Velcro City would be more aptly named Velcro Village. Photo / Supplied
Crowd loved Velcro's busy comic duo but Wild Beasts too long.
Velcro City is really more of a Velcro Village. All its friendly stock characters are played by a young onesie-wearing comic duo - the intense Eli Matthewson and the versatile, goofy Hamish Parkinson - who whip between costumes, and even sets, using small Velcro tabs.
There's George, the highwaisted elderly
gent who calls his snoozy wife Mavis "Mavy-Gravy" and thinks that "every problem can be solved with a letter to the editor"; the nerdy teenage swain at "Unlimited Potential High School" with school colours in Dungeons and Dragons; the lesbian couple running the vegan cafe full of poetry readings and Ovaries of Steel magazines; and the local politician who's into "fresh-ality" - "fresh" boosted with "originality".
It could be called Felt Tip City - all costumes have been lovingly drawn on cardboard - and the bus driver costume, which uses Parkinson's face on a tiny drawn body behind sliding cardboard doors, deserved its applause.
Velcro City clings to obscure motes of New Zealand pop culture: OMG, remember Rubicon's "Bruce"? Did we really want to? Slight but amusing, and at its best when the boys are ad-libbing.
