CLICK HERE FOR A RECENT REVIEWS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER CLICK ON PLAY FOR AUDIENCE REVIEWS FOR THAT PLAY
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American Appetite: Tales of Dirty Young Boys & Spry Old Men, The
An Evening At Home
Anablep and Other Oddities
Back to Kroenig
Beckett's Last Dance
Beneath Sita's Belly
Black Box Confessions
Blue Sofa
Candistan
Caught Sleeping
Cleopatra!-And Antony
ClockBusters
Death Blow - The Show
Devouring Time
Engineer and The Artist, The
Enronicles
Exit Laughing!
F--king Handicapped Guy
Fred Anderson -Professional Goofball!
Full Spectrum Improvisation
George Bush's Nuts
Getting It Wrong
Guano dell' Amore - ("Birdshit of Love")
Gulag Ha Ha
Interactive Solo Performer Daniel Packard
Ken and Andy Show, The
Lillie, A Musical
Looking, Then Pointing
Mad Adventures of Chaos For Hire, The
Me Laugh You Long Time
Menopause and Desire: Or Why Must I Be Middle Aged and In Love?
Microclimates: A Crime Against Gravity or The Burrito From Sausalito
My Son, the Mummy: Episode Pi
nEO-sURREALIST sYSTEMS pRESENTS: HOE- DOWN!!!!!
Objects In Mirror (May Be Closer Than They Appear)
OUTTAKES: Monologues, Stories, and Social Commentary
Rise And Fall of The US/them Empire, The
Smashing Icons
Something You Might Want
Song in Your Blood, The
Spray
Stranger In Woodstock
Surfing Toasters
Survival of the Fit Enough/ Fern
Talking To Myself
Tangled
Uncle Jacques' Symphony
Underground Movement Theatre
Upper Canada Cougar Movement, The
Valentine's Play Time
Way Light Strikes Filled Mason Jars, The
Winterkill
Woods For The Trees
Zucchini: The Forbidden Dance!
Play: Death blow
Reviewer: jes'fine
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 1 Star
Unfortunately there were more laughs generated inappropriately at Gulag
Ha Ha than were coaxed from the audience by a show that was supposed to
be funny the night we saw this. The first fifty minutes were played to almost
total silence. Not even a snicker or a weak giggle. Was painful as they
worked extremely hard but even as much as many ofus wanted to laugh it just
wasn't there. A couple of funny bits right at the end but not worth the
time. Maybe God has other plans for these two energetic guys?
Play: death blow the show
Reviewer: Susan
Reviewer Email: sallen@vsite.com
Rating: 5 Stars
I loved this show. The two actors took me back to my childhood when I grew
up the only girl on a block of boys who made up games about super heros
in impossible situations or those safe fall backs - cowboys & indians
or astronauts & aliens - and could unhibitedly produce any sound in
the universe. My neighbors generously allowed me to play too, because I
could climb higher in the trees than anyone else (or maybe they just wanted
to look at my knickers). Give me a guy who can make a metal collander into
a helmit, and I'm over the moon.
Play: death blow
Reviewer: lyle systrata
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Ive read some of the other reviews and wonder if ive seen the same show
as these folks. these guys are absolutly the most outrageously funny act
Ive ever seen in my life and thats the truth. the number of times I had
to pick myself up off of the floor from laughing out myself of my seat was
only
surpassed by the number of times i pissed myself
see it and bring your "depends" the mummys nose bits and the physical
comedy in the lonesome stranger piece were thinly vieled attacks on the
bush admn. genious!!!
Play: Death Blow
Reviewer: Cory
Reviewer Email: indigoblues@attbi.com
Rating: 5 Stars
Remember being a kid and spending hours outside playing? What the hell did
we do out there, never wanting to come inside? This show took me back there
and reminded me what it was like to have uninhibited fun. These incredibly
talented guys play hard. I couldn't stop laughing. Without props they create
a scene that makes you feel like the stage is full of props. I've never
seen better pantomime.The non-stop energy made me leave the theatre feeling
energized and excited. This show is not to be missed. So don't miss it.
Play: Death Blow -- The Show
Reviewer: Dick Karp
Reviewer Email: dick@catapult.com
Rating: 4 Stars
Sketch comedy by two highly capable and funny
Brits. I attended the 10pm Saturday show,
when audience and performers were beginning to
fade, and this may have caused the energy
level to lag at the beginning of the
performance, but the performers soon picked
up the pace and gave a performance that
overall was polished, very physical, and
funny. Go see it, you won't regret it!
Play: Death Blow: The Show
Reviewer: rox
Reviewer Email: rmgentile@yahoo.com
Rating: 3 Stars
Based on Death Blow's description I was expecting a Bill Irwin-ish experience.
Rather, it was a two well seasoned physical performers doing ensemble material
ranging from to quirky and delightful to slapstick political hand-slapping.
Death Blow was interesting for some unexpected reasons. Some of their material
(slapstick special forces characters massacreing nuns in South America for
example) was either pandering to a general action film-saturated audience
or trying to teach us a lesson. As it stood nobody laughed and they weren't
teaching most San Franciscans anything that doesn't already leave us ranting
and raving and writing to our representatives every day. However if I were
European and had the chance to perform for an American audience in this
day and age, I can't say I wouldn't show us what we represent with a little
cheek too. Politics aside, I think these guys really do like engaging in
some festive gore. The duo's other material, like a twist on the opening
scene o!
f "2001: A Space Oddesy," and a wonderfully written old mummy
movie sketch, show what mature and energetic performers they are. The audience
was pretty slow and very small, but they kept their energy up. And one last
thing, after seeing Death Blow I'm convinced beyond a doubt that ELVIS LIVES!!
Play: Death Blow -- The Show
Reviewer: Vince Vitale
Reviewer Email: WorldGazer@aol.com
Rating: 3 Stars
John Rackham and Ben Shockley are talented performers and create a series
of sketches, ranging from ads for the "Mayhem Marshall Arts" to
a fashion show for terrorist garb to dances of the phallic sunstone to "Curse
of the Mummy's Nose" to an Elvis sketch -- all of which were amusing
in their own way. However, I would have enjoyed any one of them more had
it filled the entire hour, than this hodge-podge of disassociated and disjointed
topics. "Mummy's Nose" would be the likely choice, since it consumed
most of the hour.
Play: Death Blow
Reviewer: Martha
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 4 Stars
This show is very funny, very British (with Stateside references galore)
and very RAW. John Rackham and Ben Shockley throw themselves around the
stage like cute kids let loose on a dressing-up box, using brilliant mime
and parodying every ridiculous thing you ever saw on TV as a kid.
I was really impressed with all the improvisation - why bother to stick to the script when something funnier pops up in your head? Not quite sure how these guys manage to find the energy to do this twice a night, but they seem to enjoy it as much as the audience.
Go see for a giggle!
Martha xx
Play: Death Blow
Reviewer: steven
Reviewer Email: steven@kaliyuga.com
Rating: 4 Stars
A bit too slapdash for my taste to rate a big five. Some of the material
falls flat on its can. And yet -- gloriously silly and VERY British, I laughed
heartily (& often)along with the rest of a tiny house that gave themselves
over to the insanity wholeheartedly, left feeling quite giddy & with
a big smile on my mug. Go figger. Its no-budget costuming only added to
its charm (Remember safety pinning a towel around your shoulders to play
a Superhero as a kid? Now try to imagine two grown men doing the same thing
-- and with nearly the same childlike commitment & intensity). A BIG
step up (for me anyway) from John Rackham & Ben Shockley's last SF Fringe
outing (one that was referenced to excellent comic effect in one bit for
those in the know). All right, all right, I'd recommend it, stop twisting
my arm!