Kiwi performer Thomas Monckton is forging an international reputation with a style that has acrobatics, clowning and mime bouncing off each other in a wildly imaginative piece of absurdist comedy.
The show sends up the protocols of a formal piano recital as it takes us on a journey from backstage to the seat of a grand piano. The distance may be short but it provides occasion for a never-ending parade of accidents, calamities and diversions and plenty of humour as the hapless piano player struggles to maintain a sense of dignity.
Having trained at the prestigious Lecoq School in Paris, Monckton is adept at a wide variety of performance skills and the show lurches from spectacular acrobatics on a low-hanging chandelier to exquisitely subtle moments that draw us into the intimate world of finger puppets.
Much of the show's appeal comes from a child-like playfulness that sees the humiliation of accidental misfortune transformed into whimsical flights of fancy.
The pianist's embarrassment at dropping his manuscript papers gives rise to an amusing display of juggling while frustration at his inability to remove the piano's dust cover provides an opening for an exuberant Punch & Judy-style puppet show.
