Poncho: Keep it Up! review | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Malthouse Theatre

It's been five years since Dani Cabs' alter ego Poncho graced Melbourne stages and in that time, while he has definitely matured, his humour has fortunately not waned. In Poncho: Keep it Up!, our charming, orange, good-times seeker brings a mix of physical comedy, clowning and storytelling discussing ideas on who we are and what we should strive to be, that are equally entertaining and honest.

Armed with just a rack consisting of a variety of orange clothing on the stage, all eyes are on Poncho, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Poncho feeds off audience interaction and welcomes the occasional impromptu comment or laughter from the audience. Cabs is so comfortable in his Poncho skin that he is never thrown by audience suggestions or responses and remains and responds in character to whatever happens.

Cabs possesses great comedic timing and shares genuine engagement with his audience. During his storytelling/spoken word moments, even behind the facade of this Latin clown, there are interesting observations and statements made about identity and society that are even more potent given the comedic lens they are told through.

Weekend at Barnie's review - Melbourne International Comedy Festival

How much hijinks can a dead man get up to? Quite a lot if you are Dani Cabs and Barnie Duncan. Using the cult classic 80s film Weekend at Bernie's as the premise for their new Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, Weekend At Barnie's has Cabs (Poncho Orange) and Duncan flexing their physical theatre and clowning skills in a way that would make Bernie very proud.

Duncan is brilliant as a stiff and really allows his body to be flung left, right and centre by Cabs, and various people from the audience, to create some ridiculously entertaining moments. Cabs play off Duncan's antics perfectly and while performing the relatively 'straight' man role of the two, he still manages to bring his own quirks into the character.

Poncho Orange review - Melbourne International Comedy Festival

He appears from the darkness, shrouded in an orange sheet. As he stumbles through the audience, knocking over chairs and tripping onto the stage, the sheet comes off to reveal a man in an orange hooded poncho, orange speedo, and orange socks and shoes. This is Poncho Orange. And in his self-titled show presented as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, this sensual Latin lover explores all things silly and absurd with his captivated audience.

The creation of Dani Cabs, Poncho Orange is a number of sketches around clowning, improvisation and audience participation. Cabs does well in creating a safe space for his audience where everyone feel comfortable in being part of the show. Some of the highlights come from the audience's unexpected actions and responses, and then seeing Cabs' surprise to this.

Poncho Orange - Melbourne International Comedy Festival preview

Dani Cabs is part Latin-lover and part human pleasure-machine who can't wait to unleash his unique brand of comedy and clowning to audiences during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival - or at least his alter ego Poncho Orange can't. The self-titled audience interaction focused show is unscripted and improvised with Cabs hoping that audiences open themselves up to go along for the ride in his unforgettable tale of passion, desire and pure silliness.

Cabs hadn't always wanted to be a performer and originally studied photography where he completed an Honours degree at the Queensland College of Art, and subsequently began lecturing on the craft. The change to performing was a gradual realisation but one that was a natural progression for Cabs. "While studying photographic art I always came up with projects where I had to put myself in front of the camera and play silly games with video, stop motion, and so on," he tells me. "I guess my practice heavily involved self portraiture but it wasn't until I was simultaneously working as a lecturer in photography - performing to my students everyday - and studying my honours, that I realised I was interested more in the performance aspect of my projects than the documentation. So I've always been performing - the only difference is - I now perform to live audiences as well as cameras."