Created
and performed by Jon Morris and Scott Nankivel, American Vaudeville
charts the rise and fall of this form of entertainment in the first
quarter of the 20th century. Morris and Nankivel play a song
and dance duo, Chester and Plunket. They successfully create a feeling
for a long lost form of innocent entertainment.
They put
on a display of the corny gag routines, mime and slapstick humour. A
newspaper routine was particularly well performed, illustrating how
comedians from the silent era of films like Buster Keaton developed
their skills in vaudeville. In the acting sequences we follow how
Chester and Plunket rise to fame despite their disputes and falling for
the same showgirl. They have a partnership for life.
We know
their optimism can’t last. Despite their professionalism, talking
films and radio arrive and their career in vaudeville comes to an end.
The ending is moving.
American
Vaudeville does show the importance of this period in the development of
show business. Not all the vaudeville performers disappeared. Some went
on to illustrious careers like Bob Hope whose career spanned almost a
century of entertainment from vaudeville to stand up comedy. Also
vaudeville was the inspiration for a whole generation of later
performers such as our own Morecambe and Wise, and many younger
performers at this very Fringe who, whether consciously or not, include
elements of vaudeville in their acts.
American
Vaudeville is a fitting homage to vaudeville performers.
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