Bare Witness Theatre Co. | Review by Rohan Alston-Fisher
Would You Like Some Sherlock with Your Tintin?
25 September 2025
After seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe and across Australia, Christopher Samuel Carroll has returned to Canberra with his one-man show The Cadaver Palaver, an eccentric and hilarious performance about the hijinks of the lucky noir adventurer, Bennett Cooper Sullivan. Throughout the 60-minute show, Carroll showed his signature style of elaborate miming and impeccable humour in an incredible spectacle of solo performance.
The whole show was reminiscent of, and paid homage to, literary works of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, especially of characters like Tintin and Hercule Poirot. The production could transport anybody to the late 1800s, not least because of Carroll’s brilliant acting and flawless physicality.
Props and set pieces are not necessary when you have a story as gripping as The Cadaver Palaver. Carroll did just fine armed with nothing more than a cane, a tweed suit, and a strange fascination with Ancient Egypt. The nostalgia for a bygone age felt curiously refreshing and ironically, was a breath of fresh air, in a world where we find ourselves constantly looking for the next new boundary-pushing novelty.
This play is debonair incarnate, with each action and line carefully thought out and suited by Carroll. If given the opportunity to see it, take it.
Rohan Alston-Fisher has been with Canberra Youth Theatre for a number of years and joined their Young Critics program in the hopes of enhancing his skills as a writer and actor, and to have a great time watching and discussing theatre with friends. He has had a passion for theatre and acting since a young age, so he’s enjoying the chance that Young Critics has given him to review and watch productions all around Canberra. Rohan is also a part of Next Stage, Canberra Youth Theatre’s workshop program for young actors interested in a professional career.
