Ron review – Ted Walliker's standup swerves into Tarantino-esque odyssey

The Lead

Watching a comedian crumble onstage is hellish. In Ted Walliker's new play, the performer's breakdown is deliberate but the show's wider ambitions miss their mark.

The Event Details

Pitched as a standup set that swivels into an absurd faux-confessional, this first foray into co-production for Riverside Studios is a one-man tangent. The trouble starts with how quickly the framing device of a standup show is shoved aside.

The Performance

When bumbling posh-boy comedian Tony (Walliker) fails to get the laughs he wants, he tries on a tougher persona and launches into a violent story of misadventure with Mike, his best friend, long-time crush and all-round scoundrel.

The Impact Analysis

Into this second show we leap: a slapdash, Tarantino-esque odyssey told with non sequiturs and a total lack of consequences. The lightly told tale arbitrarily ticks off kidnaps, gangsters and cannibalism, with some thinly written nods to unrequited love as Tony avoids telling us what's really wrong.

The Prediction

There are big, bold expressions of creativity here. The most striking comes with the extravagant reveal of the set, hinting at the story coming to life around Tony, or at him falling too far into his own telling. Walliker has given himself a gargantuan task in writing, performing and co-directing the show (with Lev Govorovski, with whom he also designed the set and costumes), as well as doing the lighting and sound.