Categories: News

The Umbilical Brothers unveil new show THE DISTRACTION at Melbourne International Comedy Festival

The Umbilical Brother will unveil their new world premiere show THE DISTRACTION at 2020 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and are stating very loudly that it is “a big screen, special effect extravaganza, performed live…and it will blow your mind!”
Do you love staring at screens? Are you staring at a screen right now? You should get out more. Specifically, to a show that has an enormous screen smack-bang in the middle of it.
The Umbilicals take the energy of live performance and the spectacle of cinema and smash them together into a new show performed simultaneously on stage and the big screen. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen, and nothing they’ve ever done, and it will blow your mind way more literally than you are expecting.

Shane Dundas, the bald member of the Umbilicals, notes “David and I have always imagined movie-like visuals when creating and performing. This time you get to see what we’re imagining, right there onscreen in real time. We’ll be wrestling with live special effects. It’s going to be pretty freaky.”
The Umbilical Brothers are an international comedy phenomenon. Their unique mix of mind-bending comedy and back-breaking physicality has taken them to 40 countries; from stadiums supporting Robin Williams to stadiums supporting N’Sync.
Named as two of Entertainment Weekly’s “100 Most Creative People In Entertainment,” they have appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, after James Brown at Woodstock ’99, and before the Queen of England. Their global gigs have included a year-long off-Broadway run where they received raves from the New York Times and a New York Drama Desk nomination. Awards include a Helpmann for Comedy Performance of the Year, the Edinburgh Critics’ Choice Award and a couple of BAFTA’s. Younger fans and stoners know them from The Upside Down Show, which they created with Sesame Workshop and won them an Emmy and a Logie.

WHERE: George Fairfax Studio – Arts Centre Melbourne
WHEN: March 25 – April 19: Tues-Sat at 7:00pm and 6:00pm Sunday
BOOKINGS: www.umbilicalbrothers.com

Gabi Bergman

Gabi Bergman (she/her) is a Melbourne-based performer and educator, and the current Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AussieTheatre.com. She holds a double degree in Theatre Studies and Film/Screen Studies, along with a Master of Teaching (Secondary Education). A passionate advocate for inclusion and diversity in the arts, Gabi brings her deep love of storytelling to the stage, the page, and the classroom. A lifelong lover of theatre, she spends more on tickets than she’d like to admit. Her most prized possession is her ever-growing collection of theatre programs.

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