Antidotes to pedestrian stand-up can be found across the Comedy Festival, but few are more refreshingly strange than Stevl Shefn and His Translator Fatima, the brainchild of 2003 Raw Comedy winner Steve Sheehan.
As the be-suited Shefn, Sheehan is a socially awkward yet enthusiastic stranger who tells increasingly surreal stories in an unknown language. The mellifluous, burqa-clad Fatima (Colleen Cross) translates his every word. Or does she? Laughter is initially generated by Shefn’s babbled tirades and Fatima’s concise summaries of what is said, but gradually this one-note joke is layered and developed in wryly humorous ways.
Stories of Shefn’s hermaphrodite lover and his mother’s adult shop segue abruptly into increasingly absurd routines about swinging cats and animal housemates. Sheehan’s subtle clowning, precise physical comedy, and an array of props generate additional laughs. The show’s highlight is a twice-translated gag involving Shefn’s girlfriend, a vacuum cleaner. A compellingly odd performance.
Three and a half stars
Tue-Sat 7.15pm, Sun 6.15pm
$15 - $22
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