Jonny Pasvolsky’s one-man Adelaide Fringe comedy show The CAN Principle is the origin story of Mervin Gimplik, a failed entrepreneur who has reinvented himself into a transformational life coach. With the few props needed by a motivational speaker – a video screen and a pop-up banner – Gimplik leads the audience through his backstory.
The show takes the form of a typical ‘you can do it’ get rich quick seminar. We’ve paid our money to hear the supposed insights that took Gimplik from ignominious to infamous. Pasvolsky does this brilliantly and from the very first moments, the audience is very much part of the show.
The CAN Principle review – quick links
The path to CAN-lightenment
As Gimplik, Pasvolsky tells each of us what sad and lonely individuals we really are. I was deemed ‘the poster child for misery’ even though I couldn’t stop laughing. Gimplik is here to save us from ourselves and sort out our miserable little lives.
It must be said, Gimplik has had a pretty colourful life himself, hounded out of his home in South Africa after the unfortunate death of his fiancée, and pursued for copyright infringements by Disney. What’s wrong with selling a small bear wearing a red hat and blue dufflecoat and calling him ‘Puddington’ if that’s how it sounds with a South African accent?
The CAN Principle is a clever parody of modern gurus and of our need to follow the latest lifestyle expert or life coach. The show is written and performed by Jonny Pasvolsky, who was well known to audiences here 20 years ago for his role as Rob Shelton (who was actually Matt Bosnich) on the hit TV series McLeod’s Daughters.
He’s worked on some big name shows since then, including Westworld and Mortdecai, and has been on stage with the Sydney Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre, Perth Theatre Co and Griffin Theatre. He also embarked on a career as a stand-up comic while living in America.
That broad depth of performance experience shines through in his confident presentation and easy manner when interacting with the audience. He can quickly read who is happy to take part and who prefers to sit quietly.
Old fashioned comedy
Rather refreshingly, the humour in The CAN Principle is just good old fashioned comedy; everything is good for a laugh, albeit a gentle one. There’s funeral karaoke, fake marriages, sexual misunderstandings, visa scams, the whole self-improvement life-coach industry and, yes, even sunshine in a can – one thousand cans, to be exact.
The heart of this show is there in those thousand cans of Australian sunshine because they are not just empty cans at all – they are really cans of hope. And that is the key take-out of The CAN Principle – we just have to recognise our can of hope when it comes along (even if we are ‘the poster child for misery’). This is the secret to ‘CAN-lightenment’.
Pasvolsky says the idea of sunshine in a can was inspired by a genuine childhood memory of seeing a souvenir labelled as ‘Genuine Australian Sunshine’ and being devastated to discover it was just an empty can. There are other strands of truth too – Pasvolsky’s family did migrate to Australia from South Africa, although not under such colourful circumstances, and presumably with no bounties on their heads from outraged in-laws.
‘Everything in this show is based on real-life experiences and stories,’ says Pasvolsky. ‘I’ve seen so many self-appointed “experts” spruiking made-up “pathways to enlightenment” and they’re never shy about taking your money for it.’
The show invites us to laugh, cringe, and consider how easily hope gets packaged, priced and sold back to us with a motivational slogan on top. It’s about finding the strength to keep going in the face of failure and being able to reinvent yourself when it’s all gone wrong.
The CAN Principle is Jonny Pasvolsky’s first production as script writer and performer and it shows a deft touch for pace and timing. This Adelaide Fringe season is its premier run – I think it will get even funnier, and more focused as it develops. Highly recommended.
