Around the World in 80 Days (Alex Theatre) – theatre review

There was merriment aplenty at the Alex Theatre on the opening night of the Australian premiere of Around the World in 80 Days, the epic adventure adapted by Toby Hulse and based on the novel by Jules Verne. Directed by Terence O’Connell and starring Ian Stenlake, Pia Miranda and Grant Piro, the trio plays 39 characters and visits seven countries in about one and a half hours. Using narration popularised by authors like Charles Dickens (who took to Victorian era lecture halls to perform their works), the action is presented in the style of British Music Hall acts. It features cross-dressing and vaudeville flourishes.

Director O’Connell readily admits that this madcap take on Verne’s globetrotting classic was a heap of fun to pull together.

You step back in time to the 19th century and witness stampeding elephants, raging typhoons and runaway trains as fearless adventurer Phileas Fogg (Stenlake) and his faithful manservant Passepartout (Miranda) set out to win an outrageous wager. That involves circling the globe, from London to Bombay, Yokohama to San Francisco, in an unheard of 80 days involving all manner of transport, including carriages, railways, steamers and, indeed, elephants. Along the way they encounter danger, unexpected delays … and romance.

Hot on their heels is a relentless Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Fix (Piro), who believes Fogg may well have been responsible for perpetrating a dastardly crime. Forty thousand pounds in freshly minted Bank of England notes was stolen and a guard brutally murdered. The prime suspect is the perfect English gentleman with magnificent teeth! All this lunacy starts at 11.22am on Wednesday, October 2nd 1872 at number 7 Savile Row in Burlington Gardens (a street in Mayfair, in central London).

If slapstick comedy is your bent, you will have plenty to appreciate and applaud … and many were cackling so loudly they were all but crying. I thought the woman sitting alongside me would need resuscitation, such was her total engagement with the hijinks on stage.

Against a large, creative, clock-themed backdrop, courtesy of set designer Merinda Backway and impeccable costume design by Lucy Wilkins, our intrepid adventurers certainly make their mark. Sound and lighting elements are integral to the success of this production, with David Ellis responsible for the former – crisp, clear and highly evocative – and Jason Bovaird the latter, readily changing the mood. Toby Hulse is a playwright and director who specialises in devising theatre for family audiences and here he has woven a little piece of magic, which allows the actors to strut and pout and revel in silliness and spectacle.

For all of that, and notwithstanding the flawless performances, I can’t say Around The World in 80 Days sent me into a state of delirium. My wife and I were bemused by the audience’s overwhelmingly positive reaction to what they were seeing because we didn’t feel we were in on the joke. We thought the whole thing was pretty daft (my wife said although she smiled a few times, it irritated her) and didn’t tap into the show’s joyful, frenetic exchanges. Due to the repetitious nature of the shenanigans, I found myself counting down the days until we reached the climax. All that suggests is that our sense of humour clearly wasn’t in sync with those around us.

But by all means you judge for yourself, should you wish, as the revelry will continue at the Alex Theatre in St Kilda until 4th September. You can purchase tickets here.

Alex First