Playing at the Motley Bauhaus, Carlton until October 4. More information and tickets via melbournefringe.com.au
The premise of characters striving and struggling to achieve their dreams of fame and fortune is nothing new, but ALLSTARS, the anarchic brainchild of Sara Reed and Sian Murphy, who are part of a theatre-making collective known as Just Friends, puts a fresh spin on a well-worn concept and succeeds thanks to the pair’s winning stage chemistry and boundless energy.
First performed in 2022 but having its Victorian premiere at this year’s Fringe Festival, Reed and Murphy have an infectious theatre kid energy and are both naturally funny performers, and ALLSTARS gives them plenty of chances to get absolutely ridiculous as two best friends and actors who lament their severe lack of superstardom.
With a goal in place to one day become so famous that they have their faces plastered on the side of the Number 1 Tram, the pair performs an incantation of celebrity names which conjures up a fame deity named Allstar (looking and sounding like something out of the old kids TV show Mulligrubs), which might just provide them with the guidance on how to become famous.
The premise of ALLSTARS is established quickly and efficiently, giving Reed and Murphy the bulk of the show’s running time to engage in sketch comedy silliness, which includes such unexpected detours as a loving homage to the long-forgotten (at least by me) Dwayne Johnson comedy The Tooth Fairy.
Two sketches stand out amongst all of the comic mayhem, a hilarious method acting skewering involving a MacBeth callback and an attempted murder by bee, and the second a supremely clever skit in which Murphy, playing a personified Perth, berates Reed for turning her back on WA and moving to boring old Melbourne.
While there’s lots of Perth in-jokes in this segment, it still works brilliantly even if you don’t get every reference. Speaking of which, there was a Twilight parody at one juncture which still got a huge laugh out of me despite never having seen a frame of that franchise.
Moving at a rapid pace, ALLSTARS doesn’t waste a second of stage time and no skit ever outstays its welcome, and there’s a lot of rapid-fire movie references that will get extra chuckles out of film buffs. A running gag about their desperate need for real-time validation from an audience critic is absolutely hilarious every time they revisit it.
While the tone is playful throughout, there’s also a serious undercurrent of the cruel, unforgiving reality of being a creative in 2026, and the insane things people are willing to do to get famous.
I’m not sure how long Reed and Murphy have known each other, but it feels like they’ve been friends forever given how well they play off each other on stage.
You couldn’t fake the rapport the pair have and paired with sharp writing and tight direction and ALLSTARS is an absolute winner.
Reed and Murphy are a supremely talented duo, who have created a truly exceptional Fringe show and announced themselves as rising stars of the Melbourne comedy and theatre scene.
And if there’s any justice in the world they will one day get their faces on that Number 1 tram just like they dreamed of.
4/5 STARS
/ Photo by Tim Green
