Babysitting
In 2005, the Hothouse Theatre in Albury commissioned Damian to write a show specifically for kids and families to go alongside his adult show ‘Eureka Stocktake’ he was already performing at the biannual Hothouse Comedy Festival.
He mulled it over and came up ‘Babysitting’, a show deliberately aimed to keep the kids and parents entertained in equal measure.
The show was successfully trialed in front of a harsh panel of 10 year old critics at Mentone Park Primary School [see quotes] before pack his ‘Babysitting For Dummies’ Book and heading north.
It was reprised at the 2006 Melbourne Comedy Festival where Damian babysat anyone who wondered into ‘The Umbrella Revolution’ in Federation Square, including 210 year 9 girls on one occasion. Following these experiences Damian realised the show could survive anything. Such was the shows appeal that The Victorian Arts centre re-programmed ‘Babysitting’ for their 2010 Melbourne Comedy Festival for a sold out season in the Black Box Theatre.
Since then Damian has been asked to perform the show at the Perth Kids Festival [2006]; Warnambool Just For Kids Festival [2007] Burnie Shines Festival [Tas] 2010 and schools throughout Victoria.
Damian has been asked to babysit the audience. When he arrives to take over from the collective ‘mum’ of the audience, he happily waves her off on her shopping expedition only to find that the couple of kids he thought he was to look after, has blown out to 100.
After an initial panic attack he sets about the task of trying to amuse the masses until ‘mum’ gets home. If that wasn’t hard enough ‘mum’ has left a list of things to do which include tending to the needs of a giant 2 dimensional baby and warding of the home invasions of the kid from next door with A.D.D. The result turns chaos into mayhem.
‘Babysitting’ brings to the fore Callinan’s penchant for narrative driven character comedy and highlights his ability to transcend all ages. To cope with his multiple responsibilities at the babysitting gig, he brings an entourage of his character companions to hold the fort as he wrestles with changing oversized nappies including … Phil – the depressed 5th member of the Wiggles, Funny Funson the Norwegian street performer & Nathan Houilhan, the 9 year old who favours ‘Choose Your Adventure’ stories as a means of chronicling history.
The show is aimed at all ages, with a view to entertaining adults as much as their smaller companions. So if you’ve run out of things to keep the kids amused, here’s the alternative.
“It was that funny I almost forgot to laugh.” – Gemma
“I really enjoyed the show and everything is the best” – Dean
“My favourite was the story dude, I forget his name … if anyone doesn’t like this show, someone’s going to be angry!” – Alice
“It was funny how you said Joel had stuck his tongue in a power plant. I hope the rest of your career goes well” – Danielle
“I liked it when you were the depressed Wiggle and when you hit my brother” – Alyssa
“I liked the gorilla looking though my hair” – Tim
“Thanks a million. You do a great pretend of retard or is it pretend?” – Ryan
‘I liked every single bit of it but I particularly liked Naughty Rodney ‘cos he was spastic and crazy” – Adrian
“The show was brilliant. There is no word to describe it.” – Rhys
QUOTES – MENTONE PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL, GR. 5’S
