Puppetry of the Penis: Live at the Forum (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Documentary-Cockstars Trailer-Tackle Happy
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	50:25
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Mick de Montignie
Studio Distributor	ACMEC	Starring	Simon Morley David Friend
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	James Compton

   Just in case there are people out there who don't know what Puppetry of the P**** actually is, I'll give a brief explanation of the concept.

   Two naked men share the stage with a large video screen. The action consists of these two men stretching, twisting, and squeezing their genitals to form the illusion of different objects. Objects like The Loch Ness Monster, The Eiffel Tower, The Windsurfer and of course, the famous Hamburger. These various acts are called p**** installations or...dick tricks. The use of the video screen is to provide the action in close up for the audience, which consists of a very balanced gender mix.

   Puppetry of the P**** was formed by Simon Morley and David Friend, and debuted on stage at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 1998. That was followed by an eight month national tour, the subject of the documentary Tackle Happy which is mentioned in the extras section of this review.

   After the show's huge initial success in Australia,  Simon and David took the show to the 2000 Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. After sell-out shows there, it was spotted by a London producer, who booked the show. It subsequently  played for five months on London's West End.

   Puppetry of the P**** is now a hugely successful  stage show worldwide, playing in many countries and with many different performers doing the shows in their respective languages. The show may one day rank alongside Vegemite and Fosters as an instantly recognisable Australian export.

   The performance presented on this DVD was recorded live at Melbourne's Forum Theatre in 2001. It opens with some brief vox pops with audience members, as to what they are expecting from the show. We then go into the Forum and  become an audience member, as there are no cut away interviews or other distractions. It's basically as you would see it in the theatre, with some timely audience reactions thrown in.

Video

   The video transfer is surprisingly quite good, considering the source material is video tape and not film.

   The presented aspect ratio is 1.33:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced.

   The transfer was reasonably sharp and clear for the most part. There is some grain and moments of softness, but overall,  I found the video quality to be acceptable. Blacks were quite clean, and shadows held good detail.

   Colours were consistent and appeared quite natural, even though most of the action is limited to the performers on stage.

   I found very little to complain about in the artefact department. There were no problems with MPEG artefacts. There  was some very minor edge enhancement, but it wasn't of any great consequence.

   There are no subtitles at all on the DVD.

   This is a single sided, single layer disc, so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
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Audio

   The audio transfer is also quite impressive.

    There is one audio track available, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). It is surround encoded.

    Dialogue was perfectly clear throughout and there were no problems with audio sync.

    The music is by James Compton . There was no need for any master work here. The music is of a fairly wacky nature - you probably won't even notice it.

    Using Pro-Logic will give you some audience noise and music through the surrounds, but the soundtrack is very much a front and centre affair.

    The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

   The menu is static and very basic, but does have some of that wacky looped music.

Trailer: Tackle Happy (2:46)

   The trailer for the documentary Tackle Happy, which documents Simon and David's early days in touring the show around Australia.

Featurette: Documentary - Cockstars (43:04)

   This very interesting and funny documentary does give some background into the beginnings of the show, but its main focus is the search for some new male performers to help spread the show far and wide. The success of Puppetry of the P**** meant that Simon and David simply could not keep up with demand, so auditions were held in Melbourne to find some new stars to continue the show locally, while Simon and David could perform the show overseas. This is a must see extra, and an excellent inclusion on the DVD.

    There is no R1 version of this DVD.

    Puppetry of the P****: Live at the Forum is an entertaining and funny look at the ancient art of genital origami. It's best viewed in the company of open-minded adults who aren't easily offended.

   The video and audio transfers are of a good standard.

   Although there isn't an abundance of extras, the two included on the disc are excellent, and certainly enhance the overall presentation.

  So, maybe at your next dinner party, retire to the living room, slot this disc into your DVD player and...you'll have a ball.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall