'The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged)' is coming to the Brisbane Arts Theatre.
Co-Directed by Braydon Mengel, who previously directed 'You’ve Got Hate Mail' at the Brisbane Arts Theatre in mid-2018, and actor Jake Desumma, 'The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged)' is set to be full of laughs, telling the story of comedy throughout history in a way you cannot be angry with. Filled with Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Vaudeville, Moliere, and Charlie Chaplin bits to late-night talk show gags, the play really gets to the nitty gritty of comedy and why we need to laugh more often.
“'The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged)' is about why people should learn to laugh. The show focuses a lot on where comedy started and how it got to here, while at the same time why making fun of things is funny in the first place,” Braydon says. “Ultimately it looks at the world and the state that it's in at the moment, and how everything could be a little bit better if we try to learn to laugh at things more often and not take things so seriously.”
“It very much plays with themes of life and death, testing the audience and how they would react to certain situations and if they react to them in a positive way, rather than a negative way. That's what we're really trying to push with the show,” Jake follows.
Wanting to bring the performance to life at the Brisbane Arts Theatre, both Braydon and Jake wanted to challenge themselves, as well as the audience.
Braydon explains.
“I wanted to bring this show to life because comedy is something that we are exposed to a lot in this day and age of the internet, and yet we also tend to take for granted.
“There is a lot of discourse for what things are funny, and things that aren't funny, as well as things we should and shouldn't talk about and I think the show at least tries to give a good message about bridging the gap and bringing people together.”
“It's a very fast-paced show with a lot of costume changes, and so, along with that is a lot of different voices and impersonations which you don't see often in typical plays. So just to be able to adapt that, particularly with the current state of society in the sense that are very hyper-sensitive to situations and how we react very negatively.” Jake says.
If you’ve been wondering why the chicken crossed the road, this play is for you, because in 'The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged)', they deliver six different answers for that very question, but you will have to watch to find out.
