It was the catchy and potentially Harry Potter related name of Craig Quartermaine’s show the The Quarterblood Prince which stood out at me at first. Reading up a bit more on the show, I realised that it had nothing to do with the Halfblood Prince. Quartermaine however, had been climbing the ranks steadily and making a name for himself at comedy shows around Australia and the world. I decided to go and see The Quarterblood Prince in action.
The Perth local started by warming up the room and ingratiating himself in the best way you can with Sydneysiders – insulting Melbourne. It wasn’t long until he turned attention to Sydney itself and Australia, modern society and the world in general.
Doing a fresh and interesting comedy show about race can be hard. The subject matter is incredibly sensitive and it has the potential to be a downright downer. Craig Quartermaine happily admits that he ‘likes making white people feel awkward’ and seemed almost surprised when people laughed out loud at his edgier jokes. And laugh they did. He managed to make the topic accessible through a combination of fantastic one liners, scarily insightful gags and a fantastic sense of humour.
He’s a genuinely likeable guy with a lot of stage presence and you can’t help but be intrigued by his stories and amused by his jokes. He feeds brilliantly off his audience, even stopping to clarify with hecklers before giving them a humorous response. This gave the evening an interactive and unscripted feel.
Quartermaine’s talent is compounded by his obvious enjoyment for stand-up comedy. He is insightful, funny and thought-provoking, in equal measure. The Quarterblood Prince is a very funny look into social and race relations, how things are never as they seem and a potential answer to the energy crisis. It’s not one to be missed and although it has run its course at the 2018 Sydney Comedy Festival, you can keep track of Quartermaine’s upcoming shows here.
– Elli
Elli de Ryckman de Betz is a lover of comedy and of being entertained.
The Quarterblood Prince played at the Enmore Theatre from 3 – 6 May.
Read our guide to the top shows, and all of our 2018 Sydney Comedy Festival coverage.
Disclosure: The Plus Ones were guests of Frontier Comedy.
Image credit: Frontier Comedy.
