Nob Happy Sock | Casa Mondo | Until Feb 16 | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Last night 69 people crowded into the tiny  space that is Casa Mondo to see Simon Keck perform his award winning one man show ‘Nob Happy Sock’.

Surrounding a pocketbook stage on three sides, the audience dwarfed what must be the tiniest venue at the Pleasure Garden.

Over the last two weeks I’ve seen a lot of spectacle, some talented circus and burlesque acts and wonderful cabaret performers but last night I witnessed the closest thing to a religious experience I have seen in any Fringe performance.

Wielding a microphone, wearing blue stripe pyjamas and armed with nothing more than an incredible honesty Simon Keck held his audience spellbound as he wove a narrative that candidly disclosed his own struggle with depression and suicide ideation.

Yes. This is a comedy show. And yes we laughed about a subject many would consider too serious for laughter. However I sense the laughter came from a shared realisation of a common experience many of us in the audience were familiar with. There was a palpable sense of relief that finally the elephant in the room that is such a facet of modern life was being named and addressed.

This isn’t the first show written about suicide but I can’t remember an example where the subject matter has been treated I such an understated and human way.

The show is beautifully crafted. I can certainly understand why it has garnered awards from  fringe festivals in Melbourne and Adelaide.

As we exited into the evening I couldn’t help but feel we as an audience had been bonded by the experience; that somehow we were more connected to life. That, in my opinion, is the true alchemy of theatre. Simon Keck will be performing until the 16th of February.

Charlie Perth