By Sophia Zikic
Describing themselves as “the Kindergarten of Australian Comedy”, the Law Revue is an institution with impressive credentials. Alumni of previous shows include Magda Szubanski, Libbi Gorr, Shaun Micaleff, Tom Gleisner, Sammy J, Celia Pacquola and Steve Vizard, as well as Cate Blanchett. Rocking up to the doors of the Comedy Republic to see the 69th Annual Law Revue “Laugh Actually”—absolutely no relation at all to Love Actually (2003)—knowing that information, one can’t help but wondering if the cast about to perform contains the next big thing. Maybe—it remains to be seen…
For those unfamiliar, the Law Revue is a traditionally structured comedy variety show—a series of skits, with different parts played by the same actors. Ruby Rawlings, Finn McGrath, Elliot Wood, Meg Mitchell, Anna Spark, Pascale Fester, Steph Teitelbaum, George Samios, Vertika Batra and Isabelle Staiger-Creed were this year’s group of all-stars—directed by Law Revue veterans Finn McGrath and Ruby Rawlings, and produced by Laura McKinzie and Shu Zhan—whose performances were incredible. There’s a lot of impressive talent in the cast, and the entire show was exceptionally tight. Everything seemed to go perfectly, though this may be a testament to the improvisational ability of the performers themselves. Like most comedy shows, the stage was a simple black-box theatre space, with sets no more sophisticated than a set of chairs. The actors did a commendable job of selling various settings with minimal lighting and a few neatly tied-in song choices, and then subsequently breaking the rules of those settings to great effect.
It took some time to warm up to the humour, but within the first few sketches I was laughing along with the rest of the crowd. The style of comedy ranged between satire and absurdism, and felt very local and specific, with many of the jokes revolving around Melbourne characters, politics and suburb stereotypes, such as a group of upper-class white women at a book club and Brunswick renters (who, in my opinion, deserve what they get!). Again, the performances of these characters by the actors were the best part of the show for me. That being said, because of the specificity, I’m unsure of how accessible some of the humour was. The show was developed by and for Melbournians, which isn’t an issue in itself, but if you’re from out of town, it might not be the show for you.
Beyond the initial premise of the sketches, the writing itself was witty and fast-paced. Sometimes the jokes were a step ahead of the audience, and the laughs took a moment to begin while we worked out the punchline, which was a testament to how clever the writing was. My personal favourite sketches were George Samios’ incredibly niche Russian-in-joke stand-up routine (and his subsequent tirade about how bad of an audience we were) and literally any scene Steph Teitelbaum was in, even (or perhaps, especially) the extended, absurdist dance routine to ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ from The Sound of Music, dressed in a dirndl and a cheap blonde wig, though again, and I cannot stress this enough, all of the performers were absolute powerhouses. At times I did struggle to see some of the action on stage, though this is of course also a limitation of the space itself. It’s a shame, because some of the best gags were entirely visual—in that same “Goatherd” skit, another cast member kept jumping out of the wings, revealing that their dirndl was open down the back—but, as I was seated close to the back of the theatre, I have no idea if the audience screamed because the performer mooned us, or if they did a different gag entirely.
Some of the sketches felt a bit long, with the jokes being a little played out by the end of the scene. Maybe a little incongruously, I also thought that a few of the characters were a little unfocused—at times, I think that certain concepts could have been extended even further, with even more absurdism. But the 2022 Law Revue team had enormous shoes to fill, and they met and surpassed the high expectations of the audience.
I’m glad I saw it. Even the jokes that didn’t land with me personally, I could appreciate them, and the Law Revue is one of the tightest comedy shows I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to consider the performers “amateur” comedians in any way, despite the Law Revue calling itself a “kindergarten”. Congratulations to the team, including the directors and producers, on pulling together this impressive show. Maybe the next big thing really is in this cast. Or maybe not. It remains to be seen.
The 69th annual Law Revue production Laugh, Actually ran August 30th to September 3rd at Comedy Republic.
Sophia Zikic (they/she) is a student, writer and theatre enthusiast living in Naarm/Melbourne. As well as in The Dialog, their work can be found in Lot’s Wife and Farrago.
The Dialog 