It came and saw and conquered from Planet Space

Photo of Vape King, Tim McNaught

Science Revue’s 2016 production, It Came From Planet Space, was the least offensive and most wholesome revue I have ever seen. At least until the second half, when vocalist Katina Selvaraj sang a ballad detailing how she had fucked all the robots from here to Tatooine.

Despite this, the revue was heartwarming and quite a refreshing reprieve from the sex-crazed Turnbull-bashing one so often finds in Sydney Uni revues.

In fact, Malcolm would be impressed by the revue’s ‘innovative’ recurring themes, namely, technology and space. This was fitting, since the overarching plot of the show focused on a small town, Meteoropolis, with a big problem – a meteor was hurtling rapidly towards it and threatening to kill everyone, apart from the members of Crowded House.

Meteoropolis itself was just your average 1950s suburb, with a butcher, a baker, two-dozen candlestick makers, a resident astronomer, and a professional vaper.

The revue included touching tales of overcoming adversity, such as the story of Ken and his struggles to build Barbie’s Dream House. Despite crying about how his hands were mittens, Ken proved that teamwork always wins out, as he recruited an army of Kens to help build the Dream House, including the hero, ‘has-knees-Ken’, played by the endlessly enjoyable Will Edwards.

While many of the sketches were endearing, many of them dragged on for too long without a punch line, and perhaps just a little more edginess wouldn’t have gone astray.

The biggest strengths of Science Revue were no doubt the band and the dancers. The band stood centre stage for the entire show – a spot they rightfully earned.

The choreographers and dancers deserve huge congratulations, as they managed to craft dance numbers that impressed even this reviewer, who studied dance for fifteen years. However, two of the best dance numbers – one set to the Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s opening credits, and the other seemingly a zombie apocalypse – seemed out of place in a comedy show, having no punch line and leaving the audience more confused than anything else.

Overall, Declan Maher and Bruno Dubosarsky‘s Science Revue taught the audience moral lessons, as well as biology ones. Did you know that an anteater’s tongue flicks 150 times per minute? You would have if you had taken the free ticket I offered you and come to enjoy a touching night of theatre with me.