Metamorphosis is an old illusion dating back to the time of Houdini, where the magician, locked in a box, and his assistant, standing on top of it, swap spots when a curtain is briefly held up. It can look like a seamless transition or, if Jason Byrne has anything to do with it, a shambolic debacle, especially when he recruits audience members to play both parts.
“There were two blokes and one of them actually broke the whole box, it all fell apart on us, and the other guy fell over the other guy trying to get in and the other guy dragged the whole curtain with him as he fell off the side and it was just a disaster,” Byrne says, with a mix of both glee and pride.
After taking a festival off last year, he’s back at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with his new show Propped Up. “Because I missed a year for the first time ever for Australia, I have basically two shows on the go here at the moment, so Propped Up was my Edinburgh show and I brought it on tour around Britain and that’s the show I’m going to be bringing to Australia and it’s disgracefully ready,” he notes, laughing.
Byrne’s shows are known for their high level of energy and audience engagement, which is a nice way of describing how he will “drag them around the stage by the scruff of their necks and sit on top of them”. It’s all in good fun, of course. “Tonight, at the end of the show, one of the guys who was on stage basically got a standing ovation as he left the stage, because I get them all up at the end to take a big bow and a big hero’s goodbye and the crowd just love it,” Byrne explains. “Mine is a really feel good show; there’s no horribleness in there.”
This kind of chaos is a hallmark of Byrne’s shows, and Propped Up is, obviously, no exception. “The show has a lot of audience participation, more than ever, as well as more props than I’ve ever used before: I’ve got giant ducks in there, wolf’s heads and sheep heads,” Byrne notes.
Byrne has just recently released his first book, a comic memoir titled Adventures Of A Wonky-Eyed Boy: The Short Arse Years. For audience members not dragged up onto stage with him, it will provide an opportunity to meet him after the show.
“For the first time ever, I’m going to be signing my books straight after the show, which I’ve never done in Australia,” he says. “My fans are always asking, ‘Why don’t you sign something after the show or meet us?’ I’m going to do that after every show. It’ll be good fun”.
By Joanne Brookfield
Venue: Forum Theatre – Downstairs
Dates: Thursday March 30 – Sunday April 23 (bar Mondays)
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $36 – $46
