Review by Steve Bennett

This look at karmic fate through a ridiculously skewed mind is introduced by a ten-minute time-filling video, which bears little relevance to the theme. But when Fitzgerald arrived on stage all is forgiven.

This is a very theatrical monologue, tightly scripted and polished in delivery with a reasonable share of belly laughs from the two people who made up the audience. The small crowd doesn’t seem to affect Fitzgerald, who delivers a confident and assured performance, which is made even funnier when he occasionally slips out of his theatre mode and throws a casual aside to the audience.

The story is an interesting one, but ultimately frustrating. Fitzgerald tells of bumping into a girl he bullied at school and deduces that because of his namecalling, she was lead her down a certain path in life which ultimately results in her one true love dying in a car crash.

He seeks help from a mathematician neighbour to determine the odds of him actually being responsible and it’s then that the story becomes a little too much.

He tells tall tales which are ‘unbelievable but not improbable’ about why Zeppo Marx is ultimately responsible for Hiroshima. This unlikely story is told with such conviction that I would have felt inclined to google it, had he not counter-argued the point himself. It would have been much more effective to present it as complete truth and leave the audience to leave disbelieving, but partially convinced.

Despite this, Unbelievable! is a very well-crafted show which entertains and amuses. Fitzgerald is a tremendous storyteller who will surely be fated to much bigger things.

Reviewed by: Corry Shaw

Review date: 1 Jan 2008
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett