20 years ago, a professional clown from the South Island of New Zealand took to the stage in a stripy top, spiky hair, and a strip of gaffer tape covering his mouth.
What resulted was the birth of “The Boy With Tape on His Face”, an iconic character based on his 9-year-old self that would take him around the world a million times over, and now he makes his long awaited return to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival celebrating this incredible milestone.
Tape Face 20 sees performer Sam Wills trade the broad, sweeping stages on the likes of America’s Got Talent in favour of the intimate fortyfivedownstairs, which brings the audience closer to the action.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
And when I say closer, I mean “no-seat-is-safe” closer. So, if you’re one to shy away from audience participation…you’re gonna have a bad time, because that is the cornerstone of Tape Face’s magical stagecraft, as multiple people were brought up on stage over the course of the 60 minute show and were subjected to whimsy, hilarity and the most delightful of shenanigans.
It’s best if you go into the show as blind as you possibly can, because the material put forth is nothing short of remarkable. Not a single word is uttered by Tape Face throughout the performance, (he has the audience do the talking for him when called upon), but he doesn’t have to. His genius in taking miscellaneous bric-a-brac and turning them into evocative puppets or morphing them into completely new objects harkens back to our inner child where we can see the magic in everyday things, and the finale might just bring a tear to your eye.
If there are three things to be taken away from Tape Face 20, it would be the following:
Stay weird, have fun, and play.
We can’t stay young forever.
Playing until April 19 at fortyfivedownstairs.
