It’s been five years since Brisbane company Act/React debuted their loving parody of the 1994 action thriller 'Speed'.
It involves everything fans love about the original film: a bomb, a bus (yep – an actual bus!) and heart-stopping action. Plus, audiences will be placed right in the centre of the plot!Here, Producer and Co-Writer Natalie Bochenski chats about its imminent return to the Brisbane Comedy Festival.
Like a mad bomber, bent on revenge against Keanu Reeves, you’re back! Tell us why.
We are, and so excited to be! 'Speed: The Movie, The Play' was a crazy idea Dan Beeston, Greg Rowbotham and I had, and to see it come to life in 2015 was so thrilling. Act/React as a company has had a really great creative run since then, including our other parodies, 'Titanic: The Movie, The Play' and most recently 'Die Hard: The Movie, The Play'. As I turned my thoughts towards Brisbane Comedy Festival 2020, I just couldn’t stop thinking about bringing 'Speed' back. It’s the show Act/React gets the most requests to bring back to Brisbane, as it was a bit of a sleeper hit in 2015, and by the time word of mouth had got around, it had sold out. So it’s wonderful to bring it back to where it all began, five years on!
Has 'Speed' been anywhere else since?
We toured the show to Perth Fringe World in January 2017, where it was a big hit. We were then asked to remount it for the Sydney Fringe Festival in September 2019, and that was crazy! The show sold out before we even got down there, and we ended up getting a slightly bigger bus so we could fit more people on per show. We’ve also just wrapped up an encore season at Perth Fringe World, which again was another sell-out. Audiences just love jumping on board our vintage buses and being plunged into this high-octane, low-budget adventure.
Perth season - Image © John Marshall
Can audiences expect the same bus as the first Brisbane season?
Sadly, no! Our beloved 1978 Volvo B59 was the victim of freak flash flooding in that big storm we had just before Christmas. It had been parked at Woolloongabba awaiting a fresh coat of paint and general glow-up when it got caught by the water. It’s currently undergoing assessment on its future. We couldn’t believe that rotten luck! Thankfully, our friends at the Queensland Omnibus & Coach Society (QOCS) will be loaning us a beautiful Leyland Panther as our new bus. She’s glorious, and another example of why we’re so proud of partnering with QOCS and other bus preservation societies around Australia to do this show. The buses themselves really are the biggest star – aside from Keanu, of course.
Has the love for Keanu Reeves dimmed?
If anything, it’s increased! And 2020 is going to be even bigger – people are already calling 21 May 'Keanu Reeves Day' because that’s when 'John Wick 4' and 'The Matrix 4' are released. People just adore our Keanu in the show; they cheer him on, give him cheek, the whole box and dice. This show is just a joy to do because when audiences realise they can play with us, it’s magic.
