Sam Simmons - About the Weather

If you thought flatpack furniture was such well-trodden comedy ground it could never provoke a standing ovation, Sam Simmons’s show will prove you wrong. What he builds with Ikea components in About the Weather is astonishing. The comic play, about a sadistic radio weatherman narrating the life of an incompetent loser played by Simmons, further gives inspiring instruction on how to inject a little of the Aussie’s weirdness into your own life.

A narrator taking over the “strikingly beige days” of a bus-riding drone is not a new idea if you’ve seen Stranger Than Fiction. But the spoken subconscious of Will Ferrell in that film was never as wonderfully surreal as Simmons’s, as he jostles with Gillette jingles and chocolate owls. The play’s chaotic plot proves compelling too. Its climactic rant recalls Trainspotting’s monologue in terms of its angry brilliance – a call-to-arms against every banal thing hindering Simmons’s right to be strange.

About the Weather perhaps relies too much on the incongruous music gag. Opera, latino, and Crazy Town come booming through the speakers at many odd moments. But Simmons’ physical performance demonstrates real commitment to his ‘art’ (as he describes it aggressively to an “arty-looking” punter). Slapping his face with slices of ham to ‘Desperado’ indeed resembles performance art, as well as being bloody funny. 

This is the fifth Fringe during which the 35-year-old has been dividing audiences. The most consistent thing about his arbitrary antics is how much they will still appeal to some; About the Weather certainly does judging by this crowd's response.