Mark Scott in DECONSTRUCTING ME
31/05/2006 - 03/06/2006
Production Details
Mark Scott
A Boxing champion, a registered property valuer and an internationally rueling stand up comedian walks into a bar. He orders two pints of tequila and one of beer. The barman says “Hey Mark, you look a bit frazzled!”
“Yeah” says Mark “I’ve just finished writing a show where I separate my personalities to find out where my sense of humour came from. So I’m treating these three to a night out.”
The barman pushes the drinks over. The valuer says, “It’s after 5 o’clock so I’ll have the beer. The boxer doesn’t drink because he’s our driver.”
“So how come the TWO pints of tequila?”
“They’re for the comedian. He’s got to go on after Billy Connelly.”
Mark Scott’s “Deconstructing Me” is a blend of stand up comedy and solo performance. Cleverly delving into the nethermost regions of this accomplished comedian’s mind, it rakes out the defining experiences that shaped his sometimes twisted points of view. Can the thread of a life story be communicated through a string of gags and anecdotes? Come see “Deconstructing Me” and find out!
Theatre , Comedy , Solo , Stand-up comedy ,
1hr
Constructive deconstruction
Review by John Smythe 02nd Jun 2006
Bravely playing to a sprinkle of people, Mark Scott proves adept at welcoming audience back-chat and working with it. There’s an intriguing warp in his whimsy and you can see how, with a mind like that, it might have become apparent that comedy was his calling.
That said, there are a couple of bits in the middle that die for want of punch-line or any sense of completion at all. But he does some good songs along the way and the quirky humour is well turned upon various government issue items.
As a thread he deconstructs his own life history for our edification. By way of contrast he also interpolates three very constructive children’s TV-inspired segments wherein ‘John’ teaches us how to use found household items to make a Spitfire (toilet roll tube, tea towel, celery), Captain Gook’s Endeavour (a loaf of bread, 3 carrots, cabbage leaves, meat skewers) and a yo-yo (the rest of the cabbage, a bit of kindling and a pair of mum’s pantyhose).
His finish is brilliant, drawing on audience input to conjure a song that never existed before and will probably be lost forever.
It’s an extraordinary vocation, this comedy lark. Good on them all, I say. The world is a better place for their being crazy enough to do it.
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