The Man the Pie and the Taxi Guy - Fringe Festival 2008

The Man the Pie and the Taxi Guy

The Hall Street Trio. This is a rip-snorter comedy hour involving three solos. A man finds Jesus through a coffee mug, a pie shop owner challenges his father’s morals and a taxi driver wakes up to his worst nightmare. A raucous hour of raw, robust and ridiculous comedy!

Fringe Artist Reviews

• John Smythe's Review from Theatreview.org entitled "Exceptional Skills"07.02.08

  Posted by: Antonia Bale

  EXCEPTIONAL SKILLS
  The Man, The Pie and The Taxi Guy
  Matt Whelan, Asa Tofete and Byron Coll
  
  at BATS, Wellington
  Until 10 Feb 2008
  [1 hr, no interval]
  
  Reviewed by John Smythe, 6 Feb 2008
  
  
  
  Rather than stretch each of their 20-minute Go Solo 07 pieces into longer shows that may outstay their welcomes, these three Toi Whakaari graduates have wisely decided to combine as The Man the Pie and the Taxi Guy. Matt Whelan, Asalemo Tofete and Byron Coll were each in different groups last year, so this combo adds value by comparing and contrasting three takes on the masculine imperative. And their show launches the Fringe 08 Comedy programme.
  
  Matt Whelan's The Man appears aloft to evoke, in sonorous tones, the evolving relationship between Man, God and his man-form Jesus. Once down to earth (i.e. the stage), a small step ladder (serendipitously branded Gorilla) is his only prop, ingeniously utilised as he brings Homo Erectus through to the technological age.
  
  A mega-fit God, working out gym-style as he contemplates the fate of Man, wants his more languid son to bring on Armageddon but Jesus prefers the softly softly approach. Enter office worker John, with his irritating greeting rituals and his smiley-face coffee cup. Jesus, once famous for walking on water, now surfs the net to contact John just when the mesmerising demon technology brings unsolicited porn to John's computer screen.
  
  The choice is simple: "Porn or not." To help him decide, Jesus - hiding in the coffee cup - takes John on a journey through time which includes a splendidly performed regression to ape ... and at this point I get a bit lost, when it comes to following the story's pursuit of its moral quest.
  
  Stylistically Whelan combines the comedic precision of Rowan Atkinson and the surreal, discursive meanderings-on-speed of Eddie Izzard, with his own idiosyncratically articulated angular physicality and vocal dexterity. In the absence of a compelling conclusion, these are the qualities that abide beyond the blackout.
  
  Large, round, centred and essentially gentle with a surprisingly light touch at times are the qualities Asalemo Tofete brings to The Pie guy. With a long counter and apron as props, he plays out the tale of 'Pie Boy', tied to his opera-obsessed father's pie shop and expected to meet his ambitions for him as an opera singer. But 'Pie Boy' is excruciatingly in love with regular customer Cheryl ...
  
  Dad barks his overbearing authority, and pounds and rolls the pastry with a vengeance as his beloved opera plays. 'Pie Boy' is more into hip hop, flipping and twisting ... His plaintive, "I'm not Ben Makisi!" falls on deaf ears.
  
  The plot allows both beautifully rendered characters to overcome personal obstacles. 'Pie Boy' finally manages to ask Cheryl out, but has to sacrifice competing in the local talent quest, which means his Dad must take his place - with remarkable results. The only weakness, script-wise, is that we have invested much more in 'Pie Boy' than his Dad and he disappears from the story.
  
  The diminutive and physically trim Bryon Coll, in a flesh-coloured gymnast's body suit, also brings an impressive physicality to his Taxi Guy. Booked for an early pick up, he sleeps in and a day that starts badly gets worse.
  
  His showering, laundering, breakfasting and dressing routine is memorable, generating big laughs from simple changes in pace. Non-stop physical and vocal transitions - we get many radio frequencies - become the object of the exercise, especially given Coll's decision to overdo this aspect, e.g. when playing the driver and passenger, instead of simply turning left or right and having his hands on the steering wheel or not, he unbuckles his seat belt, opens the 'car door', leaps put of his seat, closes the 'door', runs round the 'car', opens the 'car door', leaps back in, closes the 'door' and buckles his other self in. It makes no sense but it's entertaining.
  
  Things get bizarre in a magic realism way when the passenger turns out to be himself. Then a couple on a motorbike - stunningly manifested with a stool and a crash helmet - become his paranoid nightmare, with their chase escalating to the point of mutual destruction.
  
  While it could be argued that Taxi Guy makes a point about the destructive forces of paranoia and panic, I have a feeling the scenario's climax is a convenient way of finishing something that has run away with its creator. But the journey itself is a ripper.
  
  That the show is billed as Comedy rather than Theatre in the Fringe programme may relieve it of the basic requirement for the component parts of each work to add up to more than their sum. Even so, attention to that aspect would improve them.
  
  Meanwhile all three performers exhibit exceptional acting skills with physical, vocal and imagineering dimensions that could only have become so perfected with three years full time at drama school. How splendid it would be if more mainstream theatre was ready, willing and able to embrace such skills and utilise their great entertainment potentials.
  

• nice way to start the fringe09.02.08

  Posted by: alice

  nice way to start the fringe and ease into the festival. All 3 actors are from drama school and the show had the feeling of performance night, where friends and family are willing to forego the grand illusions of theatre and sit down and enjoy simple devised pieces for their entertainment.
  
  3 very different one-man, one-act pieces.
  
  The Man:
  slightly silly but worth watching for the physicality.
  
  The Pie
  Sweet story, good mime and funky dance sequence in the middle. honest connection with the audience.
  
  The Taxi Guy.
  Frenetic taxi driver late for work- turns out to be a very freaky day for him. Excellent physical sills and everyone could relate to the shower and breakfast sequences. nice turn of comedy at unexpected places.
  
  only disappointment were the endings. The Man and Taxi Guy felt like they threw something on the end just to finish it off and unfortunately for The Pie the main character didn't return to stage to round things off.
  
  Overall: simple, enjoyable and honest.
  
  7/10.

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February

8:00pm

• 5 T
• 7 T
• 8 F
• 9 S
• 10 S

9:30pm

• 7 T
• 8 F

Venue

BATS Theatre 1 Kent Terrace, Wellington

Prices

Full $16 Concession $12 Addict $10

Info

February 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Tue 8PM
Thu & Fri 8PM & 9:30PM
Sat & Sun 8PM
Duration 1 hr

Tickets

BATS 04 802 4175
www.bats.co.nz