It is like, with this show, the Melbourne based Soup team have said, ‘ Let us entertain you’ and have gone all out to do this.
As we take our seats in the audience we notice an odd, retro looking object prop situated at the centre of the stage. We soon find out that this is a radio that gets a lot of use during the play.
The show starts in a hilarious way. Two dorky looking guys come out on stage with masking tape and, without saying a word, tape down spots/places on the stage as well as the circumference/apron of the stage. The audience laughs as they do this, often stretching the tape too far, and seeing it get twisted out of shape.
As absurd as this practice is, it is worth noting that when theatre companies are rehearsing plays, the director will often block the action by using masking tape to indicate where the actors will stand in a certain scene.
Soon after, the masking tape sequence has finished, the radio starts blaring with music from Zorba The Greek as the duo go in to a very dance routine as they flay their arms and slap their legs in synch to the catchy beat if the music. They share with us, as if we didn’t know, that music is a universal language for all of us to enjoy.
Before we know it a third performer appears on stage, a totally out of it, dazed and confused performer, who manages, with the help of the radio, there are now two on stage, strangle to death a number of pop songs. I have never heard a worse version of Sting’s Roxanne’ in my life!
Have you got the picture? This is a zany, wild and crazy show, that lasts a maniacal sixty minutes or so.
The production company is Pummel Squad. The producer is Mark Pritchard. The performers/creators are Cooper Donald McDonald, Harry McGee and Ludomyr Kemp-Mykyta. .
A Sydney Fringe Festival event, Soup Friend’s last performance is at 6pm tonight Saturday 20th September 2025 at the Living Room theatre, Erskineville Town Hall.
www.pummelsquad.com
