Review – 50 Years of Doctor Who: Preachrs Podcast Live 2!
This is a two man, one Dalek show, with numerous digital cameos by a wide array of enemies and companions. Rob Lloyd (Melbourne actor/comedian) and Benjamin Maio Mackay (creator/writer/director) are abducted from their homes in order to assist Davros. The Daleks, with their memories wiped, and the audience and cast at gun point, extract information about the Doctor. The show is essentially a potted history of the long running cult classic, but delivered energetically, with excellent humour, and audience participation made legitimately enjoyable by the nature of Whovians – we genuinely love talking about Doctor Who. (And getting Doctor Who themed prizes for doing so!)
The show remains true to its original format – a podcast. Yes, it is a performance, but it’s also a conversation. A conversation between the hosts and their captors, between the hosts and the audience, and of course – as with any fandom – between the guy up the back who thinks all these darn youngins aren’t REAL fans and don’t really understand the series at all!
Lloyd is worth every minute of his dialogue – and not just because he looks like David Tennant! (Seriously, ladies – or gents – if you are a Ten fan, just go and look at this man.) He has an excellent stage presence and interacts well with everyone, especially the younger fans, and he definitely knows how to get the laughs.
And while Lloyd clearly has a greater stage presence than his fourteen-year-old co-star Mackay, the young fan’s talent clearly shows in his writing and direction of the show: his podcast recording found a good balance between the factual recounting of the history of Doctor Who and witty, light hearted humour. You can rest assured that any fourteen-year-old boy who can pull together a show like this will be getting up to some very interesting things in the near future – keep an eye out for Benjamin Maio Mackay.
In all this was a thoroughly enjoyable show, despite the audience starting out a little cold in their participation. By the end of the show, the room was erupting with laughter, and many stayed behind to chat with the hosts and take pictures with the life sized props from the series – sure signs of a successful show!
