American street performer Rashaun has been dazzling audiences around the world with his dribbling skills for over a decade, with I Am Basketball Man giving him the opportunity to share his story in an intimate setting while showing off his trademark basketball skills.

Held in the tiny theatre room at Broadcast Bar, the stage was also quite small, which gave Rashaun a bit of a challenge when doing tricks with multiple basketballs. Interspersed with the tricks were tales of Rashaun’s life leading up to the present, giving the audience an insight into how he gained his skills over time.

I Am Basketball Man is structured loosely, with the order of the show planned, but Rashaun completely ad-libbing his way through the spoken parts. This worked for the most part as Rashaun carries himself with a quiet charm, and his story is quite compelling. However, the show finished earlier than the scheduled fifty-minute run time, as there were only a couple of audience questions at the end, and Rashaun ran out of content to pad the show with. This is perhaps a small criticism though, as the audience were there for the basketball skills, and on that front Rashaun delivered. Some of the stuff he does is incredible, and he was generous enough to teach audience members how to do certain tricks as well.

I Am Basketball Man sets out to both share Rashaun’s basketball skills and his story. On both fronts he delivers, however his basketball tricks are definitely the star of the show. Rashaun will most definitely dazzle you with this skill, and charm you with his confident, but quiet, demeanour. Check out this show for something which combines theatre with a sporting bent.

3.5 Stars

I Am Basketball Man runs until Sunday 17^th of March. Buy tickets HERE.

By Tania Nicholas