For a second year in a row, Luke Nowell has brought his brand of rib-tickling physical comedy to the Sydney Comedy Festival. Since first take part in the Festival as part of the Fresh! Program for emerging artists, the Sydney-raised but France-based comedian has been learning the tricks of the trade for some time now with master clown and pedagogue Philippe Gaulier. Accordingly his solo show pLight is a truly unique performance, made up of chucklesome vignettes of mime, gags and audience participation.
Written and directed by Nowell, the show opens with him elastically emerging from the darkness, dressed in onesie in Cookie Monster blue and lit only by a handheld globe. What follows is cheeky, unpredictable and often totally absurd. Take for instance his ‘day in the life of Sam’, an office worker, hapless romantic and terrible dancer. There’s a little bit of Sam in all of us. But Nowell doesn’t just stop there. Sunflowers, power sockets and even the Holy Communion are jested with, and all without much in the way of spoken word. And to help craft these hilariously comic episodes, he enlisted the help of the award-winning composer Jesse Watt whose soundtrack is wonderfully dynamic and expressive.
Another large part of the show is the audience participation. But for those terrified of sitting in the front row of a comedy show shouldn’t be, everything in this one man show is done in light-hearted jape. There is no teasing of outfit, taunting of job or really ridicule of any kind. Rather onlookers will be encouraged to occasionally hold a rope, wear floral headgear and squirt a tiny water gun. Intrigued? You should be. pLight is a surprising and imaginative show filled with hearteningly ridiculousness. One for the child at heart.