First published Sunday 31 May 2015 in The Argus
In the blurb to his Fringe show Alexis Dubus’s Cars And Girls was described as “poetic true-life tales of travel and heartbreak”.
But the verse stories were so much more – told by a self-effacing loveable raconteur focusing on his adventures across continents with a range of beautifully drawn characters.
The humour came out of the situations in the stories – whether it was hitchhiking to Morocco with a trio of dubious truckers to his experiences on mushrooms in the Burning Man Festival.
Initially the stanzas jarred – especially when Dubus played with awkward rhymes – but within minutes the ear had tuned itself in.
The poetry created its own rhythm allowing room for Dubus’s jokes to land. How he was able to keep his beautifully balanced sentences in his head without a stumble across a full hour is testament to his skills as a performer.
The reality of the stories was underlined by a series of blown-up photographs, which Dubus attached to a giant passport throughout the performance, silencing any internal monologue that this might never have happened.
The only awkward note was his closing reason for making the show, which although it linked into the two central planks of his performance left the audience wanting to know more.
Four stars