MANBO | Adelaide Fringe 2022 review

Sam Dugmore delivers ballistic slapstick comedy as 80s action-man Manbo.

MANBO by Sam Dugmore. Picture: Ramsey Taplin

MANBO

Comedy/Physical theatre

Rating: ****½

Ukiyo at Gluttony

Until March 20

John James Rambo meets the Terminator meets Maxwell Smart in this frenetic, madcap comic one-man acid trip.

Action around 80s action heroes is inherently dangerous but you’re in safe hands with talented, regular Fringe presenter Sam Dugmore.

You have to wonder how a lunatic show like this is devised and developed – but it’s a fair bet it all began in the bedroom of a 10-year old boy clutching his first G.I. Joe doll.

Dugmore plays several characters including his loyal, lifesaving sidekick, Fluffy the Dog, and enlists several hapless audience members to play out his villains v heroes childhood fantasy.

It’s not always PC, and would be a car crash without someone with the engaging confidence, easy manner and high comic talents of Dugmore.

He never lets the ballistic action or high-powered energy dip all the way through to a rip-roaring chaotic finale where it’s Manbo v The World.