The award-winning performer brings his naked literary odyssey to The Grand Electric
Comedy and high literature rarely share the same stage, but Garry Starr, the brilliantly unhinged creation of performer Damien Warren-Smith, has made a career of bridging that gap with spectacular results. His latest offering, Classic Penguins, arrives at The Grand Electric this September after a triumphant festival circuit that has seen him collect awards and five-star reviews across the country.
The premise is delightfully absurd: perform every Penguin Classic novel ever written in just one hour, while mostly naked save for a pair of flippers. What could easily descend into cheap literary parody instead becomes something more ambitious: a theatrical marathon that tests both performer and audience endurance while celebrating the very works it lampoons.
Warren-Smith's commitment to the concept is total. This isn't costume comedy or gentle literary satire; it's a full-contact sport where classics from The Little Prince to Moby Dick are subjected to rapid-fire interpretation, quick-change artistry, and the kind of physical comedy that requires genuine athletic ability. The nudity isn't gratuitous. It's essential to the show's logic, stripping away pretension alongside clothing to reveal the raw humanity at the heart of great literature.
The performer's background in physical theatre serves him well here. Creating distinct characters and conveying complex narratives in rapid succession demands not just comedic timing but genuine theatrical skill. Warren-Smith's ability to shift between genres, styles, and emotional registers while maintaining the show's anarchic energy suggests an artist who understands that the best comedy often emerges from taking ridiculous premises absolutely seriously.
The show's success across multiple festivals (winning Best Comedy at both Adelaide Fringe and Fringe World, plus Most Outstanding Show at Melbourne International Comedy Festival) indicates that audiences are hungry for comedy that doesn't talk down to them. Classic Penguins assumes its audience knows these literary works, or at least recognises their cultural significance, then proceeds to deconstruct them with gleeful irreverence.
The Grand Electric provides an ideal setting for this kind of intimate theatrical chaos. The venue's up-close atmosphere means there's nowhere to hide, for performer or audience, creating the kind of shared complicity that makes great comedy possible. The space has quickly established itself as Sydney's premier destination for boundary-pushing comedy, and Classic Penguins fits perfectly within that programming philosophy.
Warren-Smith's warning about audience participation adds another layer of unpredictability to proceedings. In less capable hands, this could feel like cheap crowd work, but given the show's literary framework, it's likely to be more sophisticated, perhaps turning audience members into impromptu characters or narrators in the unfolding literary mayhem.
The six-week exclusive run at The Grand Electric represents a significant commitment from both venue and performer. This isn't a brief festival appearance but a proper theatrical season, allowing the show to develop and evolve with repeated performances. For audiences, it offers multiple opportunities to experience what promises to be a unique theatrical event, andone that's likely to be different each night given its improvisational elements.
The 18+ rating and nudity warnings shouldn't deter those seeking intelligent comedy. The best adult comedy uses its freedom from restrictions to explore ideas and emotions that more sanitised entertainment cannot touch. In the case of Classic Penguins, the nudity serves the show's deeper purpose of stripping away literary pretension to reveal the essential human stories beneath.
The show's international pedigree (preparing for London and Edinburgh Fringe seasons) positions it as a significant cultural export, showcasing Australian comedy's capacity for innovation and fearlessness. For local audiences, it offers a chance to experience cutting-edge comedy before it conquers international stages.
Classic Penguins runs exclusively at The Grand Electric from 3 September to 12 October. Strictly 18+.
More details and tickets: https://strutnfret.com/shows/garry-starr-classic-penguins/
(images: supplied)
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