Tomas Ford vs. The Audience ??

‘Tomas Ford vs. The Audience’ is in association with ARTRAGE and Weeping Spoon Productions. The show starts at 10.00 pm each evening at the Blue Room until 4^th November. With the previous show finishing just before nine, then a 9 or 9.30 would have been a better start time.

Before entering the grunge club, each member of the audience is asked to sign a waiver that they will not leave before the end (this did not stop one member) and would not object to being degraded. They then had to dress in boiler suits for protection. The expectation of what was to follow was far greater than the reward.
            The set was that of an old cellar with a smoke machine, bubble machine and strobe lights. The monster, Tomas Ford (very reminiscent of Adam Ant), was released from his cage. He sang several numbers whilst gyrating around and annoying the audience, but the ‘versus’ suggested that there would be clever banter. There was virtually no spoken word, and that which was spoken, was distorted by his effects microphone used for his singing.
            There is no doubt that Tomas (a really pleasant chap) can sing, and could probably make a living as a pop performer. He sang in styles from Sid Vicious to Roxy Music’s Brian Ferry, but the initial novelty soon died off as Ford continued to embarrass himself, rather than the audience.
            Ford has proved that he can do first rate monologues and sing, I just hope that he finds his niche and gets a break. Disappointed.

I know how gross it is to post in response to a review, but just to clarify something, actually both the waiver and the bouncer encourage you to leave at any point if you feel you feel the performance is either too much for you or you're not feelin' it. That's a pretty vital part of the show as it's a bit of a safety switch for some of the work. We will work on clarifying that before tonight's show. As a side note, to lend some context to the review, you caught what I hope to be the worst night of the season. Apologies. On the other two nights so far, this show has recieved absolutely ecstatic responses from audiences and has been an absolute riot to be part of but last night, the good theatre mojo was obviously not in the air for a number of reasons I won't go into here. Aloha and gracias for the review, Tomás

Oh dear... I felt when Gordons review began with 'it should have started earlier' I could see where it was headed. This is an absolutely enticing little number.I urge anyone who dreams of finding their own 'niche' to hop along. I would say very confidently that not only has Thomas found his niche he is exploiting it by blurring the lines of cabaret pushing it into the realms of performance art. I have never been to another performance where the whole audience has jumped up on stage and started grooving with the performer to the smooth sounds of ABBA. WILD. Sure I think there are moments that I would have like a little more clarity- but- its about raw intensity and he doles it out by the truck load. Irreverent, fabulously self indulgent, wild. What a great night out! Maybe for the younger crowd or those who like adventure. Go see. Adam

I am just shocked good ol' Gordon didn't like something! However, I applaud him for speaking his mind. A note to Thomas Ford: You don’t need to justify yourself to a review. It is a subjective analysis. Take what Gordon said on board and THEN make a decision whether elements of your show did or did not work. By the way, congratulations on getting original work up and running in W.A.

I am not entirely sure he should take on board anything that Gordon has said. In this case I don't think it would get him any where at all.

Do reviewers always come on the "bad night"? I didn't mind the 10pm start. I just minded everything from 10.05 onwards. Other than the show-time comment, I agree with Gordon's review. Well, he's a bit generous really. I was there the same night. OK, so the wrong backing tracks came on. What were the other bad theatre mojos, other than the show itself? It's not a function of age. (I'm younger than Gordon but older than Adam Mitchell.) I jumped up and grooved to Livi's XANADU. But I walked out before the end, having stayed too long. And the 20 year old in the audience beside me told me exactly how bad she thought it was. That’s part of the problem – Tomas actually doesn’t allow the audience its side of the confrontation, except to leave. So now I have my say. It's not just for the adventurous, nor is it irreverent or adventurous itself. Just boring. And not thought-through, nor well-scripted nor directed at all. The only confronting aspect is that some people pay money. I thank the Blue Room that I didn't (and neither did Adam). Tomas's use of the word "absolutely" about his first two audiences is not accurate. I 'shared' with some less-than-ecstatic opening nighters yesterday. But maybe there was a certain mob enthusiasm. So perhaps Tomas should shorten the show to keep the time / audience ratio at 1.5 minutes. Eg, 40 people: 60 minutes; 8 people the night with Gordon and me: 12 minutes. In response to Daniel Kershaw, I think the show demonstrates that it's TOO EASY to get a show on in Perth, especially at the Blue Room. In Sydney or Melbourne, this would be a lunchtime show for one of the university drama groups, or part of an open night at The Performance Space. Put in that context, its derivative concept and uninspired execution would be obvious. As I pointed out to "the bouncer", the Sydney Front was confronting audiences with waivers, prescribed audience costumes, groping and sex-toys in the late 80s and early 90s at the Performance space. They did it much better than Tomas but, even so, their ‘confronting’ tricks quickly became predictable and boring. Tomas could read this page about the short-lived career of the original audience confronter, Tristan Tzara in 1919: http://www.tranquileye.com/theatre/dada_theatre.html Tzara’s description of why art needed an operation (ninety years ago) is an apt description of this show: Art is a PRETENSION warmed by the TIMIDITY of the urinary basin, the hysteria born in THE STUDIO.