Review: Welcome to Hell at Theory Bar
Review by Greg Gorton
Andy Balloch’s Golden Gibbo nominated show, Welcome to Hell, is doing another round for Fringe, and is going to make a lot of people happy. A charming, if tame, comedy hour which takes advantage of millennial nostalgia and an extremely charming persona, leaving audiences a little better equipped to handle the hell just outside the door.
It is easy to compare the premise of this show to Rowan Atkinson’s famous skit, but any real attempt at comparison will only lead you to conclude that Balloch’s “Ramone” the devil for these times. Ramone is far more flamboyant, far better dressed, and far more used to handling corporate lingo and powerpoint presentations. While his Gru-like voice can be grating at times, his enthusiasm is a thousand levels about Atkinson’s “Toby”, and he oozes so much charm.
Ramone is here to introduce us, new demons, to the current ways that hell is causing havoc above. From Pauline Hanson and BP, to expensive croissants and podcasters, Ramone looks at both the big and small ways that “demons” make things pretty poor for humans. He introduces us to techniques like media spin, the bystander effect, and courting powerful clients, while keeping this “onboarding” light with some fun powerpoint jokes, and clever slogans he tried to get the Catholic Church to take on.
There are some very clever “bits” in this show, from the demon’s weird obsession with a mathematician, to a diverted history lesson in the upset at the 2004 Australian Idol. There is a fun guessing game about real newspaper headlines, and some terribly corny visual jokes that just seem to perfectly fit a corporate HR person attempting to lighten the mood. For those jokes that perhaps might not have worked on their own, it is easy to love them because it was Ramone that was telling them, and not someone else.
There are also small touches that make the night a little more special. There are staff lanyards all people receive (and keep) upon entering. These, as well as a lot of the professional-looking powerpoint slides, were designed by the incredibly talented Luke Jay. The simple visual disconnect between these professional designs and Balloch’s “cut and paste” visual jokes is often hilarious in its own right. Some small audience interactions have an earned feeling of comfortable familiarity with the character. It does help greatly that the Theory Bar is a perfect venue for the show, which I fear would lose a lot of the warmth if it was performed as-is on a major stage.
As you cannot do a show about good and evil without getting political, it is worth noting the politics of this show. I could best describe the politics Balloch presents as “safely progressive”. Balloch is most firm about being for trans rights, and (oddly) the takes most controversial to the audience were his criticisms of Taylor Swift. I personally greatly appreciated the concentration on Australia, though, both in politics and general cultural touchstones. We may get more American news than from our own back yard, but I’ll take a joke about Pauline over Donald any day.
There is a really worthwhile final message to this piece that really helps you walk out without wanting to just cry over all the evil things we submit ourselves to daily. So, despite the superficial layer of this show being quite depressing, there is a deep optimism that flows out, which is sorely needed.
For a charming unchallenging night that is more uplifting than you might expect, it’s easy to recommend Andy Balloch’s Welcome to Hell.
