Character comedian David McIver’s Teleport takes us on a deliciously low-budget, self-deprecating, dynamic quest through the online fantasy character games he used to play as a child. It’s a pay-what-you-want nostalgic hour of fun that irreverently pokes fun at the stereotypes of online video games, and is sure to thrill any audience.
A deliciously low-budget, self-deprecating, dynamic quest
McIver has outstanding stage presence. It’s difficult not to love the guy; he’s clearly having fun in this hilarious world he’s built for himself, and he doesn’t have to work hard to get every audience member firmly on his side and ready to embrace the surreal hour of parody that is to follow. McIver brings a huge amount of energy to the show, and it doesn’t dip once – not even when he plays inanimate objects. He morphs in and out of various voices and quirky characters with signature self-awareness, and always fully commits to his roles, even if it means dousing himself in cherry soda. The laughs don’t stop coming.
The audience is 14-year-old McIver’s ‘guild’ – a team of warriors that’ll help him on his quest. This schtick makes for some expertly written moments of audience interaction, which is sustained throughout the show. This is how audience interaction should be done; nobody is made to feel uncomfortable, or ever made to work harder than McIver himself to get laughs. We have our hysterically mundane fortunes read, we’re fed the aforementioned cherry soda, and we all get to participate in the show’s finale. For the full experience, sit in the front row – you won’t regret it.
As somebody who’d never played World of Warcraft, I feared the humour here would be too niche for a general audience. Luckily, the references are so general and the explanations so helpful that anyone who’s seen a fantasy movie or been on the internet pre-2012 will feel right at home, and might even learn something about gaming as a hobby. Of course, there are a few nudges to those gamers who shared McIver’s love for World of Warcraft as children, but these never alienate other audience members.
Some of the characters never progress beyond being a costume and an accent, and fall just short of their full potential. We get a taste for this great camp grim-reaper that could have been pushed further, and an oracle whose characterisation was less memorable than his witty predictions.
Last year, David McIver brought his show David McIver is a Nice Little Man to the Fringe. This year, with Teleport, McIver is so nice and so little that his absurd quest through a hyper-masculine online fantasy world is farcical brilliance.