Review - Ghoul's Night Out
ERIC SCOTT
PICTURE: Wendy Goodfellow, Matthew McDowell and Jo Castle – dying to entertain
Ghouls Night Out
Studio Theatre
647 Wynnum Road,
Morningside
Brisbane
If you are looking for something different to celebrate Black Friday (13th) next week you might try booking into this Studio Theatre Show. I saw it with a small audience which was not encouraging for a show that would thrive on audience reactions, but the quartet of singers and actors worked their butts off to energise us and they succeeded.
The show is fun - and different - almost vaudevillian. I thoroughly enjoyed the concept and had a good laugh all the way through. The Ghouls, Dracula, (Damien Lee) Baroness Von Bloodshed (Jo Castle), The Dead Rocker (Matthew McDowell) and Zombie Queen (Wendy Goodfellow), who described themselves as “the real Grateful Dead’, were not very scary but they were funny.
The idea of the show was to bring in ghoul-centred rock songs – Devil Woman and the like with bits of Rocky Horror and blend them into an act. Cleverly, rather than work to a plot, the show had variety: jokes, sketches, and a few magic tricks.
I particularly enjoyed the “sensorama” sketch where Dracula-clad Damien Lee was subjected to all the happenings on screen by Zombie Queen with a deadpan face standing behind the seat. Even to the point of a knife at the throat.
It was a very funny scene. So was the one where Lee read the news and because of a video malfunction had to act out the lines.
There were some joke sessions with topical, funny, and even old “boom-boom” gags and joke about musicians. Damien Lee also played Dracula the Magician with a few well produced conjuring tricks. He showed us a few more than he managed in the original production in 2012, and he had his audience chuckling through the act.
But it was the music that added the real pizzazz. The two hour (including interval) show is filled with smash hits songs, sung to a technically great soundtrack created by Bradley “Sparky” Clarke, who also did the disco-style lighting.
The cast rocked their way through some of the top hits from the 70s and 80s with songs made famous by the likes of AC/DC, Status Quo, INXS, Kiss, Joan Jett, Rocky Horror, Queen and many more including We Will Rock You, You Shook Me All Night Long, Devil Woman, Time Warp, Born To Be Wild, and Rockin’ All Over The World.
Take along a group of people in party mood and Iopm sure you would have fun.
Playing until March 21. Bookings: (07) 3399 3333, www.studiotheatre.com.au