Dance Of The Flame Retardant Monkey
Note: This review is from 2007
Review by Steve Bennett
Irish expat Dave Callan has certainly been ambitious with the scope of Dance Of The Flame Retardant Monkey, taking in a range of well-meaning New Agey philosophies from collective consciousness to reincarnation to back up his fundamental messages against consumerism and general twatishness.Its not really stand-up, but a jumbled narrative story, starting with Callan discovering he’s half-man, half-clownfish, then striking a deal with Beelzebub (who appears in the form of the Microsoft paperclip) to ensure a ‘successful Fringe show, full houses and rave reviews’. Flashback to an earlier life, when he’s a World War One soldier who dies in the trenches after mistaking a hand-grenade for a potato masher. In limbo, he must prove he’s a ‘self-realised being’ to earn him chakra points and a new corporeal body, that of the current Dave Callan. All the while, a TV talking-head commentator attempts – and largely fails – to explain the whole messy story.
Although the general gist shines through, it’s too baffling to even attempt to follow any thread, which isn’t helped by Callan’s utter inability to do characters, all of which share the same overpowering Irish accent and have no variation in personality. Extended surrealist rants punctuate the show, which do little to aid understanding, but are often bizarrely funny. His digression into the world of Russian arthouse film, apros pro of nothing, is particularly impressive.
His sarcastic silliness and self-important pontificating also provide the laughs, though his repeated trick of sombrely intoning song lyrics as if they are great philosphies isn’t as funny as he seems to think. The novelty has long worn out by the time Edwin Starr’s War (What It Isn’t Good For) provides the verbatim script for a TV news two-way.
Sometimes, too, the message overpowers the comedy. A spoof advert for diamonds, highlighting the link between atrocities in bloody African civil war is an excellent point, but there’s nothing funny about it.
But for its many faults, there is a lot to commend this strange, diabolical Dance. Its wilfully esoteric rationale, its all-encompassing scope and its unique digressions make for a distinctive experience.
All Callan really needs is a decent director to channel all his big ideas and creative flights of fantasy into something more coherent and less indulgent. Then this could be a truly impressive show.
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Adelaide, March 2007
Review date: 28 Mar 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
