Do you like going to the dentist? I suspect that most of us don’t really enjoy the experience.
Have you ever thought about whether the dentist actually likes probing around in our mouths? Chances are most of them don’t.
Every year the Melbourne Comedy Festival (March 24 – April 18) allows audiences to experience hundreds of different local and international performers in literally thousands of shows that they would normally not have the opportunity to see.
One such performance is the exceptionally witty and slightly sarcastic sketch-style comedy Don’t Trust me; I’m a Dentist.
Based on the true-life experiences within his dental practice. Leading actor and co-writer Amir Rahimzadeh gives us a no-holds-barred account of what your dentist could (or maybe should) be thinking when he or she is extracting those molars.
This hilarious and insightful one-act two-hander play was also co-written and produced by character comic Sharon Heywood who plays Dr. Ronnie’s long-suffering nurse Yvette.
As the play progresses, we are taken on a surprisingly revealing ride as the two characters comment on the various neurotic, erotic, exasperating, disturbed, irrational, and most annoying patients that regularly attend their surgery.
In response to the Doctor’s constant complaints and criticisms, we are treated to the sometimes disgruntled comments from Yvette related to Dr. Ronnie’s questionable chair-side manner.
In the midst of all this comedy banter, the play also explores how a once idealistic young dentist gradually submits to the financial trappings of a successful practice and becomes disillusioned with his professional importance. Eventually, he sinks into the unstable lifestyle of partying and drinking to escape his feelings of inadequate self-worth.
The script is poignant and meaningful while hilariously revealing what is possibly happening behind the surgery doors. Relying on basic props, both Amir and Sharon do a spectacular job displaying the numerous emotions from enthusiasm to contempt and disillusionment and back to content.
I totally enjoyed every comical insight, and if you’re into a bit of medical humor, this is the right play for you. Although I must say that after seeing this, I may now look at my dentist in a completely different way.
Don’t Trust me; I’m a Dentist was first performed in Melbourne’s Butterfly Club in 2017 and was due for a four-week run at the 2020 Melbourne International Comedy Festival before COVID-19 shat on the idea and pushed the production back to 2021.
The Dentist & I after the show.
Tickets available at the door or online at www.comedyfestival.com.au
