Good clean fun

Great theatre plays with extremes, toys with your emotions and batters your eyes and ears, and by that definition, GOOD CLEAN FUN by Caravan of Doom qualifies as great theatre, as it does all those things, and more!

The Red Rattler plays host to this trio of madness, who take over the club like a mad circus side show.

The Caravan consists of Captain Ruin, Svetlana and Blue, who run around, jump around, flip, flop and flail around as they stick things in their noses, use power tools in dangerous and questionable ways, and use each other as acrobatic equipment, among many other things in between.

Highlights include Blue’s stomach being chainsawed open by Captain Ruin to reveal baked beans, popcorn and a small trumpet. Her body is then carried to a talk show host’s set and offered as refreshment for his guest.

“Clown?” Captain Ruin asks, as he picks a piece of popcorn out of her guts.

Blue shows off her love for power drills as she pushes a running Black & Decker up her nose in what was one of the sexiest displays I have ever seen between a woman and an electrical tool (yes, even with the internet and its acres of porn).

Svetlana soars through the show one part angel, three parts devil, sweet one minute, rioting and roaring the next. S/He is the cosmic jester, the eternal fool, very well practiced and a born performer, and his/her highlights are far too many to mention.
Not to say that Captain Ruin and Blue were slackers, heavens no!

All three put on fantastic performances, pushing their bodies and the audiences’ perceptions to the limit.

As for the audience, we weren’t allowed to sit by like slacked jawed yokels, as we were all called up to carry Blue as she ascended to the heights of fame in Hollywood (only to come slinking back once she found out who else was there), catch eggs to see if they were real, or watch them splat on the floor, and a few of us were also called onto the stage to act out the mechanisms of the Capitalist Machine, of which the out-come was excreted by Svetlana into a bowl. And no, it didn’t come out of his/her mouth.

GOOD CLEAN FUN carries with it some excellent social satire and some welcome digs at politics and fame, something what has been missing from the popular mindset since the relief of the unhung parliament and end of Masterchef, and for this they should be, and were, applauded for.

The show also delights in playing with the audience, particularly their reactions and emotions. The Caravan of Doom know they have a huge amount of control over us and use it to the utmost advantage. For this reviewer, it made the show go above and beyond, and along with the happy vibe mixed with the unsettling content (with nary a whisper of evil), pushed and pulled him around both physically and mentally.

If you don’t manage to catch them this time around, be sure to put The Caravan of Doom on your ‘to see’ list for next time, and as bad as the cliché sounds, they must be seen to be believed.

The Caravan of Doom

Tickets available at the venue.