John-Luke Roberts Brings Two Shows To Adelaide Festival

One of UK comedy's left-field geniuses is making his Adelaide debut. John-Luke Roberts arrives in South Australia, carrying a selection of props whose transportation costs almost guarantee and overall loss. With not one, but two huge, critically-acclaimed shows in his back pocket. And, not to alarm you, but he's about to move them to his front pocket and then get them out of his pocket altogether.

Throughout his career as a sensation of the Edinburgh Fringe and the London live scene, Roberts has consistently done what few other comedians have been able to: combined avant-garde, visually-joyous, mad, clownish shows with a lyrical eye for the punchline. Loved by press and punters alike, John-Luke's previous shows have included a (partial) recreation of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, and a haunting meditation on the twenty-four other Spice Girls whose existence is suggested by the fact we had a Mel B and Mel C. (That show, All I Wanna Do Is [FX: GUNSHOTS] with a [FX: GUN RELOADING] and a [FX: CASH REGISTER] and Perform Some Comedy!, went on to tour nationally with Impatient, and caused a dispute with the Fringe Society over what is deemed 'appropriate typography' - not for the last time.)

Now he unleashes his exquisite madness on Adelaide in two different forms: a flight of imagination about all the parallel universes out there, and a variety show designed to go badly wrong.

A WORLD JUST LIKE OUR OWN, BUT...

7-19 March - Gluttony Squeaker - 6:15pm

There's a world just like our own, but Edith Piaf regrets five things. There's a world just like our own, but taking pictures never caught on, so you just have to describe things. There's a world just like our own, but the piano keys are in a random order so the pianists really have to work for it.

John-Luke Roberts takes us on what seems like a magic carpet ride through the billion worlds we don't quite live in, but ends up being a sneakily poignant meditation on the one we do. A complete sellout at Edinburgh Fringe 2022 and with a London season upcoming, it's the tenderest and most thematically ambitious of this remarkable livewire's career. A tragically beautiful narrative about the breakdown of a relationship, regrets, and possibilities. Just a shame we have to bring a washing-machine all the way across the world for it.

CABARET IMPEDIMENTA

10-12 & 17-18 March - Gluttony Lark - 11:20pm

Cabaret acts have had it too easy for too long. Oh, look at me, I can juggle. Oooh, I'm doing a sexy dance on a unicycle. I've mastered an unbelievably difficult series of moves involving a hula-hoop. Fine, whatever. How would all these smartarses look if they had to do their acts in the face of unending problems and obstacles?

The Impedimeister himself, John-Luke Roberts, presides over the pick of Adelaide's circus and carny community in a lineup show...presides over them and then exposes them to a series of terrible difficulties. The impediments may include a businessman, a Victorian ghost, the looming thought of death, a sexy milkman and an onslaught of soft balls thrown by the audience. It's 'a brilliant concept, exactly what the Fringe is all about' (RGM, four and a half stars) and has been a sensation at London's Pleasance Theatre, where it now has a regular residency.