The Flatpack Life: A Musical Comedy Review

Originally published on Avenoir Magazine, in May 2016.

Heading into the theatre for The Flatpack Life, I really wasn’t sure what I was in for, I had read the blurb and had the faint gist it might have something to do with IKEA, but I didn’t realise I was in for a night of hilarious musical numbers.

The story follows Björn Hammarskjöld a Swedish gentleman just looking to live a successful life. He’s just received a graduate position as Assistant Door-Greeter at an Australian Möbler outlet. But he quickly ascends the ranks of this revered Swedish furniture company, and falls head over heels in love with the stoic customs officer Rhonda Moulton. He is at the top of the world. However, he soon discovers there is a sinister underbelly within his beloved store, forcing him to choose between his new love and his dream job.

The parody of IKEA was brilliantly done, from the jibes about its maze like set up making it hard to just get in, get what you need and leave without journeying throughout the entire store, to Magnus, the meatball chef, whose musical number had a couple mishaps that just seemed to flow perfectly with his character.

One highlight was the scene where the customs officers have a warrant to bust into a house full of illegal fruits; the entire scene was hilarious and executed perfectly. From the officers trying to trick the suspect into opening the door by offering free pizza, to them finding a key and letting themselves in. The scene was fast paced with plenty of quips and ‘inter-textual references’ as Beatrice would say.

Björn was a very sensible protagonist right down to his knee-high socks and sandals attire. His character was rife with insecurities causing him to question and doubt himself during the show. He isn’t exactly a humorous character in the sense that he probably cracked the least one-liners. However, that wasn’t his purpose. He was there to help facilitate and set up jokes for others, but also to keep the story moving and stay grounded.

Rhonda was extremely Australian. From her work boots to her constant use of Aussie slang, she is a great representation of a country girl. She is also exceedingly passionate about keeping Australia safe from illegal fruits and the damage they could cause to our eco-system, so passionate that she often enjoys torturing the people who are found harbouring said fruit by connecting their nipples to car batteries (I’m sure you can fill in the rest). Rhonda’s banter with her best friend Beatrice were truly some of the greatest moments of the entire show.

However as with most shows, there were some opening night teething problems, there were moments where the microphones were drowned out by the music, therefore making it hard to hear the lyrics, as well as a couple of prop malfunctions, which I thought were handled very well and some even seemed like they could have been intentional.

The musical numbers don’t always seem to flow smoothly (transitions wise) but they are done with such reckless abandon and hilarity that it can often be forgiven.

Overall, the show was a hit, the audience was in constant fits of laughter and I admired the wordplay, inter-textual references and Australian vernacular used throughout the show. The ending went slightly differently, to how I expected with a funny little twist to cap off a great night. I highly recommend seeing this during its very short run.