Monday, December 08, 2008

YING TONG

The first time I saw Geoff Kelso perform I noticed something. The venue was a Melbourne comedy room called The Banana Lounge.
About a year later, I saw him in a small room in Perth. He was in a small troupe featuring a couple of tall performers, one of whom was Damien O'Doherty and another was Dave Warner.
I approached him and said: "You like Spike Milligan, don't you?"
He said: "Does it show?"
Well it did. And it still does.
It is almost over, so if you haven't seen it, do so, now.
Ying Tong, a walk with the Goons.
It's not a stack of Goon show scripts performed by wonderful comic actors, it's a play, and Geoff Kelso is Spike Milligan, in all his tortured glory.
Others alongside Geoff are the brilliant Jonathan Biggins, the excellent David James, and the finest John Hannan.
Ying Tong is sad, funny, hilarious, brilliant, emotional, uplifting, inspiring, and worth it's admission price.
It was written by a British stand-up comic and playwrite, Roy Smiles. He might have had Geoff Kelson in mind when he wrote it.
Ying Tong is a Black Swan Theatre production and is on at His Majesty's, the perfect venue.
Check it out here: Black Swan

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