Timeless Laughs

Neal Downward's comedic curriculum vitae certainly puts him in good stead to be guiding the next generation of hilarity. in recent years he has worked on shows for renowned comedy round-ups like the Melbourne Comedy and Big Laughs festivals. After commencing in a job in the offices of the Australian Theatre For Young People, the opportunity to do just that arose, or rather, Downward pitched with a title that offered further proof of his ha ha-know-how: The Dwarf Revue, 'like The Wharf Revue, only smaller… and slightly more underground'.
“When they were programming for 2012 I noticed there wasn't really a lot of comedy on the bill,” Downward recalls with a wry laugh, “So I suggested The Dwarf Revue. I went to the artistic director Fraser [Corfield] and said, 'Hey, you know, universities do reviews, and there's a Wharf Revue, so why not have one with the ATYP kids and see how it goes?'”

With a cast of 14 ranging in age from 12 years old to a 22-year-old university student, The Dwarf Revue has been completely written and devised by the cast, with a little guidance from some of the comedians Downward had worked with in the past.

“One of the things that we really wanted to do with this show, especially because it's a sketch comedy show, we wanted to make the show their own,” Downward stresses, “So the show is actually written, completely devised by the cast. I've assisted with some of the editing of scripts and stuff like that, but everything has been written by performing members of the cast. We brought in a couple of comedians I'd worked with in the past – Jordan Raskopoulos for example, who used to work on the Ronnie Johns Half Hour, came in and did a great workshop teaching the kids about the things he found fundamentally funny about sketch comedy and how to improve their writing.”

With a general theme of 'the end of the world' and the young cast at the creative helm, The Dwarf Revue shines a light on everything from Twilight to the schoolyard, “There's also a lot of youth issues that they sort of parody and have found ways to make funny,” adds Downward. His original hypothesis that the ATYP's young members were just as capable of comedy as the more seasoned pros – Downward says this first attempt at The Dwarf Revue, which has been announced as part of the 2013 ATYP season too, was a bit of an experiment – has proven correct.

“You know what? It's not that different working with a younger cast! They say comedians are really immature people with really stunted growth, at least mentally, and I think I've got proof now,” Downward jokes. “These guys, they're not all that different from the comedians I've worked with, and it's amazing – maybe the first week we had a bit of trouble getting them writing up to the standard that we could go back and be proud of, but after that, it was like writing with the teams of comedians that I have been working with for years – they really got it. It doesn't have to start with the sort of Cambridge Footlights Revue, it can start as early as 12 as we've seen.”

WHAT: The Dwarf Revue
WHERE & WHEN: Wednesday 12 to Saturday 15 December, Australian Theatre For Young People, Studio 1