With selective taste appeal, A Nightime Travesty is a walk on the wild side. It is a parody, an extreme First Nations’ cabaret with music. Earth is a smouldering mess. The crew of a plane is on the last flight out of there, heading for the afterlife. Angel is buckled in, alongside Alexa, while a captain from hell is steering this ship. It becomes a question of whether Angel can defeat God’s Greatest Gift.
Co-created by leading performers in the show Kamarra Bell-Wykes and Carly Sheppard (both of whom play several roles), welcome to a sardonic nightmare. Bell-Wykes and Sheppard appear together with Zach Blampied and Peter Wykes. This is a power trip, where we – the audience – will “the good guy” (namely Angel) to fight back. For her, there are obstacles at every turn, as she is exploited.
Now, cut to the chase – think sex, explosions, decapitations and existential horror, and you are on the right course, for in A Nightime Travesty there is no holding back. Complete with zany costuming and props, along with a two-piece band (consisting of Matt Pana and Small Sound), Blak humour abides throughout.
Director Stephen Nicolazzo has figuratively thrown the kitchen sink at this one. He appears to have adopted the approach that nothing exceeds like excess. The result is energy on steroids. Crazy doesn’t cover the half of it. The entertainers revel in the seeming free for all, where anything goes. Of course, there is a valid and sobering point to be made out of this mayhem. Consider how shamefully Indigenous Australians have been treated. Dare I suggest, doing so brings you back to Earth with a thud.
But, as the saying goes, there are various ways to skin a cat, and the final boarding call for the Last Fleet is undoubtedly one of them. To be able to laugh in the face of adversity says a lot about how one can push on and push through. So, strap yourselves in and prepare for the unconventional. The opening night crowd loved it. A Nightime Travesty is playing at Beckett Theatre, at Malthouse Theatre until 22nd February, 2025.
