Saturday 7 October 2023

Jazz Or A Bucket Of Blood review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

It seems to be an unwritten rule that the later your Fringe Festival show is scheduled, the more outlandish and wacky the show will be. Jazz or a Bucket of Blood is a great example of this. Performed by Ange Lavoipierre and Jane Watt, the hour of sketch comedy takes us to some weird but extremely amusing places with the two performers (hopefully) playing extremely heightened versions of themselves.

The matching outfits of grey shorts and blue shirts give them a childlike disposition, like they are wearing a school uniform, lending some credibility to them being somewhat naive and innocent with what they say and do. Some. Because a lot of what they say and do is very much on the other side of that spectrum. Try Lavoipierre's instructions on how to make friends and you'll probably realise this is most definitely not the way to make friends - but a great way to endear yourselves to the audience in your comedy show.

The show is a mix of sketches that exist just to make us laugh as we zip and zap from idea to idea. Sometimes we revisit it and sometimes we move on as quickly as we got to it. Somethings link together and others are completely random. The two have been performing this show for quite some time but it's evident that are still having a great time with it. The few instances where they corpse or decide to improvise with and surprise their partner feels like they are just as much in the dark as to what is going to happen next as we are. I was fascinated by "Ange" and "Jane" in this show and incredibly intrigued to see how they would operate in the real world.

So is it jazz or a bucket of blood? It doesn't matter. It's both. It's neither. Enjoy the jazz. Enjoy the blood. Enjoy the show. This kind of looseness and freedom in sketch is difficult to nail, but to have your audience laughing and participating in a show late into the night on a school night means you're doing something incredibly well.

Click here for our interview with Ange Lavoipierre and Jane Watt

Show Details

Venue: Trades Hall, Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton
Season: until 8 October | Wed - Sat 9:45pm, Sun 8:45pm
Duration: 50 minutes
Tickets: $28.50 Full | $25.0 Concession | Hump Day Discount (Wednesday) $21.38
Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Image Credit: Monica Pronk

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