Attack of the Attacking Attackers plays until 15 November 2008.
A show with space ships, aliens, dinosaurs, sex-crazed zombie queens and cheerleaders … what more can anyone want in a theatre? There are a few things I can think of – like plot, narrative and character arcs – but that’s being pedantic. If you come along to Attack of the Attacking Attackers, you’re coming along to a wild, silly, prolonged gag-fest. And if you enter into the spirit of things, you’ll love it.
Trying to summarise the story in a nutshell is pretty tricky, but I’ll give it a go. Sexually confused high school jock, Rock, is on a comet spotting camp with his kid sister Margie, who’s after her 1000th Brownie badge, and his cheerleading girlfriend Tiffany. He’s also brought along his sickly neighbour Ed, a boy who lives in a bubble and who Rock is secretly in love with. They’ve set up camp near a haunted house and the swamp of no return. There’s a park ranger called Vlad, aliens in search of their holy book – The Joy of Interspecial Sex, a sex-crazed zombie queen called Suki-Suki and strange tentacled creatures. And that’s just for starters!
With more gags than an EkkA showbag, Attack of the Attacking Attackers is as camp and over the top as you can get. The opening night audience loved it, screaming their approval and spontaneously applauding the B-grade movie references and songs. It’s not a show for high-brow literatis who like their theatre experiences profound and meaningful. It’s for anyone who wants a whole lot of silliness and very little substance. Perfect Christmas fodder!
Four highly talented artists got together to create AAA – Matthew Ryan, Jonathon Oxlade, Lucas Stibbard and Neridah Waters. They brainstormed every crazy idea they’d ever had and talked about all the things they’d never seen on stage and would love to see and somehow came up with the craziness that is Attack of the Attacking Attackers. Ryan wrote the script, Oxlade designed the show in all its intricate and lurid detail and then performed in it, Stibbard and Waters brought their own special brand of extreme comedy to the show.
Oxlade is a puppeteer as well as a designer and his set is a glorious homage to B-movies and intergalactic travel. The costumes and puppets are superb, ranging from shadow puppets to huge, stuffed extravaganzas. Carolyn Emerson’s lighting makes the most of the bizarre worlds and space travel themes and Steve Toulmin’s sound design is perfectly wacky.
Neridah Waters shines on stage – her extreme Brownie, capable of killing five types of shark with her bare hands, is a delight and when she morphs into Saki-Saki it’s hard to believe she’s the same actor. Her dancing is hot and she’s able to keep all eyes on her, even when she’s competing for attention with aliens and monsters. Lucas Stibbard is delightfully dorky as wheezy Ed. Kept in a bubble all his life and now suddenly discovering the world, he’s as turned on by Brownies and aliens as he is by Rock.
Bryan Moses (Rock and assorted aliens) and Emma Pursey (Tiffany and her evil twin Eva) play their parts with verve and comic book precision. They could have stepped straight out of a cartoon or, with Eva, one of the Kill Bill films.
If you love sci-fi, know all the words that follow ‘Ground Control to Major Tom’ and aren’t averse to prolonged toilet humour, you will love Attack of the Attacking Attackers. Grab a group of like-minded friends and head to La Boite Theatre for a whole lot of laughs.
Reviewed by Katherine Lyall-Watson
Have you seen the show? What did you think of it? We’d love to read your comments and/or reviews.
I loved this! It's totally wacky, zany and out there. Lots and lots of fun.
When do you get b-grade sci-fi with low-brow comedy rolled into one, live on stage before you?
The props were awesome and the acting great. The whole audience, not just me, totally enjoyed it.