Welcome to the quaint 50’s town of Meteoropolis, home to a dozen or more skilled candlestick makers, a talented vaper and (cue shock) an approaching meteor.
Science Revue’s production It Came From Planet Space delivered all that it promised and more –a*spoiler alert* a rumbling wrestling match between President Elvis – who is still a more appropriate choice than Trump – and a meteor, a detailed ditty about sex with robots, and a catchy biology lesson of those pesky ‘anteaters’. Directors Bruno Dubosarsky and Declan Maher managed to pull off an extraordinarily entertaining show, filled with a nice balance of comedic wit and slapstick humour. The decision to replace the efforts of special effects with ‘the vaper dude’ proved to be the show’s surprising secret weapon –the hilarity of a cardboard cut-out Elvis or a dummy hanging to the appropriate tune of ‘its raining men’ set the audience into fits of laughter.
Whilst the Beyoncé skit of the-beat-will-never drop may have left me oddly traumatised and led me to the improbable conclusion that Beyoncé is not always a good choice, the show featured many stand-out performances. Theo Murray delivered his sketch of a man with an absurd fetish for security bag checks oh so flawlessly, with the line ‘the bag’ sure to send anyone into uncontrollable laughter. But congratulations must be given to the band, whose ingenious ability to incorporate kazoos and messenger tones into their music served to remind us why science revues are so great.
To my dismay, however, the Avatar dance number did not live up to its expectations. As a childhood classic for many, the excited hoots at the start of the performance soon altered to looks of confusion. The effortless skill of all the dancers involved and the elegant choreography did not go unnoticed, despite the dance’s conceptual oddity.
It Came From Planet Space took its audience on an out-of-this-world adventure through time and space, sharing necessary insight into the handiness of a milk crate –if you turn it upside down you have yourself a handy milk-carrying device, just how great knees really are, and lets not forget – the power of Elvis. To all those part of the Science Revue –“Thank you, thank you very much uh-huh.’
