Directed by
Cal McCrystal – Performed by Damien Warren-Smith
The Q, Queanbeyan - June 3rd.
Reviewed by
BILL STEPHENS.
“Disgraced
actor, Garry Starr is going it alone. Following his
recent dismissal from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Starr is convinced that
the performing arts are dying and he is just the man to save them. How will he
do this? By performing every genre he can think of in the slightly misguided
belief that this will somehow reignite people’s love for the theatre and
ultimately save theatre”.
That’s the
premise for this thoroughly entertaining hour of silliness performed by Damien
Warren-Smith.
Garry Starr
is the comedic alter-ego of actor Damien Warren-Smith, himself an accomplished
actor whose theatre credits include appearances in a production of “Hamlet” at
Lancaster Castle. He also played the role of James in the Australian Television
series “Love My Way”.
While furthering
his acting career in the U.K. Warren-Smith studied with legendary clown teacher,
Philippe Gaulier, following which he formed a comedy troupe “Plague of Idiots”
which toured to theatre festivals around the world including the Edinburgh
Fringe.
Warren-
Smith created “Garry Starr Performs Everything” in 2018 for a season in Las
Vegas. He then toured it to Fringe Festivals in the UK and Australia garnering a
slew of awards along the way.
With his
Afro hair and Elizabethan ruff, Garry Starr is an immediately likable character.
He wears a “please love me” puppy dog expression heightened by a trick early in
the show involving catching grapes in his mouth, thrown by co-operative
audience members.
Starr’s opening
gambit, a rapid-fire soliloquy from “Hamlet”, signals his knowledge of his craft.
This impression is heightened by his mastery of clowning which comes to the
fore as he works his way through a series of delightfully silly impressions of
some thirteen theatrical genres including Burlesque; Classical Ballet,
(Pavlova’s “Dying Swan” of course), Modern Dance (Metamorphosis no less),
Euro-Theatre; (Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” and Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” both get a
work-out) and some hilarious Butoh impressions performed in a sagging G String.
Audience
participation is a major component of the show, at its best in an English
Drawing- Room scene for which the script given to his hapless volunteer, had
not separated the stage instructions from the dialogue; and an uproarious scene
from “Romeo and Juliet” that could not be completed because his Juliet was so
embarrassed that she was unable to control her urge to burst into helpless laughter.
However it
was difficult to dismiss the impression that these very willing “volunteers”
may have been plants, especially after two well-known Canberra actors bounded
on stage to participate in a spaghetti-eating ménage a trois.
But it was
the astonishing Masked-Theatre segment, which Starr performed totally naked other
than for a grotesque mask and his ever-present ruff, which not only confirmed how
far Garry Starr would go in defence of his art, but also raised a question as
to what insecurities about his talents to amuse drive such an obviously accomplished
actor as Warren-Smith to resort to nakedness rather than rely on his undoubted
theatrical skills.
Will Garry Starr's efforts succeed in saving the performing arts ? It might be necessary to have a second look before coming to a decision.
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au
