The Pianist

Overview

For one week only, the Arts Centre Melbourne is hosting a fancy schmancy piano recital. And it's going to go spectacularly badly. The latest one-man show from New Zealand stage performer Thomas Monckton, in collaboration with Finnish circus company Circo Aereo, The Pianist operates on a simple comedic principal: if something can go wrong, it most certainly will.

Drawing his inspirations from the great silent comics, including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and of course Mr. Bean, Monckton plays the eponymous musician, a man so obsessed with impressing his audience he fails to realise his show is collapsing around his ears. A madcap physical theatre piece, The Pianist has garnered rave reviews across New Zealand and Europe, earning a nomination for best circus show at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe. Monckton will also take part in a post-show discussion on Wednesday, January 13.