Review – Groucho by Neil Cole

This is the first time a Fringe Theatre show has been performed at the Capri and the Art Deco interior couldn’t have been more appropriate for Groucho. I really enjoyed the concert from the Theatre Organ before the show started.

The play traces the career of the Marx Brothers through the eyes of Groucho (Julius) Marx. It’s a big ask for any actor to play the king of the perfect one liner and immaculate comedy timing but, after a slow start, Dennis Manahan pulls it off. He also portrays the physicality of Groucho incredibly well and shows us all how to fake smoking on stage. Anna Burgess who plays all the other characters in the play (including Chico, Harpo and Minnie, the Marx brother’s mother) displays her versatility brilliantly. A favourite moment was the conversation she had with herself while playing Irwin Thalberg and George Kaufman simultaneously. When she and Dennis successfully pull off a truncated version of the Lupino Mirror routine from Duck Soup, you know you are in the hands of genius.

I was puzzled by the opening scene of the second act displaying a conversation between an elderly Groucho and a much younger Charlie Chaplin and the pre-recorded music was too loud for the singers, but I thoroughly enjoyed the production otherwise. Unfortunately Groucho only played two nights in Adelaide but if you get a chance to catch it anywhere else jump at it. Even the group of secondary students sitting behind me, who didn’t seem to have heard of Groucho Marx, enjoyed it.