Alzheimers the Musical & Lawrence Leung

Edit: Updated scores.

Other committments kept me away from the Comedy Festival on Thursday, but by Friday night I was raring to go, making my way to Trades Hall for my first installment of Comedy@Trades, the remarkably successful independent program that, in just its second year, is challenging the official Festival Club as a late-night meeting place, while simultaneously creating a hub for alternatives to traditional stand-up comedy.

In the company of a girlfriend, Cerise, our first show for the night was Alzheimers the Musical: A Night to Remember. This three-woman show, performed by Lyn Shakespeare, Maureen Sherlock and Carole Velland, combined sketch comedy with cleverly re-worked songs (Skyhook's 'Living in the 70s' became 'Living in my 70s' for example) to explore life from a senior citizen's perspective. Well-delivered jokes about aging, memory loss and society's attitudes towards the elderly were delivered with charisma and panache, although one or two interludes, including attempts at poignancy and the jarring appearence of a granddaughter character, didn't gel with the bulk of the performers' material. Nonetheless, a rich, warm and well-delivered show. Three throaty chuckles out of five. (Trades Hall season now concluded)

Having missed the first 10 minutes of our next show, Cerise and I elected to retire to the bar for a snack and a drink - and I'll quickly note at this point that the red wine left a lot to be desired, but that conversely, the champagne, while expensive at $9 a glass, is very good bubbly indeed.

Thereafter, suitably restored, we strolled into Lawrence Leung Learns to Breakdance, in which the engaging Leung takes us through his quest to compete with his brother in the cool stakes. Having previously only seen Leung performing in tandem with his occasional partner, Andrew McClelland, I was looking forward to seeing him solo, and wasn't disappointed. Via a powerpoint presentation, video, and a manically-paced delivery, Leung explored various aspects of 'cool', including fashion skills, picking up chicks, and, in the show's most audacious moment, a very public exercise in humiliation and hilarity staged before a potentially hostile crowd at Federation Square. Despite my vague sense afterwards that the show tended towards the slight, this was nonetheless an extremely funny show whose predominantly young crowd were clearly enjoying themselves enormously. Three and a half thigh-slapping guffaws out of five. (Trades Hall til Sunday 29)

Afterwards there followed more champagne, excellent conversation, adventures in The Photobooth, singing along to songs by 80s Enough, and finally, a happy walk home through the Carlton Gardens being watched by suspicious possums convinced Cerise and I were ne'er do wells...