Snakes Alive

Darren Lever probably has the best job title ever: he's a wildlife presenter-slash-actor-slash-comedian – frankly, it seems a more appropriate title would be all-'round-cool-guy, but that might not fit on his designated staff badge. Regardless, Lever is bringing his performance Man Vs Wildlife to this year's Fringe Festival, and he honestly doesn't know what to expect. “I don't even know why I'm doing it anymore! Who takes live animals on stage anyway?!” he jests.

But there's a good reason he's doing it, and amongst more serious ones, there's the fact that nobody's done it before. “Once you reach a certain age you stop getting amazed by these creatures – well, some of us do, anyway – but I wanted to bring that amazement back with adults, and get them thinking about a conservation message through the incredible wildlife we have,” he continues. “I thought the best way to do that would be through humour. ”

The show will feature crocodiles, pythons, goannas and frogs amongst other things. “The python I'm using is actually an endangered species,” he says. So was the breed of crocodile featured in Lever's show, though “it's a survivor” of government-implemented habitat protection and a successful breeding program. “Now it's gone the other way and there's too many of them,” he laughs. “But that's what happens when you protect the ultimate predator, they kind of TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!”

The performance assumes an interesting name choice too, as it was Darren and his colleagues who supplied the python for the Melbourne leg of Bear Grylls' Australian stage show. “I got to work with him when he was in Melbourne,” Lever recalls. “And risk assessment made us analyse the worst possible scenarios, and the worst possible scenario was that the snake strangles and kills Bear Grylls – and we thought, yes, that is the worst possible thing that could happen here.”

But the list of animal-related disasters is thankfully limited for Lever. “The worst thing I've had happen was that a python went down my shirt, and came out my shirt and basically ripped my sleeve. Because they're that strong…”

But with the animal handling covered, Lever also has extensive theatrical training, with a long history at Melbourne's La Mama Theatre. “The experience that really transformed me was probably playing Richard III in an outdoor production. It was a weird adaptation of Richard III where I basically spoke for two-thirds of the play! Because, you know, Richard III doesn't have enough lines as it is, so the director decided that I should say all the stage directions as well. Oh, and I was on stage for the entire play.”

Comedy's covered too, with Lever “just falling into that”, and after falling, proceeding to the state finals of triple j's RAW Comedy competition. “So I'm the funniest New South Welshman in Victoria!” he says.

Following the Fringe Festival, Lever intends on “sleeping for about three weeks”, but also had some important parting words. “I do actually encourage people who have a fear of snakes to come along too. Because there's only one snake, so they can close their eyes for five minutes. Not only that, but it can be a great way for people to get over their fear… Don't be put off, they've been given a bad name for the past few thousand years, that's all.”