This show, drawing on a real homophobic attack Linus Karp experienced, marks a shift from Karp’s previous pop-culture inspired capers. Covering the titular attack and its aftermath, Awkward Productions (Karp and Joseph Martin) explore this traumatic experience without straying far from the tongue-in-cheek tone that endears them to audiences. Littered with meme-eqsue slides, scripted audience lines, and a Sesame Street-inspired song about hate crime stats, this tonal rollercoaster lands with mixed effectiveness. Sometimes humour creates strong juxtaposition: ‘thirst-trap’ photos following a head-wound selfie receive well-timed laughs, whilst demonstrating in real-time Karp’s resistance to being shamed by the attackers’ bigotry. However, other elements (including the muppet-ish stats) seem engineered to meet expectations of levity, without being fully dramaturgically justified.

Underbelly Bristo Square until 31 Aug.
tw rating 3/5 | [Bizz Holmes]