Fringe Review – Tape Face: 20
Gluttony - Umbrella Revolution

Tape Face, the brainchild of comedian Sam Wills, is a morbid-looking creature in a striped shirt and Frankenstein jacket. With bruised eyes and a shock of brown hair, he is a cross between Charlie Chaplin and a nonverbal Beetlejuice. He looks pasty and unclean, as though he has just crawled out of a grave. Black tape covers his mouth.

On an elevated stage inside the Umbrella Revolution tent at the Garden of Unearthly Delights, he stands before a red curtain with a quizzical expression, scrutinising the audience as they file in. Moving boxes litter the stage and are filled with various items, including a portable fan, helmet, tutu, construction outfit, and bouquet of fake flowers.

Over the course of an hour, spectators are called upon to act out various situations. Because Tape Face cannot speak, he gives instructions with bulging eyes and frantic hand gestures, while music cues provide the context. 

One man is asked to put on a uniform, only to remove it slowly to ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’ by Joe Cocker. Another couple are married on stage. When ‘The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)’ by Cher plays, the inference is clear, and the couple, who were complete strangers, shared a chaste peck on the cheek to rapturous applause from a full house.

Slick lighting and sound design provide momentum and give the show a professional sheen. Tape Face’s shenanigans owe a debt to old Warner Bros. cartoons, and your enthusiasm will depend largely on your fondness for juvenile humour and madcap sight gags. Certain parts of the show falter slightly. A skit involving a tennis-ball gun is overlong, with a payoff that feels obvious. Later, a pair of squeaky pig toys oink out a tune to an ear-splitting and decidedly unfunny effect.

Tape Face is family-friendly entertainment that will appeal largely to younger children and seniors. For audiences willing to embrace its gleefully childish spirit, however, it delivers a brisk hour of inventive, if uneven, physical comedy.

Luke Kane
For Adelaide Review Team

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/tape-face-20-af2026A brisk hour of inventive