Aliens, lesbians and eighties music: three surefire ways of getting me in a room. All three…together? Let’s just say I was first in line to catch the opening performance of ‘Bev & Myrt and the Scrolling of Doom’ at the Motley last night.
Presented by How Delightful Theatre, ‘Bev & Myrt’ follows a secret society of alien investigators defending the Hoddle Grid from extraterrestrial terrors: galactic parasites, sentient robots, conservative real estate agents. When AI threatens to absorb the minds of Melburnians, Bev (Jenny Lovel), Myrt (Amanda Owen) and their son Jamie (Jackson Eather) must take down evil tech conglomerates all the while navigating their own growing pains at home.
Writer and producer David Innes, producer and dramaturg Dr Stayci Taylor, and director Cale Dennis clearly had a distinct vision for the show. With a razor-sharp script and just enough fourth-wall stroking to keep things perfectly meta, ‘Bev & Myrt’ was an unapologetically nerdy and hilariously queer little slice of theatre. Think Douglas Adams meets ‘Ghostbusters’: irreverent, witty, weird, and so on the nose. It was quintessentially Melburnian too, so full of in-jokes the crowd spent more time laughing than not. With a runtime of an hour, ‘Bev & Myrt’ is a masterclass in short-form playwriting and I only wish it ran longer for my own selfish reasons.
Jenny Lovel, Amanda Owen and Jackson Eather were outstanding to watch as a unit, with brilliant chemistry on stage and some unforgettable physical comedy. Liliana Braumberger, Kitt Forbes, Alex Joy and Donna Prince effortlessly navigated several roles all the while puppeteering tentacled robots and throwing around props left right and centre. The sound and lighting design never missed a beat either, which is a testament to just how much work was put into this show by the entire cast and crew.
It would be easy to fall into all shenanigans and no substance in a show like this (especially given the short runtime) but I’m happy to report that wasn’t the case. ‘Bev & Myrt’ was fun all the way through, but it was the moments of queer love that resonated so personally in an otherwise unworldly story. It was at heart a celebration of our elder queer heroes: the people who loved and fought for us and the people we can hope to become ourselves—aliens or no.
You can catch ‘Bev & Myrt and the Scrolling of Doom’ at the Motley Bauhaus until the 8th of February!
To book tickets to Bev & Myrt and the Scrolling of Doom, please visit https://tickets.midsumma.org.au/event/396:1014/.
Photographer: Mark Gambino
