Arizona Myers and the Ominous Hand! Review — Yarno Rohling at Sydney Fringe 2026

Part homage to the Indiana Jones golden era, part old-school live-action computer game, part comic nonsense, Yarno Rohling has built Arizona Myers and the Ominous Hand! — a puzzle-box comedy show at the Factory Theatre for Sydney Fringe 2026, complete with sound effects, screen visuals, one screaming Belgian police puppet, and heavy stage participation from audience members.

Reviewed by Charlie Prendergast.

One of the greatest tragedies of growing up, aside from the whole flesh-withering inevitability and the taxes, is that many of us become estranged from experiences involving good, silly fun. Arizona Myers and the Ominous Hand!, Yarno Rohling’s audience-driven love letter to the spirit of play and adventure (and teamwork!), provides a wholesomely offbeat opportunity to get reacquainted.

Part homage to the Indiana Jones golden era, part old-school live-action computer game, part comic nonsense, Rohling has built for us a kind of puzzle-box comedy show, with sound effects, screen visuals, one screaming Belgian police puppet, and heavy stage participation from audience members. He is, as Arizona Myers, our expedition leader. Although he has all the trappings of a ‘serious archaeologist’ (scholarly glasses, brown fedora, khaki shorts, plummy accent), Myers’s career as an archaeologist has so far been mid. To wit: the best relic he’s managed to uncover is the Holy Moly Grail. (Tipping the cup, a golf ball plonks out.) “I’m a sexy little poser,” he sighs.

To redeem his reputation, and gain entry to the elite Adventurer’s Guild, he sets off on a continent-crossing quest to discover The Hand of Druon, enlisting our help. It’s not quite Lost Ark, but this treasure hunt derives from a real-life Belgian folk tale about a villainous hand-lopping giant who finally got his comeuppance from a Roman Soldier, who lopped off Druon’s own big ugly hand and threw it in a river. This epic part of the lore is reenacted for us by Myers placing over a woman’s head a Woolies-branded paper bag with an ugly troll drawing on one side, and having her feign battle and then limb decapitation.

Fun fact: the city of Antwerp (which in Dutch translates to ‘hand-throwing’) likely gets its name from this legend. Educational! But you barely notice this and other learning bits – you inhale them like breadcrumbs instead. Through a secret entranceway (shown on the screen as the real-life monument to The Hand, incongruously in a modern shopping district) we rush on to solve clues, unlock a succession of doors, and – finally – confront Druon himself.

Rohling is both kind and merciless with his stage participants, of which there are at least five. One went beetroot red; another had a prolonged and severe giggle fit. He instructed a woman via a written note to completely ignore his flirtations (“Oh sorry, I dropped my massive bicep,” he said, flexing); he got the giggling man to stumble after a red laser pointer on the floor like a dopey cat. To unlock secret chambers, silly shapes were thrown, reminiscent of Japanese game show Human Tetris. None of these hijinks had any mean-spiritedness to them, though. It was like Rohling was teaching them (and us) that it’s sometimes okay to be a giddy fool. Lean into it. There’s freedom there. It did help that the audience that night was fairly gung-ho.

Our Temu Indy also has great fun with sound effects, which he surreptitiously activates along with the visuals via a hand-held clicker. Cues include: ominous music, at appropriately ominous times; Queen and David Bowie shouting ‘Pressure!’ when an audience member jumps on an (imaginary) stone; an 8-bit ‘The Raider’s March’ ringtone when his frenemy Pin Pin calls to boast; a kicked chicken that follows him everywhere, and provides a silly twist for his post-applause stage exit; and the deep growling voice of Druon.

In a lesser comic’s hands, this shambolic venture could have fallen apart or frightened off the shy, but Rohling is a confident entertainer with good comic timing and a watchful eye. He leaves us with a good ‘moral to the story’ too: all exploits are worthy, if they’re done for the right reasons, beyond the self-serving motives of chasing fame and glory. And the downfall of Pin Pin is delicious.

Arizona Myers and the Ominous Hand! — written and performed by Yarno Rohling. Factory Theatre, Sydney, seen 20 September 2026 as part of Sydney Fringe 2026.

Writer & Performer: Yarno Rohling
Production photography: James Palmieri
Banner photography: Kristopher Wardhana

Reviewed by Charlie Prendergast.