Opera singer and comedy fan David Hobson has joined forces with his comedic friend and aspiring singer Colin Lane.
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The talented duo’s show In Tails sees the opera and comedy worlds collide on stage as each takes on their other’s skill set.
“More than colliding it overlaps. It's a mathematical kaleidoscope of opera and comedy. How does that sound?” Lane said.
“It's essentially based on the truth of me learning about opera from an every-man perspective and him wanting to do a comedy routine having been a long time fan.
“David also wants to lighten the opera scene and I've always liked singing and want to improve that skill set.”
Lane and Hobson met in the 1980s on ABC television show Class Acts. Their friendship developed when they joined the same kick-to-kick football group in Melbourne.
“It was a weird footy collective. I was in a trio called Found Objects at the time,” Lane said.
“Then I became a duo and now I’m a solo act. Next year I am going to do a show where I don’t appear at all. I’ll just announce it at the start of the show and not come out and the whole audience gets extremely pissed off.”
Hobson said they pair have been friends for nearly 30 years and that the show came from enjoying each other’s work as well as their company.
“We were thinking if we could do something together. I love the history of comedy and use to recite routines,” he said.
“When kids pretended to be pop singers with a hair brush, I was doing Monty Python and, Cook and Moore routines.”
The chance to develop the show came when the pair shared entertaining duties ona cruise ship five years ago.
“I was on an opera cruise with an orchestra and the comedian pulled out. I thought of Col who came on and did his thing. But during that trip we wrote a show with orchestra,” Hobson said.
“We started performing it about two years ago. Since then we have done a few festivals.”
But for talents who attract comedic crowds and operatic audiences respectively, what sort of crowd turns up to In Tails?
Hobson said it was definitely a broad crowd with opera fans and comedian-based fans turning up equally.
Lane said while it has been a cross-section, there are usually more opera fans in the audience.
“When they see David Hobson and Colin Lane, its more Hobson fans coming than Lane fans. I don’t know why that is,” Lane said.
“If you see David Hobson, you know what going to get. I know if you see Colin Lane, you know what you’re going to get but I think even the audience thinks they’re going to see David Hobson and Colin’s going to be the offsider.”
In Tails featuring David Hobson and Colin Lane is on at The Capital Theatre in Bendigo on April 8 and 9.
Visit www.thecapital.com.au/Whats_On/In_Tails for more information or to book tickets.