London Calling

Review by That Guy In The Foyer, John Doherty

★★★★1/2

Presented by Dabek Productions!

The Vault @ Fool’s Paradise.

Victoria Square / Tarntanyangga, Grote St, Adelaide, Kaurna Country Feb 14 – March 5.

Since La Clique wowed audiences in the original Famous Spiegeltent in its first appearance in the Garden of Unearthly Delights over twenty years ago when the garden really was delightful and unearthly, I have been looking for a show to match it. Tonight, I’ve almost achieved that performance grail!

London Calling is entertaining, fast paced and tightly squeezed into its sixty- minute time slot at The Vault. I have to ask, are we Adelaidean audiences getting soft…or lazy…or tired…or cash strapped…or all four! Apart from the venues I attended, Adelaide was virtually a ghost town! And, the Fringe has barely begun! Or maybe we’re still Covid wary.

But I digress! London Calling opens with a projection and audio track cleverly and effectively taking us to the “Swinging London” of the 1960s. The 1960s red phone box helps transport us there. We hear authentic news casts about that period, as well as Brexit, and the cast enters as if at the bustling Kings Cross Station, London. MC and master magician, Paul Dabek opens the show with a great magic newspaper routine that is clever, funny and utterly impossible to figure out! How does he do it? And isn’t that, after all, what a superb magician does? Dabek transforms the mundane to the magical with ease. His schtick is quick witted and very amusing! It was obvious from here the show was going to be absolutely entrancing and extremely entertaining. Antje Pode follows with an extraordinary use of suit cases! Effectively, Icarian Games (Please look it up- mind-blowing foot-  juggling of the most extraordinary kind!) with inanimate objects, Pode is incredibly poised, unbelievably  skilled and utterly mesmerising with this act! Not to be outdone, the remarkable entertainer of Norwegian extraction, Captain Frodo, took to the stage with his utterly unique style of contortion implementing two ridiculously small tennis racquets! I experienced Captain Frodo’s mind-bending physically impossible act when he toured with La Clique over twenty years ago, and it has lost none of its value! Captain Frodo is the consummate physical comedian – what this guy does with his body should be impossible - and I challenge even the most earnest punter not to find a serious belly laugh with this act! Chelsea Angell’s hoop act is spectacular, slightly risqué- much to the delight of the young guy she eyeballed much of the time, and the audience witnessing it- and powerful. Swedish Magician Charlie Caper entered to find a technical cliché with his mic. Utterly undeterred and professional, Caper went on to perform one of the most remarkable, inexplicable sleight of hand conjuring acts I’ve ever seen, be it live or on TV! Caper’s take on the well worn three cup, three ball routine invigorates it to an incomprehensible level, not to mention constantly disappearing bow-ties, rosettes, lemons and melons! A young woman, Venessa, drawn from the audience, was reduced to her knees in gobsmacked disbelief with what Caper did with a bone fide glass in her hands! MC Babek takes to the stage again with a brilliant, hilarious take on a famous West End Musical utilizing nothing but the soundtrack of a very, very famous, much loved song and shadow puppets- there are some hilarious risqué moments, too-to be followed by Captain Frodo’s astonishing Trash Can counter- balance act. Again, Frodo proves to be a remarkable entertainer and exhorts us to “follow your dream!” I love this act! Shauna Johnson closes the show with a dangerous, dynamic aerial ring act which, alas, I though too brief! Johnson was incredible while she was on stage and I wanted more! "London Calling" is a great example of how Magic, Comedy, Circus and Variety can be fused to great effect! Come on Adelaide! And, of course, the show features a great soundtrack including the seminal "London Calling" by The Clash! I don’t care if it’s a “week night!” Get behind it!

Go! See it!