Scott Sandwich and Finn O’Branagáin are giant nerds. Not your traditional humourless math nerds, but funnier, better-dressed story nerds. Their show, The Epic, is about myth in a big way, and while our hosts are not about to take themselves wholly seriously, they are about to get very shouty about essentially make-believe things.
The Epic begins with a disclaimer: this is not a play. The audience enters to Scott and Finn wandering around the stage. They say hi to their friends. There is absolutely no fourth wall to break. Though there is a script, it’s pretty loosey-goosey in parts. Words are stumbled over, an audience member’s laugh infects the delivery. Any story, any thread of action is narrated rather than acted. But that’s what this is all about – telling stories.
They take turns. Finn tells the story of Gilgamesh in an impassioned first person recount, only to have Scott jump in to rant about The Fast And The Furious franchise. There are grand sweeping statements, lyrical and not-so-lyrical reinterpretations of some very old stories, cardboard mountains, and some truly exceptional visual puns.
This show is a load of fun for anyone who is even slightly into the idea of myth. Accessible, funny, and awkwardly self-aware, Scott and Finn not only re-tell some of the most influential and out-there stories ever recorded, they also reflect on how stories are shaped by the teller and how, in turn, the world is shaped by stories. The only possible downside is it might sound a bit niche. But rest assured, you don’t have to have read a single book or even have seen The Fast And The Furious to get this. Though you will want to have your wits about you.
It’s difficult to do anything of mythic proportions in a 50-minute show, but The Epic manages to pack a lot in. The fish of knowledge and cultural appropriation. Brothers in arms and unreliable narrators. Vampires, bow ties, feminism, Paul Walker, tiny plastic bears. Finn and Scott approach their material with equal parts reverence and irreverence, in precisely the places it’s needed. There is just enough levity, just enough grandeur, and too much going on to be bored for even a moment. If you get the chance to see this show sometime, do it. The Epic will make any hour of your life seem bigger on the inside.
5/5 stars
Epic played at Bondi Pavilion on Thursday July 23 and Friday July 24 as part of Bondi Feast 2015.
