Arj Barker Opening Night – The Athenaeum Theatre

Review and images by Kerrie Pacholli 

Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre
Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre

Not only did I get the opportunity to experience  Arj Barker’s ‘We Need To Talk’ show live at the beautiful Athenaeum Theatre on his Opening Night. I also get the honour of writing this review. Wow I say. This was the very first time in my life that I got to enjoy the very talented Mr Arj Barker.

One of our other very talented writers, who specifically requested to review Arj Barker because Arj, is his favourite comedian in the whole world, happened to arrive just after half time, due to unforeseen and extreme circumstances.

Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre
Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre

Opening night can often be a pain for not only the international artists, who could presumably be suffering a little jet lag; but when the show starts at 7pm, in Melbourne, on a Friday night, it can be a real challenge for the audience to not only arrive on time but also relax into it.

I’m pretty sure Arj, a stalwart professional and a working Comedian since he left school in 1989 picked up on these challenging set of circumstances.

Arj Barker MICF 2019 © PationPics_5149
Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre

Regardless, he did not miss a beat with his delivery of detailed comedic story telling in unison with animated body language. I’m telling you, it was a hard arsed Melbourne audience full of fans that wanted blood, his blood and by god he delivered.

Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre
Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre

My job was to capture the images. The man moved so consistently fast it was pretty hard to get the clarity that I so much want in a pic. Yet they say a picture says a thousand words so feel free to read the longer version of this review.  The best picture of Arj Barler was taken by Arj, after the show, at his merchandise table, in the back alley on my iPhone, which for some reason decided to incorporate a 10 second delay. So, by that stage I looked like an embarrassed, recoiling version of myself. He was very patient and generous and even thanked me for giving him my business card…

Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre ©
Arj Barker MICF 2019 at The Athenaeum Theatre with myself.