Carrie Green and David Correos do battle in A Frickin Dangerous Space-mas written by Frickin Dangerous Bro as the Basement's 2019 Christmas show. Photo / Andi Crown
The silly season has well and truly landed at the Basement Theatre courtesy of this year's Christmas event, "A Frickin Dangerous Space-mas".
Written by sketch trio Frickin Dangerous Bro – James Roque, Pax Assadi and Jamaine Ross – the interstellar adventure follows the six-person crew of the International Space Station,
where the topic of who will replace the incompetent captain Chip is second-fiddle to what everyone's got for Secret Santa.
The play is a first from the trio, and the teething troubles of adjusting to the new format are clear. There is not really a plot, more a very loose idea that merely guides things from one gag to the next. It wouldn't matter if FDB had written an entirely comic play, but the office politics and family issues they slotted in stand out as an afterthought.
Where the trio excel is being funny and what "Space-mas" lacks in plot it makes up for in laughs. It was undoubtedly one of the funniest Basement Christmas shows I've seen – and I've seen a few – with every scene packed with enough quips, puns and references that there is rarely a quiet moment from the audience.
FDB's glorious goofiness is sold by a committed cast that comes on stage guns blazing. Marianne Infante grounds the madness with straight-woman space nerd Sampaugita, a necessary foil when faced with the deadpan eccentricity that comes from David Correos' Calvin.
