Jon Bennett: It’s Rabbit Night
Festivals
It helps if you know the rules. Sadly, it seems none of us received the email about the most crucial element of this show. Jon Bennett is crushed. The exuberance of his high-energy, carrot-throwing welcome is squashed when he realises “no one knows about rabbit night”.
Bennett, here last year with the wickedly funny Fire in the Meth Lab, is back with a new, very different show. He promises it’s usually a blast of fun but due to the mix-up he’s not sure he can go ahead now.
What does it mean to be a professional? It means plugging on no matter what. After an extended set-up, he launches into tales of shows and life experiences that didn’t go as planned – “stories I’ve never told anyone”.
It’s a journey down the rabbit hole all the way to the dirt at the bottom. We hear horror stories of “the cock and meth guy” inexplicably being sent to entertain nursing-home residents and perform in front of 200 disinterested children. Family anecdotes punctuate sexual exploits which turn out to be a long way from pleasurable, including a very NSFW account of a threesome celebrating a relationship break-up. A trippy night out in Vegas involving mushrooms, a spa bath and a girlfriend who turns into a velociraptor is equal parts hilarious and nightmarish.
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A series of bizarre visitors interrupt throughout the show … all confused about what’s meant to be happening. There are slides of weird/cute bunnies and a pumping techno rabbit orgy anthem.
Curiouser and curiouser, It’s Rabbit Night bounces all over the place but the endearing Bennett takes most of us with him (how one elderly gentleman slept through the chaos is a mystery), despite the somewhat rambling thread of a story. Is there a point to this rabbit stew? On with the show – this is it!
It’s Rabbit Night is being performed at Tuxedo Cat @ The Coffee Pot until March 1.
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