Lenny Bruce -13 Daze Un-Dug In Sydney 1962

Playwright Benito di Fonzo proved his ability to put biography on stage with The Chronic Ills Of Robert Zimmerman, an affectione and investigative look at the life of Bob Dylan. This time around it's 'sick' American comedian, the potty-mouthed philosopher Lenny Bruce that has been put under the microscope.

Reliving a tumultuous trip down under in 1962 Sam Haft plays Bruce as he hosts his own history, piecing together the finer details of the tour from a host of bit players – a news reader, a show promoter, a club owner, countless other performers – that give wonderful shape to the slightly backwards Australia of the early-'60s that Bruce found himself in.

As the jazz-influenced outspoken showman Haft is brilliant, a spark in the warm reds of the set – Andrea Espinoza's design part jazz club, part speakeasy, all cool – the momentum of his speech mesmerising, his effortless cool emphasised with each pose or flash of his hands as he disinterestedly milks another laugh. He is – and this can't be said with nearly the conviction Haft achieves – a genuine 'cat'.

Through snippets of performance, a series of news stories, musical interludes and the other myriad pieces of patchwork depiction, Bruce's two weeks of terror are painted with the aid of Lenore Munro Damien Strouthos, and Dorje Swallow all juggling multiple roles as the man himself would probably recall them – fractured, funny, and more than a little fucked up.

Bondi Pavilion to Saturday 4 May.