With Soprano Sally found murdered and civilians dying every night, it’s up to the townsfolk of the Lost Dice to figure out who the Mafia is before it’s too late! For those who haven’t spent evenings accusing their friends of murdering each other, Mafia (similar to Werewolf or Secret Hitler) is a social game with two teams where the aim of the “good team” is to figure out who the “evil team” members are before they all end up dead. Except, no one on the good team knows who each other is, and people on the evil team do (and are trying to knock off the members of the good team along the way). Players are given different roles with special abilities to know or be able to do certain things.

Nick Robertson brings the game fresh to the Adelaide Fringe stage from Melbourne Fringe, with a rotating selection of six of Adelaide Fringe’s wittiest comedians (lineups are updated on the Adelaide Fringe website). This shows townsfolk were: Casey Filips (Virtuoso, What a Character), Isabella Vallette (Cabaret Time Machine), Zak Vasiliou (Twinky Twinky Little Star), Chris Nguyen (Romantic Comedy), Yoz Mensch (My Grandpa Doesn’t Follow Me On Instagram: A Guide To Trans-generational Road-Tripping), and Han Arbuthnott. 

Mayor Nick, is supported by the mystical Miss Mel (Mel McGlensey) {She can speak to the dead, you know!} to try and keep our comedians on track, which is sometimes a bit like herding cats… As we tragically lose townsfolk to various grisly ends, our comedians learn more about what is happening… or so they think. They plead, bluff, and delay delay delay to see who amongst them should go to the gallows at the end of each day. When night falls, the Mafia enact another hit, while Miss Mel flirts with the audience and conducts exit interviews with the newly deceased. When only two townsfolk survive, the power of the jury is given over the audience. 

The night of this performance, it came down to the wire with a shocking accusation and execution which left only Zak and Casey remaining. As both plead their final case, Casey masterfully turns the audience (made up mostly of Zak’s family and friend…{sounds like just playing Mafia at home!}) against him, before shockingly revealing he had been the Mafia all along!

Robertson has adapted the Mafia game to make a fun and broadly appealing show, which is also a great opportunity to witness the spontaneous talent of some of Adelaide Fringe’s best comedians as they riff off each other in this unrehearsed spectacle.