mark of true comedians, quite often they transcend a mediocre sketch on the strength of their delivery or facial expression.
`Who will you feel in the morning?' is not comedy of the belly-ache variety, but it is certainly worth a look for its absurdist humor and youthful irreverence.
© 1992 The Age