There are around 300 shows in the Melbourne Fringe Festival, so drawing an audience of more than just your family and friends can be tough.
This show is cerebral, brave and, at times, quite melancholy. But it’s also desperately funny.
Not so for Greek Australian performer Vachel Spirason, whose one-man comedy, The Hermitude of Angus, Ecstatic, has been playing to full houses night after night.
Not only that, but actually turning away his friends at the door.
And what’s attracting these hungry hordes? It’s the buzz.
And The Hermitude of Angus, Ecstatic lives up to the hype.
Vachel is best known for his work with local sketch comedy troupe, Vigilantelope.
He’s an incredibly talented performer, and this show puts his extensive training in flamenco and his recent clowning to impressive effect.
In The Hermitude of Angus, Ecstatic, he plays Angus, a Mr Bean-esque character who searches for the pattern to life.
His search is punctuated by a cavalcade of characters, all also played by Vachel, including the moustachioed Manobozo, a literature-loving junkie and a dancing pies fan (weren’t they all, this week?).
It’s an ambitious undertaking, and the challenge is well and truly met.
The show is co-written and produced by Steph Brotchie, who won herself a producer award for her work with Vigilantelope in last year’s Fringe Festival.
As always, her attention to detail is impressive.
The pair ought to be commended for taking a step away from the sweaty, laugh-a-minute stuff they did with Vigilantelope.
This show is cerebral, brave and, at times, quite melancholy. But it’s also desperately funny.
There were things I wanted more of: more Manabozo and more of Vachel’s musings on why crop circles don’t make headlines.
And, although there’s plenty of it in the show, too much of Vachel dancing is never enough.
And judging by the lines at the door, I’m not the only one wanting more: this show has something for everyone.
The Hermitude of Angus, Ecstatic closes in Melbourne tonight, so, like many fringe artists, you might be too late.
But this certainly won’t be the last airing this show gets.
There’s already a season planned for Brisbane’s 2High Festival, 12-13 November. Book early.