Fringe review: Title and Deed nails it ★★★★

Cameron Woodhead: The Age, Sept 28, 2017

Straddling absurdist theatre and stand-up comedy, playwright Will Eno always seems at his best when writing for a solitary actor. Title and Deed is no exception, and this production, performed by Asian-Australian actor Keith Brockett, absolutely nails it. Big themes usually treated with earnestness – questions of migration, cultural collision and otherness – are broached with fleet, dry wit and left-field quirk, without ever being trivialised. Brockett's mastery of high camp is ideally suited to the eccentric brilliance of Will Eno's script. His "slightly foreign man" rocks up with unattended luggage – he owns only a stick and a mysterious box – but he's garrulous, twinkles with mischief, and is keen to make his strange life story as entertaining as he can. If his comic mask feels demanded by the white-bread audience, it's one that keeps slipping into darker, more labile terrain. Director Laura Maitland has nurtured a bravura performance that will make you giggle uncontrollably, as well as think.