Pass the Parcel! review | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Tasma Terrace

It's the biggest party of the year and only those who celebrate a birthday are invited. Meg and Elliot have gone all out with decorations, outfits and most importantly, party games. However, there's only one party game to be played in this show, and that's pass the parcel. Presented by Meg Taranto and Elliot Wood, Pass the Parcel! is an interactive examination of power, rules and disappointment through the perspective of a children's party game.

Taranto and Wood are a perfect pairing who have a strong focus on making each other look good. Their energies and personalities are contrasting and complementary and there is not a single misstep in their portrayals. Taranto is absolutely captivating as the hyper excited and super eager keen bean that not only wants to win all the prizes but be involved in the entirety of the game. Wood on the other hand is the slightly more pragmatic one with a touch of spitefulness and nasty. A nasty boy. To be clear though, there are plenty of times when they both need to be put into the naughty corner.

Mansion review

We’ve all heard things that go bump in the night, and the majority of the time it is simply our imagination. But what happens when those bumps turn into a never-ending nightmare? That’s what Mel Walker and her two children find themselves facing after they move home following the death of her husband and father to Levi and Rachel. Presented by Bass Fam Creative, this second installment in a trilogy of works focusing on love, Mansion is an immersive dance theatre horror experience that explores what it means to love, grieve and mourn.

This site specific work has sourced the perfect location for Mansion: Labassa Mansion in Caulfield. Built in the 1800s, the Victorian era mansion has had over 135 people call it home, and at one point it was divided up into flats and housed Hollywood’s first Australian silent film star. There are countless stories to be told, and not just from the living. The dead have plenty left to say and through dance and circus, the family encounter – and are terrorised by - its previous inhabitants. We are guided by the ground's Caretaker, who leads us from room to room in this winding and maze-like property as everything starts to unravel.