one4review | On 07, Aug 2024

There’s always a little tension for me when I’m going to see a “cult” show for the first time. I worry I might find myself lost in a sea of catchphrases and in-jokes that I’ll never escape from. Fortunately, John Robertson’s The Dark Room is one of those cult hits which stands on its own two feet (in a pair of studded knee-high boots).

The premise is simple, John Robertson invites members of his audience to play a videogame. But this isn’t one of your fancy modern video games with bells and whistles like graphics or music or gameplay. This is proper videogames from the era where all you had to go on was a black screen and some white text and, crucially, four options to choose from. Each choice leads to either four more choices or, most likely, the player’s death. At which point, another player takes over. The options range from silly, to surreal, to baffling, to videogame references.

It’s a good idea for a show, but what makes it sing is Robertson himself. His stage persona, dressed like a Mad Max raver and acting somewhere between the Cryptkeeper and Richard O’Brian in the Crystal Maze, absolutely sells the show, with excellent crowd work, ad libs and punk rock charisma. At the show I attended there was a number of loyal fans, happy to chant along with the opening lines of every scenario “you awaken in a dark room…” or yell “You die! You die! You die!” at every player death. There were a couple of moments I felt a little left behind by what were clearly long-running gags, such as when the scenario changed from a medieval dungeon to a lighthouse, but even then, it was so inherently funny I just didn’t care.

I couldn’t really sum up why this is such an enduring show for years any better than what my partner turned and said to me as we were filing out; “That was really good – we should come again!”

*****
Gilded Balloon Patter House – Doonstairs
22.00 (1hr)
Until 25th Aug

Comedy

Gilded Balloon Patter House – Doonstairs