Image: supplied
Evoking similarities to the highly successful Faulty Towers: The Dining experience with a dinner format that has been performing at Perth FringeWorld for several years now, The Singing French Detective is on upstairs in the smaller room of Rigby’s Bar as part of Fringeworld 2015.
In small tables of eight, one of the best aspects of the evening was the convivial conversation created by this round table intimacy, even if the food was pretty ordinary. The background music was suitably French and there was heightened anticipation for the show to start.
In an understated overcoat and shoe shuffle type performance, Clayton Sinclair swings on stage and starts a rather complicated story about masquerading as a busker based at the Paris Metro. The character Anatole De Latour is billed as a detective, but he also convincingly morphs into various other characters. There are elements of romance, sentimentality, and nostalgia about young boys growing up together. Sinclair evokes a certain pathos with his renditions.
However the narrative is not clear. There are references to a ‘psychic connection’ and hints at the Columbo homage in Sinclair’s script, but confusing overall. At the end of the evening, there was a question mark for our table over the detective element of the show. It is really more a series of stories, very charmingly strung together and performed by Sinclair whose French accent only occasionally strays back to Australia.
The highlight of the evening is the musical interludes. Sinclair is compelling when he sings, with his light warm tenor adapting to suit the style of each song, commencing with a quite beautiful rendition of Ave Maria. In terms of technical issues, the evening is reasonably well structured with two acts, though the performance could have started a little sooner. There was some technical glitches with microphone and sound desk that were a temporary distraction. For me, the major issue was in the ‘lights up’ approach, which even though necessary when serving the dinner, is not necessary during the play and hence the performance loses a little from this lack of atmosphere. Overall this is a light entertaining night out.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The Singing French Detective
Rigbys Bar, Verandah Room, Perth FringeWorld
Created and Performed by Clayton Sinclair
Sound by Michelle Roggett
Design by Jane Thornton
19 – 20 February 2015
