THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE by Sam Wills (Mirvish). At the Panasonic (651 Yonge). In rep with Julie Madly Deeply to October 19. $25-$79. 416-872-1212. See listings. Rating: NNN
A little goes a long way in The Boy With Tape On His Face, Sam Wills’s amusing but repetitive comedy performed completely sans dialogue.
With a shock of spiky black hair, worried-looking eyes, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder and a strip of black tape covering his mouth to prevent him from talking – or even smiling – Wills takes us through an hour’s worth of gags, some of them lasting less than a minute, others involving a complex sequence of music, choreography and audience participation.
Much of the show’s success relies on surprise, as Wills takes humble household items – an old computer mouse, a pair of oven mitts – and using humour and imagination, transforms them. Snatches of pop music provide the payoff for a few punchlines.
This is the show that put Kiwi Wills on the Edinburgh Fringe map, and you can see why: it’s a great gimmick, provides all-ages fun and elicits some of the most good-spirited audience participation I’ve ever seen.
Wills is a nimble, expressive performer, and he picks up on every ruffle and cough in the crowd.
But once you’ve seen about 15 minutes of the show, you’ve seen it all. There’s no arc, and his onstage persona doesn’t have any backstory.
And I’m not sure why the sound of an old-fashioned typewriter clacking away is used to fill time.
