By Nick Dent
Fancy yourself handy with an Allen key? Then a show coming to Brisbane’s Anywhere Festival could be just your cup of Swedish glogg.
IKEA Wars is a competition between two contestants to build a piece of flatpack furniture in front of an audience.
Kieran Bullock is a New Zealand-born comedian and the host of IKEA Wars.Credit: Kieran Bullock
Coming to Brisbane’s Paint Factory for three shows only, it’s the brainchild of New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based comedian Kieran Bullock, who said he got the idea after bringing an IKEA toilet seat to a stand-up comedy gig.
“I was kind of bored of my own material so I thought, wouldn’t it be funny if I built the toilet seat on the stage? Thinking that it would be more or less preassembled,” he said.
“And in true IKEA fashion, it was insanely complicated. And I had what could be described as a mini meltdown.”
Positive feedback to the performance sent him down the road of flatpack-themed shows, which eventually became IKEA Wars.
Contestants compete to be first to complete their IKEA item and can use ‘sabotage cards’ against each other.Credit: Courtesy Kieran Bullock
The show, which has played the Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide Fringe and Perth’s Fringe World, has the players assembling the same item while Bullock adjudicates and interacts with the audience.
‘Sabotage cards’ that the players can deploy on each other add an element of chaos.
The show is one of 60 taking place in the Anywhere Festival, an annual festival of comedy, music, theatre, circus and dance popping up in unusual locations across Brisbane until August 4.
Yeronga’s Paint Factory, a post-industrial site that houses artist studios and an escape room, is one of the festival’s hubs, with more than seven shows scheduled including an ABBA tribute.
South Brisbane Cemetery in Dutton Park is getting Whistling Past the Graveyard, a musical discussion of death; and the Raven Cellar in West End is hosting Improv Queensland’s interactive romantic fantasy show A Lust of Elves and Magic.
Other sites are at Archerfield, Banyo, Moorooka, Tingalpa, Windsor and Yeerongpilly.
“We show that all you need is a great idea, talented performers, and a space anywhere to enjoy and share an experience like no other,” said festival director and founder Paul Osuch.
Bullock said his show pokes fun at the Swedish brand but is ultimately “a celebration of IKEA”.
IKEA has 12 stores in Australia, three of them in Queensland.
“The first time I went [to IKEA] I thought ‘this is incredible’. By the 10th time, you’re like, ‘I just need to get to the mugs.’
“But then you have a two-dollar hot dog and you feel OK.”
He said the biggest challenge with comedy of any sort was connecting with the audience.
“And I think that everyone relates to building IKEA furniture and struggling.
“If I’ve learned anything, it’s just slow down, take your time, and really, really study the instructions closely. Don’t just [rush] in because you will end up in a cul-de-sac of chaos.”
IKEA Wars plays at the Paint Factory, Yeronga, August 2-4. Tickets are $22. Anywhere Festival runs July 19-August 4.