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REVIEW: Tom Ballard’s Boundless Plains to Share

<p>I leave the show having laughed jovially, while having also learnt more than I thought possible at a comedy show.</p>

Culture

Tom Ballard undertakes a momentous task in his show Boundless Plains To Share. The show acts as a kind of ‘comedy lecture’, as it follows a narrative so as to provide hilarity, insightfulness and quite humbling moments when discussing Australia’s immigration policy. The show ranges from burst out laughter to a tense audience blanketed under dead silence. I have never been to a comedy show quite like what I saw last night. Tom has a wit which allows for the audience to view him in an endearing way, granting him movement to make jokes about the terrible treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. As the show progresses, Tom brings out material completely unique to this show, in the form of abstract audience participation, to exemplify the way in which we are all citizens of the world. Numerous jokes are made at the expense of Liberal politicians, but Tom often takes the role of a lecturer in a seemingly authoritative way, prompting people on how to act towards the current political climate regarding refugees and asylum seekers. I leave the show having laughed jovially, while having also learnt more than I thought possible at a comedy show. Boundless Plains to Share is a must see show for anyone who wants to laugh and think concurrently. The ideas Tom brings to a public forum will hopefully bring about a change in mindset for people when thinking about the issue of asylum seekers and refugees.

 
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