Eye-popping array of solo and group performances to his name already, sword-swallowing rubber jointed contortionist, Captain Frodo, further expands his range during the Melbourne Comedy Festival, his new solo show beautifully combining storytelling, the singing saw and outrageous stunts.
In the Beginning
When I first saw Frodo contorting and squeezing his body through the heads of 2 tennis racquets in a Brisbane mall, a few things were obvious – he was a great performer, was insanely flexible and had likely been doing this a while. This was
reaffirmed watching his performances with the wonderfully choreographed quartet ‘The Happy Sideshow’, where he and Space Cowboy lifted a keg of beer by chains through their nipple piercings, lifted tables with their tongues (nailed to the table! ), and generally kept the crowd enraptured for an hour. Frodo was also kind enough to later appear in a short film I made, contorting his limbs into impossible shapes and escaping a straitjacket to answer the mobile phone ringing in his backpocket. 
And to use the old Happy Sideshow catchphrase – ‘it just gets better!’ – his latest show, ‘The Adventures of Captain Frodo – Tales of a Modern Day Showman’, deepens appreciation of Frodo’s tricks and showmanship, includes a singing saw routine, limbs contorted in ways you’ve never seen before, cameo appearances by his Norwegian magican father on the big screen, and colorfully sketches Frodo’s various transformations on his path to the sideshow. Highly recommended.
>How did u make the shift from magic tricks to physical performance?
Performing magic always made me nervous – the audience is always trying to catch you out, and when I was 12 or 13 trying to perform to punk friends in Norway, they were a really hard audience to perform to. Magic is also a bit about pretending, and I wanted to try and do performances that were more ‘real’. I’ve always been very flexible, but I also have a medical condition called Ehler danlos syndrome which in my case makes the ligaments in my joints extremely flexible.
>Have you ever had any injuries during shows? (more…)