I Love Money review | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | The Motley Bauhaus

Money does indeed make the world go round, and in I Love Money, Jett Bond presents a show that revolves all around money. The sketch comedy explores money through various perspectives and ideas from retirement parties, greedy landlords and a magician who can make cash disappear with a click of their fingers.

Bond's energy is at sky high levels that is maintained with the eccentric characters we meet and the peculiar worlds we are introduced to. The show comes to a slight pause a couple of times due to technical issues, and for one that is as pre-recorded sound dependent as this, it could cause quite a problem, but Bond treats it like a small inconvenience and continues on with the sketch, with audience members spontaneously jumping in to add sound effects at one point.

The Money review

"Are you a benefactor or a silent witness?" That is the question we are asked upon entering Kaleider's The Money. Presented as part of Melbourne Festival, the show is a live experiment on the way society works and how people with different background and experiences can come together for a common goal.

Those who choose to be - or become - benefactors sit in the middle of the chambers in the Prahran Town Hall. They each provide $20 to the kitty and have 60 minutes to decide what to do with the money. The money cannot be given to a registered charity, the money cannot be split, it must be spent on legal activity and it must be a unanimous decision between the benefactors. Other than that, we can do whatever we choose.

Small Time Criminals - Pop Up Playground

Ever wanted to rob a bank? Well now you can, and it's absolutely legal! The fun and creative minds at Pop Up Playground are about to unleash "Small Time Criminals" to the people of Melbourne. This real world simulation game requires teams of up to six players to infiltrate a bank, steal as much as they can and escape by completing various games, puzzles and challenges. Furthermore, actors will be playing staff who could potentially be secretly trying to help you or staff that are more sinister than meets the eye. And if that wasn't enough, the whole experience takes places inside an actual bank! 

"We've been working towards this kind of experience with Pop Up Playground since the beginning," explains Artistic Director Robert Reid. "We were inspired by alternate reality games and the way they blur the line between real and play, and also by the work of the Agency of Coney. The bank heist idea itself though, came from watching Sayraphim (Pop Up Playground's Constructive Communities Director) play video games and thinking about how thorough she was at clearing out loot, pick-pocketing her victims and so on."