Adelaide Fringe: KRAKEN

The skit that opens Trygve Wakenshaw’s KRAKEN is so inspired, so sublimely absurd, that we could’ve have walked out completely satisfied if the show had ended then and there. The ensuing 55 minutes of uniquely psychedelic physical comedy was a welcome bonus!

In many ways, this is a sequel to Wakenshaw’s popular solo debut Squidboy. The protagonist muscles, mimes and mimics way his through incongruent scenarios linked by morphing sound effects and gestures that follow their own bizarre logic. One moment he sizzles cutlets of his own flesh on a gas grill, the next he is a cobra goofily grooving to a snake charmer’s horn. At various hilarious points he loses a violent boxing match, regurgitates food for his avian young, and discovers -- then murders -- a defenseless unicorn.

Wakenshaw trained with French master clown and professor of theatre Phillipe Gaulier for two years, perfecting a hilariously cartoonish, rubber-faced expressions. Early Jim Carrey is an obvious touchstone, but Wakenshaw’s style seems more nuanced, honed and studied: his mimicry of several birds during the show is particularly outstanding.

It’s a wild journey that barely makes sense, but Wakenshaw holds it together with his impressive physicality and a healthy dose of silliness. His audience really has no choice but to surrender to the surreal and thoroughly enjoy the ride.

Le Cascadeur, Garden Of Unearthly Delights to 15 Mar