A stories and songs show about being caught between two worlds, the Muppets, and finding solace in music

It’s 1987, and Polash is about to have his 12-year-old mind blown seeing The Blues Brothers at the Valhalla cinema. From New Delhi to Camberwell, this kid has seen a lot, but he’s never seen anything like this. People are wearing sunglasses at night! And everyone knows all the songs!

His parents may have had their adventures on the hippy trail, but it’s the 80s now baby. Polash is about to take you on a musical journey that’s for you, me, everybody!

He may even be on a mission from God.

Content Warnings: The current script includes the word “motherfucker”. Once.

Written and performed by Polash Larsen

Directed by John Bolton

Featuring songs by Taj Mahal and James Rachell; Rabindranath Tagore; Cab Calloway, Irving Mills and Clarence Gaskill; Mars Bonfire; Joe Raposo; Steve Winwood, Spencer Davis and Muff Winwood; Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill; Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte; Bert Berns, Jerry Wexler and Solomon Burke; and Polash Larsen

Image by Lara Week

Photos by Darren Gill

WHAT IS COMFORT MUSIC?

Comfort Music is an intimate piece of theatre performed solo by Polash Larsen. It includes story-telling and songs accompanied by an unamplified acoustic guitar. Over 52 minutes Polash recounts the story of his parents’ meeting, marriage and divorce set against his life as a musician, the Muppets and The Blues Brothers.

The story contains themes of diaspora, divorce, hybrid identity, music and cinema.

Comfort Music is ideal for small theatres, regional galleries. festivals and parlour theatre.

Although there is live music in the performance, Comfort Music sits closer on the spectrum to theatre than a concert so it is not suited for noisy, chaotic environments with people walking in and out. Jokes would be missed. Moments of pathos would be disrupted. It is better to delay the start of the show by a few minutes than to admit late-comers.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Lighting. The show has no specific lighting cues beyond illuminating the performance space.

Sound. All sound effects are created by the performer, either by voice or using the unamplified guitar. For larger audiences both performer and guitar can be amplified.

Stage. Comfort Music can be performed on a stage as small as 3 meters square. The performer enters from outside the space to occupy the stage so there will need to be an unobstructed path to the performance area.

ACCESS

Comfort Music is well suited to visually impaired audience members due to the high preponderance of speech and music in the show. Visuals are less important so blind or low vision audiences can have close to full experience of the event.

For the same reasons, Comfort Music is less well suited for Deaf/hard of hearing audiences.

Comfort Music does not rely on lighting or amplified sounds so it may be well suited to neuro-diverse audiences who require a relaxed performance. Certain kinds of stim toys are welcome in this environment.

WHAT IS PARLOUR THEATRE?

If you’ve ever thrown a party then you probably already have everything you need to host a performance of Comfort Music at your place! Parlour Theatre is what happens when you host a professional production in the intimacy of your own, private home. The main thing you need to consider is whether you have enough chairs to seat everyone. It actually helps if they’re not all the same as a mixture of dining chairs, bar stools, spots on the sofa and cushions on the floor assist in making sure everyone has a clear sight line to the performer. We can help you arrange seating before the show to make sure everyone can see.

Beyond seating the audience, most other considerations are the same as if you’ve invited friends over for a party. Will there be snacks? Will you provide drinks or do your friends BYO? That’s all up to you. The only stipulation from us is that, if you’re thinking of combining dinner with this experience, do that AFTER the show. We want the show to be focus of the night and happy, contented audiences nodding off because of their full tummies isn’t conducive to that.

Fees. For parlour shows we apply a “Pay What You Feel” model as you know best what your audience is comfortable with. That being said, sometimes feelings need a bit of guidance so we suggest a ticket price of $25 based on the assumption that there will be 20 people attending.

(If 20 sounds like a lot, remember this: when the show was in development Polash squeezed 24 people and a dog into his tiny Brunswick lounge room. Anything is possible!)  

BOOKINGS

Feel free to use the Contact page of this website or email us at management@theofftopics.com to discuss hosting Comfort Music at your next event.