Review by Marissa Burgess

Like anyone with any sense of retro style, Pretty is nostalgically fond of the audio tape and more specifically the mixtape. For those not between 30 and 50, the Mixtape was the gift of choice for the 70s, 80s and, to a degree, 90s teen to give to the person that they fancied whom, more often than not, didn't have a clue who they were.

As Pretty points out at the top of the show, there was a dedication about the mix tape that is lost these days, it was an art that took far more time and skill than simply downloading a play list from your iTunes. He notes too that there's meticulous method in the timing so there aren't long gaps at the end of a tape or, god forbid, there isn't a track cut in half by the tape ending.

His interest was piqued in the art again after finding a collection of Mixtape in an Ethiopian lunch box he had hoarded. Among them he found one that his mate John had prepared for Pretty's wake, after a national newspaper had effectively declared him dead. He's all right now, though, and even had the rare honour of attending his own wake.

Though the wake tape itself unspooled a few months ago, the show recreates it through the mediums of comedy and music. Pretty largely uses the trumpet at which he is adept, but also employs such random objects as a circuit board from a PC. Along the way he weaves in his thoughts on different genres of music and talk of his travels in India and the Pacific Rim leading up to the denouement, which explains why he came to be pronounced dead.

Pretty is good company and his story engaging. Though on this performance he struggled with some of the technical elements – there are many to go wrong - and a lacklustre audience who weren't really up for joining in with what could have been a nice musical climax.

One niggle was that Pretty needs to get his sound levels right, when he's recreating the musical numbers it drowns out his 'on tape' commentary. Nevertheless his story is a strong one that not many can lay claim to, and his musical skills are wide – so the fact that the laughs are more ripplingly gentle than gutsy belly ones doesn't really matter.

Review date: 8 Aug 2011
Reviewed by: Marissa Burgess