Review by Michelle Fisher
Back at my one of my favourite Adelaide venues at The Jade, The Singalong Pub Quiz, hosted by Dr H and Mister Meredith, is one of those fringe activities that you attend and just wish more people knew about so that they could also join in on the fun.
Essentially, this is just a game of general trivia but rather than just asking question after question, first you get to participate in a sing-a-long of a relevant song. The questions are not about the songs as I perhaps expected that they would be - so if you’re worried about your musical taste or knowledge, you need not be. Instead, the questions take inspiration from a lyric in the song and are very much steeped in general knowledge, across many genres. For example, Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ is interrupted by a Shakespeare question, Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ is spotted with a question about the naming justification of a US state, and so on.
The pair certainly know their audience and attract a crowd accordingly. Targeted at a Neil Diamond/ABBA loving crowd, there were very few songs that didn’t get the whole crowd, irrespective of their age, singing along…except for a niche musical theatre reference or two where I was relatively alone in the singalong component of this production.
It’s a simple hour that is just about having a good time and honestly, after seeing so many productions, it was great fun to pause and participate in something like this. I do think it would be ideal to see this show take a slightly earlier time slot so that it wasn’t clashing/competing with so many other shows. This year’s 6pm slot is simply way too oversubscribed. I feel that in a slot of its own, this show would absolutely attract a lot more people who are really keen to play!
The two performers that guide you through this, the trivia masters if you will, are clearly well seasoned performers that are incredibly comfortable on stage. There was such a fluidity to this hour - it was clever, well paced, fun and ran like clockwork in a way that few fringe events like this could. Both have lovely voices and accompany themselves on the keyboard.
As an interesting fact, Mister Meredith mentioned that the reason that the quiz is structured in this way is because apparently the part of your brain that remembers music and lyrics, and the part that remembers general facts, are two different areas. As such, by encouraging you to singalong and activate your memory like that, the trivia questions are even more challenging. I’m definitely intrigued enough to look into the science of this more. If it’s true - which I am inclined to believe it is considering the struggles we were having to recall information - what an interesting fact!
I believe that this team do a similar style show for other genres including an AFL based show so no matter what your interest is in, find their best show for you and give it a try. I definitely think that you’ll enjoy it.
Thanks to the lovely ladies that included me on their team for a great…and victorious time. Over and out from the great winner of the Thursday show.
