Stevie What? is a musician who put on a suit for a gig and then decided he should make a theatre show. ‘Through the Wormhole: A Psych-Pop Retelling’ is the result – a surreal odyssey to the planet of Pokitaru where the aliens wear Hawaiian shirts.
Stevie used to be a travel agent until his pencil broke. We watch as he attempts to multi-task, reaching for the pencil sharpener whilst answering a telephone call in the office, falling off his chair and through the said wormhole and into an alternative reality. This part of the story is documented in luminous colour via an endearing animated music video. The experience renders Stevie a partial amnesiac but annoyingly he still remembers his day job in the package holiday industry and ends up signing a contract of employment with a Pokitaru capitalist. I lost the plot after that.
Apparently, this is Stevie’s first ‘full-length show’, built around his upcoming debut EP ‘Pokitaru’. He’s certainly an accomplished singer-songwriter and musician. I loved the paean to his Nan, for example, and the song about rogue landlords chimed with many in the audience at the Lubberfiend where he was performing as part of Newcastle Fringe Festival. However, overall, this did not feel like a full-length theatre show. Instead, we were treated to a lengthy sound check, the wacky introductory animation (which is definitely worth a watch), a bit of audience participation in-between songs from the upcoming EP along with some cameo appearances by friends in alien masks, and some free merch. I went home with a cool beermat imprinted with Stevie’s iconic moustachioed face. But really I wanted more story-telling, more interaction with the props, and definitely more aliens.
You can check out the cool Stevie What? music video on youtube.
Julie Ward saw Stevie What? at the Lubberfiend.
A Newcastle Fringe event. There is still a lot going on!
More Newcastle Fringe reviews
‘I love my job’ at the Newgate Social
Katie Doherty and the Navigators at Alphabetti
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