Last Gig Ever!!
Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 8
★☆☆☆☆
Two performers in oversized dark suits burst on to the stage with a frantic, uncoordinated dance routine. After several minutes of thrashing they stumble upon a wheelbarrow containing decks, which they plonk on a table beside a Bluetooth speaker and a laptop plastered with stickers. Some drawn-out slapstick follows as they untangle cables before launching into their set.
What ensues is less performance than endurance test: strobe lights, amateur beats, headbanging, frantic running in circles. There is no dialogue, though occasionally there’s some exaggerated gesticulation that could be mime. At one point they attempt karaoke, self-conscious and halfhearted, as if to reassure us that the shoddiness is intentional. Is the piece aiming for metasatire, a deliberately mindless deconstruction of the brain-fried rituals of DJ culture?
Snippets of Limmy Teaches Techno punctuate the chaos, especially one repeated line: “The most important thing is to have fun. If you’re having fun,” the audience “will have fun seeing you’re having fun.” The performers have clearly taken this motto to heart. Unfortunately, their enjoyment seems never to transfer to the room. The audience gaze on impassively, like sober teachers at a teen disco, waiting for it to end.
At one point the overexerted pair collapse to the floor while trancey music drones on. We watch them lying there for several minutes. Relief flickers: is it over? No. They spring back up for another 10 minutes of flailing. After just under an hour, the show ends as abruptly as it began.
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Mercifully short, Last Gig Ever!! offers little to hold on to beyond the performers’ sweaty delight in themselves. The supposed joke, that the show is bad and they know it, is less charming than indulgent. When the punchline is simply our attendance, it’s hard to share in the joy.
At Smock Alley Theatre, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, until Saturday, September 20th
