Olivia Lowes Publications
From a Scotland yard interrogation room, to the sticky floor of a Melbourne pub, this engaging meta-comedy takes you on a dreamlike journey through a delightfully absurd series of disjointed events.
Con Coutis and Charlie Hill’s ‘Daydream’ premiered on the 25th of March in this year’s highly anticipated Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The captivating duo created a vibrant atmosphere at the intimate Motley Bauhaus in the heart of inner Melbourne’s North Fitzroy. A diverse selection of sketch comedy, interwoven through witty segues and skilful snap transformations had the audience highly amused.
Relevantly structured like a jam-packed dream, the fifty minute comedy showcases these two skilled performers as they successfully tackle meta humour. They depict a range of hilariously accurate stock characters and slapstick scenes, bouncing off each other’s spirited energy in the process.
Photo by Bill Park.
Con Coutis’ proficiency in the realm of physical comedy is outstanding. Parodying the role of a hack comedian, Con’s quirky facial expressions make for a priceless impersonation. The disjointed nature of Daydream requires characters to quite literally travel back in time. Con reverses his complex score of movement for an entire scene with iconic precision.
Charlie Hill matches this skilled comedic ability with notable character commitment and replication of convincing personas. In a highly entertaining scene, Charlie plays the frustrated shopkeeper of an Anecdote Store (that’s right, an anecdote store…!) Capturing the subtleties this role and eliciting laughter from a minuscule turn of the head, Charlie’s immense capabilities consolidate an exchange of ludicrous banter through qualitative comic timing.
While the show’s dreamlike vignettes may appear disjointed at first, recurring characters and themes begin to emerge as the show progresses, revealing a punchy, tightly structured narrative that puts the very idea of meta-comedy under the microscope.
Ultimately, Daydream takes the idea of meta-humour to its inevitable conclusion - questioning the artistic validity of meta-comedy itself.
In lesser hands, this subject matter could threaten to destabilise the comedic potential of a play such as this, but Con and Charlie’s sharp writing ensures the audience is always looking forward to the next punchline - and never bogged down in the complexities of previous scenes.
The refreshing addition of many stagecraft elements (both the classic and unexpected) was simply the cherry on top. The duo’s priceless depiction of two bumbling stage hands accidentally turning the house lights on had each audience member in hysterics.
Con and Charlie made their comedy debut in the 2019 Melbourne Fringe Festival and their return to the stage 2021 has received a well deserved entirely sold out season.