Festival Freak

The Loves of Shakespeare's Women

Susannah York @ Scott Theatre

6:30pm, Sun 17 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: Great, but not compelling

Susannah York certainly does not look anywhere near her age as she briskly strides onto the candle-fronted stage, pausing briefly to light four more candles on a candelabra, before plunging into the first of a selection of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Thereafter follows a "best-of" hour, featuring some of The Bard's most famous female characters (and a few lesser-known).

The romantics are covered with a soliloquy from Juliet; the tragedies represented by Emilia (from "Othello"); but best of all are the comedic females: Beatrice ("Much Ado...") and The Merry Wives of Windsor. And these were just the stand-out performances; 16 characters and 3 sonnets were covered.

Along with each character piece came a little insight into the character, as interpreted by York herself. This was intriguing, seeing how a world-class actress analyses a character in order to best portray her. Also forthcoming were personal anecdotes pertaining to particular productions - the tale of Hamlet in Brooklyn was particularly amusing. And the news that The Bard's work was to be dropped from the school curriculum in the UK was disturbing...

There is no doubting York's pedigree - she is a sterling actress, easily able to emote any of the chosen parts - both sad and glad. However, while this is certainly an entertaining show, it's hardly what I would consider compelling - but that's the only grouch I've got. Brava!

Posted by pete at 06:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Kabbalistic Psychoanalysis of Adam R. Tzaddik

One Big Umbrella @ The Chapel

2:00pm, Sun 17 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: More psychobabble...

A stinking hot day followed me to The Chapel on Sir Donald Bradman Drive, a previously unnoticed (by me) theatre, right next door to Theatre 62. It's a nice little space; it seats only about 30 people, and for this final performance of "The Kabbalistic Psychoanalysis of Adam R. Tzaddik" there were only four punters. A shame, really; this was quite a good 'un.

First impressions are of a very simple production: two chairs, two people, an (almost) unused filing cabinet, simple lighting. But it is perfectly fitting, given the intimacy of the script and theatre. The play opens with Adam (of the title) addressing his Doctor for the first time, explaining to her his obsession with an ancient, forbidden, sacred Jewish text - the Zohar. Adam appears as a turbulent loner - having spent the past four years in isolation, studying the Zohar and its' descriptions of the ten manifestations of God (or Sefiroths). The script uses the Sefiroths to parallel the unwrapping of Adam's psyche by the Doctor, in ten "scenes", or sessions.

Alexander Jones is perfect as Adam - he faithfully portrays all parts of Adam's emotional palette, from "insignificant and boring cliche" to wonderfully tempered rage. Likewise, Gertraud Ingeborg's Doctor issues all the impartiality one would expect from a psychoanalyst - but also displays early frustration at Adam's insistence on relating all aspects of his psyche back to the Zohar.

I'm a sucker for a bit of psycho-babble, especially when the script is as good as this. A minor quibble - even though the root of Adam's problem is hinted at early on, we never actually get to hear him say it while in therapy! Our guesses are only validated in a semi-flashback! NO CLOSURE! Other than that, however, this was a great bit of theatre, put on by a great little company - let's just hope that the lack of people at my show wasn't indicative, and that these small international companies return.

Posted by pete at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taboo

Strut & Fret Production House @ The Lunar Tent

7:30pm, Sat 16 Mar 2002

Score: 5

Short Review: Educational - but is it art?

With music from the St Patrick's Day "event" (hastily erected to take advantage of thousands of pissed Clipsal petrolheads) on East Terrace in the background (whose idea was THAT?), Trevor Stuart (who also played Dali in The Secret Death of Salvador Dali) presented a performance that purported to
explore what we consider taboo.

(Wow, three sets of brackets in one sentence. Bad writing. Still... half-past-midnight, with only three shows and 21 hours of ff2002 to go, I'll allow myself a little latitude.)

So - did Stuart deliver? Ah, erm, well... well, let's just say that when he appears onstage wearing nowt but thick glasses, a strait-jacket, naked from the waist down, and dragging a skateboard (carrying a boombox) tied to his penis, I was... perturbed. Once this odd... creature had wandered about the stage (towing the skateboard all the while) abusing us for five minutes, he disappeared - leaving us with a slideshow montage of butchered photos and a cacophony of pre-recorded noise.

Stuart eventually returned, and presented... not so much a performance, as a lecture on the psychology of the taboo. Audience participation was mandatory - questions asked were of the style "how often have you fucked this week? With her? With him? Did they come too?". He had to beg for someone to volunteer to burn a ten dollar note, and the second slideshow of the evening (accompanied by a monologue on pornography) contained all manner of scatological, bestial, and pedophilic depictions, not to mention some interesting corpses, both human and animal (the only good cat is a skinned cat, I say).

So - is this show worth the effort, then? Well, it was for me - I found some of the psycho-babble commentary interesting. The very end of the show was funny too - as Stuart stood with a rather large strap-on cock hanging out of his pants, he injected it with a needle - you could hear guys in the crowd wince. But the highlight of the night for me was the woman in the white suit & green shirt, inexplicably sitting in the front row with a look of absolute disgust on her face. For the whole evening. Priceless.

Posted by pete at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Old Wicked Songs

Independent Theatre Inc @ Odeon Theatre

2:00pm, Sat 16 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Gritty

Set amidst the election campaign that brought (purported) former Nazi Kurt Waldheim to power in Austria, 1986, "Old Wicked Songs" describes the relationship between Austrian music Professor Josef Mashkan, and fallen-from-grace prodigal American pianist Stephen Hoffman.

Amidst an elaborate, homely set (Mashkan's studio), Hoffman arrives with the intention of revitalising his interest in the piano - but discovers he must first spend three months studying as a vocalist, rather than a pianist. So their relationship begins - Hoffman as the reluctant student filled with arrogance ("I find things by myself"), Mashkan as the teacher with plenty to prove, but seemingly nothing to lose.

The development of their relationship is paralleled through Mashkan's teaching of Schumann's Dichterliebe - from which the play gets it's name - and is also used to show the men's personal growth as well. The intense Hoffman is well played by Joseph Hynes, but David Roach's stellar Mashkan is wonderfully controlled, with great variation... witness the teaching of the "silent song", or the seduction of the piano.

Humour is nicely used within the script - the "Walhzheimers" quip is a cracker, as is Mashkan's Broadway description ("teeth and gums") - and the only qualm I had with the script is that it drips with melancholy for the last five minutes. However, the rest of the time there are some wonderful threads through the script - a seemingly anti-semitic undercurrent initially, but nothing is ever as it seems - as Mushkan states, "common ground must exist".

In the end, we witness two friendless, self-loathing men become trusted confidantes, in an emotional journey which begins at almost diametrically opposite points for the two men, but end together. Well worth the trip out to the Odeon.

Posted by pete at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Slacker's Playtime

Ross Noble @ Nova 2

11:30pm, Fri 15 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Surreal

The Nova lights dim. Some loud music starts playing. A red stage light starts pulsing in time with the song. Two figures with (badly made) paper mache heads come onstage, miming the words to the song (which was merely a reminder that the show was about to start, turn off all gadgets, thanks). The figures then left the theatre.

Odd.

Ross Noble then came onstage; a normal looking guy for such a weird intro. Hello, good evening - and then the first late-comer. Then suddenly Ross took us on some bizarre journey involving late-comers arriving on ponies. Subsequent arrivals were greeted with "Hello. Did you bring the oats?" or "Would you like a carrot?". The pony theme permeated the entire evening.

...as did Ross' Cirque du Soleil obsession, his observations on the Rundle Street petrolheads, and more. He was reasonably careful not to criticise the locals much ("Don't mess with Adelaide people, or you'll end up in an acid bath"), but still managed a bit of gentle audience participation - despite the usual reticence of the assembled throng to respond (which led to another weird sidetrack).

Noble left the stage (after one final pony reference) with "You've still got no idea what I'm talking about - and that pleases me." Yup, it pleased me too. Wonderful, weird-ass surreal stuff.

Posted by pete at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Leitmotiv

Le Deux Mondes @ The Playhouse

8:00pm, Fri 15 Mar 2002

Score: 6

Short Review: Visually stunning... but cold

Let's get one thing straight from the outset - I really do think this was a visually stunning piece of theatre. Le Deux Mondes have produced some beautiful, innovative visual effects which are a treat for the eye; unfortunately, there is little here to treat the heart.

The plot is simple: a woman reads a letter written by her mother, telling her of the horrors of the time of her conception. Flashback - woman (Rosa - the aforementioned mother) meets man (Pierre) in an ambiguous country about to be ravaged by war. They fall in love ("love is naive"), then are torn apart - he becomes the reluctant enemy. Rosa is raped; Pierre suffers both physical and mental torture in the war. They re-meet in peacetime; the daughter is born (from love or hate?), then Rosa abandons both her and Pierre. Simple, huh?

The real star here was the visual effects. All manner of screens, backlighting, shadows, and projections are used to create some of the most magical effects I've ever seen on stage. Even "simple" lighting is used to great effect. The opening scene of the play almost bends the eye with a shimmering screen separating mother and daughter in space and time. The love scene, with streaming "flames", was stunning; the train "window" effect clever; the trick of a silhouette "falling" into a projected movie was brilliant. All this was accompanied by lush musical arrangements.

So, a satisfying aural and visual feast - unfortunately, I found it utterly impossible to feel anything during the piece (other than "oooh, pretty"). No character empathy, no shock, no horror. For a piece supposedly about the "cold brutality of war", some level of emotion might have been expected... Nope. Nada. Not a sausage. A shame, really; any amount of connection with the characters may have made this a cracker; alas, 'twas not to be.

(As a footnote: this performance also contained probably the most awkward 30 seconds of theatre ever... the performance had ended, but the audience was unsure whether this was actually the case, or whether another neato visual effect was forthcoming. Bravo to the brave soul that started the applause.)

Posted by pete at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Resident Alien

@ The Space

2:00pm, Fri 15 Mar 2002

Score: 10

Short Review: Remarkable

In front of an audience of mostly conservative older women (who thought it snickeringly funny for a man to apply makeup, and tutted loudly at the mention of oral sex), Bette Bourne plays a 91-year-old Quentin Crisp in one of the most enjoyable performances of the Fringe.

Crisp is portrayed as a gloriously nonchalant eccentric; with purple tinted hair, he changes from his scruffy dressing gown into his "going out clothes" - a black velvet suit - over the course of the first act. While he waits for the arrival of his luncheon dates, he chats informally with the audience about television ("survival of the glibbest"), Lady Di, marriage and politics. The act ends as he walks out the door to meet his dining companions.

Act Two has a wonderful opening - Crisp walks in, hair askew, muttering "It wasn't them" - he's been stood up. This is later confirmed via telephone by his agent, with Crisp pulling faces at the other end of the line. The monologue continues - a lot of comparisons between Britain and the United States ("the English don't like effeminate women"), a review of homosexuality in the '20s (including the very funny "heaven for homosexuals" quips), and an existential rant on style and self. All that, and Helmet's "In The Meantime" played in the background, too.

Bourne is clearly a wonderful actor - he produces a wonderfully measured performance, with wonderful presence onstage and remarkable comedic timing. The manner in which he handled (in character) the woman in the front who left her mobile phone on (and then proceeded to tinker with the phone after it had rung) showed a maturity few others have displayed this Fringe. Tim Fountain's script is incredible - wonderfully witty, occasionally biting, always entertaining. This is one production not to be missed.

Posted by pete at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scared Weird Little Guys

SWLG @ Royalty Theatre

9:30pm, Thu 14 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Brilliant

The Scaredies came out in front of a near-full house and leapt into "If I Were..." - made wonderfully topical by the inclusion of many Wayne Carey gags. They then whipped through over an hour of material, ranging from the smile-worthy to the bust-a-gut level.

A lot of the material will be familiar to Scaredies regulars - even I, who have been witness to their talents only once before, recognised the South Australia song and "Beer Stein of Bourbon". And the "'Kiss' in the style of..." bit was still in there... tonight, Prince's "Kiss" was done most successfully as techno, rap and jazz - although the indian attempt should also rank a mention.

That's not to say there wasn't new material - the "Guitar Student Ensemble" was hilarious, "Premature Ejaculation" short and sweet, and the "Whistle-Pop Orchestra" (though ear wrenching at times) was brilliant. The "Genetic Clone" experiment, whilst initially sounding like a dud, is worth the wait to hear the Scaredies form a barbershop quartet with themselves(!).

Things only got a little out of hand (read - silly to the point of ridiculous) when the cowboy hat made an appearance on Rusty's head, and the boys slipped into country mode - but other than that, this show was quality laughs. Plonk down your cash with confidence.

Posted by pete at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tripod Tells The Tale of the Adventures of Tosswinkle the Pirate (not very well)

Tripod @ Royalty Theatre

8:00pm, Thu 14 Mar 2002

Score: 4

Short Review: Tossy

Wow, what a bummer. I was really looking forward to this show after seeing Tripod last Fringe, and had heard from friends that the boys were running hot, but I left this show thinking that I'd just blown another prime 8:00pm timeslot.

The "symphonic" musical intro to the show lasted way too long, though it was followed by an ad for the show (which was really quite good - stilted english a-plenty). Thereafter, the "Tosswinkle the Pirate" plot got thrown into the fray, which was really an excuse for silly, surreal, and just plain over-acted antics. The only time a smile was drawn to my face was when Yon let loose his "Madam" quip, and the "Everyone's a tosser" song. Oh, and the "Megamix" (a pepped-up remix of all the songs from the Tosswinkle shamozzle) was quite clever also.

Heavy hearted, I was about to leave, when the audiences' applause brought Tripod back onto the stage for the obligatory "tell your friends" bit. There they urged "Go see The 4 Noels, they're tops". Ah. That explains it all.

Posted by pete at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shut Up And Love Me

Karen Finley @ Union Hall

7:00pm, Wed 13 Mar 2002

Score: 6

Short Review: Abrasive

Branded obscene by many US political heavyweights, voted "Woman of the Year" by Ms. Magazine, and immersed in court actions against the US Government (over her revoked NEA funding), the last thing you can say about Karen Finley (especially having done a bit of research around the Web) is that she is a shy, introverted lass. Heavens no.

Finley appears, wiggling her arse at the 20% capacity audience, before beginning a strip tease to a Barry White tune. She stopped suddenly, anxious that some late-comers had brought a child in with them. Assured that this was not the case, she resumed her strip, wandering into the audience to lap-dance and rub her genitals on a punter's shoe. Reclining on a lounge onstage, she indulged in five minutes of stilted ad-lib, before launching into her monologues.

Her monologues were... interesting. Many of the initial pieces saw her scooting between multiple "characters" (or voices) in a very disconcerting manner - it made all the monologues seem as though they were written with scatterbrained manic characters in mind. The "war veteran" piece, as well as the closer, were really quite good - the rest, however, suffered from a fatal flaw...

Finley constantly interrupted her own performance - to tell the audience that they should have laughed ("I NEED YOU!"), should be applauding her, or just for some barbed, self-effacing humour. This made the going tough; it made me feel like I was watching a rehearsal, rather than the work proper. Add to this the almost inexplicable "honey time": after summoning the help of audience members to pour two pitchers of honey onto the centre of the stage, Finley proceeds to cavort naked in the sticky substance, before continuing the monologues.

In a Time article, Finley said of her performance that she "basically just runs around the stage making political-emotional commentary". If you can handle the fact that she does this mostly naked, and that the commentary is delivered in a hard-to-digest and abrasive manner, then this may be the show for you.

References: 1 2 3 4 5

Posted by pete at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Swallow Me

budgie lung @ Ausdance Studio

8:15pm, Tue 12 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: Manic

As we park our arses in the tightly-seated Ausdance Studio, Greg sits nervously on a couch. The lights dim; TVs embedded in the set, and Greg leaps manically around the set, living his life as a pro golfer. He calms; cuts a few lines of coke on a Nana Mouskouri album, when his Mum drops around unexpectedly.

Such is the opening to this highly-charged, mile-a-minute play from the pen of Josh Tyler. Rory Walker appears far more at home with the role of Greg than his performance in Killer Joe, and delights with his coke-stricken behavior. The rest of the cast is competent, as is the direction of the work. The strobe-light was used sparingly well, and clever use was made of the TVs in the set.

Well, I'm not even going to pretend that I know what was going on here - I like to take the surrealist view, that the drug-peddling Eddie ("I'm a steaming red hot cock") was the gremlin on Greg's shoulder, and the white-clad Kitten was some kind of angelic figure - but that's probably way off the mark. There is a very unsubtle use of wit in the play, which doesn't detract from proceedings, and the last monologue/rant is very ills-of-society-centric (tm).

I left this one feeling a little overwhelmed - there's a lot going on, and the pace at which it's presented makes it feel a bit... messy. Having said that, it is a wonderfully Fringey mess to indulge oneself in.

Posted by pete at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Macbeth

this Rough Magic theatre & film @ Adelaide Gaol

9:00pm, Mon 11 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Blood & Gore

Me, I'm a big fan of Macbeth. Ever since I was introduced to it through "The Young Ones" all those years ago ("All hail McVyvyan, Thane of the Outside Toilet, and that little gravelly patch next to the garden shed"), then got the real thing in Year 11 at school, I've always thought that this was the Bard's best work. Thus, I feel compelled to check out any Macbeth productions that come to town. And, having seen Rough Magic's previous Fringe productions ("The Tempest" in '98, "Richard II" in 2000), I thought that this would be a good bet.

Most of the familiar Rough Magic crew returned for this production, and (as with "Richard II") there was a geurilla military motif. Set inside the old Adelaide Gaol, sets were suitably sparse, and the upper storey of the backround building was effectively used to whip through the action of Acts IV and V. Unfortunately, the outdoor venue suffered a little from passing trains and planes, and the audience suffers from a bit of wind chill too (so rug up).

Performances were good all round - Dana Miltins was a delightfully devious (and franticly insane) Lady Macbeth with a Little Black Dress to die for. Sheanna Maine was a great Ross, and Rockwell Csorba's Macduff was superb. Unfortunately, the only flailing performance was that of Macbeth himself - Peter Davies seems to have taken the emotional cues for his character from Act III, and so we see nothing of Macbeth's descent into madness.

The direction of this production was also good - there were some well-executed biffo scenes, and the portrayal of the witches as members of the media was amusingly sweet. The use of pre-recorded images on the gaol wall was interesting - those at the beginning of the piece were useful as background material, but the latter recordings added little. Still, they're relatively minor gripes - and the failings of Davies' performance doesn't have the impact on the production that one might imagine. This is well worth a look, and Rough Magic's best work to date.

Posted by pete at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Me & My Friend

Potato Theatre Company @ Little Games Room

7:00pm, Mon 11 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Touching

Penned by UK playwright Gillian Plowman, "Me & My Friend" is actually one act of a full-length play, and deals with the story of two 40-ish men recently "released" from a (now closed) psychiatric hospital, in the guise of an "early-release" program.

Encouraged to prepare themselves for the trials of the real world again, we see Oz and Bunny engage in all manner of role-playing. Oz - troubled by his own lusts, and feeling rejected by his deceased mother - adopts his pre-psychiatric-hospital persona as a postman to fixate on the woman in the flat upstairs (the link to the other "half" of the play, not seen here). Bunny has a more violent and troubled presence - having lost his marriage to his work obsession, he feels an overwhelming need to succeed at his forthcoming job interview (and I noticed he was wearing a suit, tie and trakky daks!). Their relationship is very... odd-couple-ish, which lends itself to light-hearted moments: "being circumcised gives you confidence!".

This is a very poignant play, presenting a very special friendship and then destroying it in a genuinely touching moment at the end of the piece. Wonderful Fringe theatre. Not only that, but it uses the word "lugubrious" (for the third time this Fringe).

Posted by pete at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scared Weird Little Guy's Superband

@ The Famous Spiegeltent

11:59pm, Sun 10 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Stompin'

The Scaredies Superband, after a prolonged wait, ripped into a set that sounded like my "80's Greatest Hits" collection - "What I Like About You", "Turning Japanese" and "My Sharona" straight off the bat. The banded sounded bloody great, to be honest - Scaredies on guitar and bass, with accompaniment of guitar, drums and a horns section(!).

Then came the special guests for the evening - pretty much most of the rest of the Fringe. Tripod come on for a crowd-pleasing "YMCA", Brian Nankervis did an awesome Jagger impersonation for "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", Phil Nichol popped in for "Blister in the Sun". There were many others I couldn't place - "Mickey", "Call Me", "I See Red", "TNT" - and special kudos to the guy that sang "Advance Australia Fair" to the tune of "Working Class Man". The 3 Canadians rounded out the guest slots for a great Beastie Boys imitation (Derek complete with sad 70's sunnies and arse hanging out of his pants) - "Fight For Your Right".

The Superband closed their main set with a limp "Eye of the Tiger", but happily returned for an encore of "Rock and Roll All Night". Ignoring my pleas for "Tainted Love" (which would've made for a perfect 80's night), they signed off with a stompingly emphatic "500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be)". Bloody great stuff.

Posted by pete at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Otis Lee Crenshaw

Rich Hall @ Nova 2

9:30pm, Sun 10 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: As Per Usual

Rich Hall's alter-ego, Otis Lee Crenshaw, returns to the Fringe on a prisoner-exchange program once again. And, as required reading, one should check my review of Otis' last appearance in Adelaide.

So what's changed since last visit? Well, in essence, not a lot - he's still got his guitar and bass offsiders, and a lot of the songs are familiar (the return of the Adelaide Song, "He Almost Looks Like You", "Penitentiary Song"), but let's face it - they're good material. The newer songs were great, too - "Bag Lady" is a cracker, and "Kicking that Smack for the Red, White and Blue" was amusing too.

But the beauty of Rich Hall is his impromptu serenades and wordsmithery: tonite the subject of his derision was Michael the Number 2 Chef. As always, Hall's ability to come back from comedy death with a pearler of a verse is awesome. Hecklers were handled without any trouble, and his Elvis comments ("buried in the backyard like a hamster") had me in stitches.

If you saw Rich Hall / Otis Lee Crenshaw in ff2000, you probably don't need my recommendation now; if you didn't, get on down and see him now.

Posted by pete at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More Please Miss Kate

Miss Kate @ Worldsend Hotel

7:45pm, Sun 10 Mar 2002

Score: 6

Short Review: Ocker

Miss Kate, a native of Cairns (now banned from performing there), bowled onto the stage wearing a VB cap and a Liz Hurley-esque VB t-shirt, complete with safety pins. In between memorised poems of her own creation - "I'm a wordsmith" - she also interjected stories of her past, in the most ocker-country-bargirl accent imaginable.

Let's face it - Miss Kate isn't going to challenge Dawe, Dennis or Paterson for the title of "Australia's Greatest Poet". A lot of her compositions were very... unwieldy, but the "Sensitive Man" poem and the "Ode to Helga The Swedish Whip Girl" were bloody funny. And she has a fire, and a passion, and the greatest accent you could imagine from a female - and the show's free. True dink. What more could you ask for?

Posted by pete at 07:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Les Arts Sauts

@ Torrens Parade Ground

5:00pm, Sun 10 Mar 2002

Score: 5

Short Review: Ripped

As I sat in my deckchair within the 21 metre white bubble hemi-sphere atop the Torrens Parade grounds (hereafter known as the "GooberDome"), I had to suppress the rage my fellow GooberDome-goers were creating within me. "Why aren't the seats numbered?" "We watch SBS and ABC, so we know how to say 'Les Arts Sauts'."

Ugh.

The show begins on a very dull note - a lot of swinging about high up in the GooberDome by a trapezist or two. People swinging in from the sides of the Dome in some semi-choreographed routine. No real thrills here.

About 25 minutes into the show, chains descend from the roof to lift the steel rig - upon which the band (cello, bass, viola, singers) perched - to the top of the Dome. "Cool", thinks I, "they're going to do acrobatic stuff off a swaying metal rig". But no - the rig was firmly fastened to the support structure of the GooberDome. No swaying at all.

When (what I consider to be) the act proper started, and people started ooh-ing and aah-ing, I couldn't shake this little demon from my head - "Why wasn't the rig up there before we entered the GooberDome? Why did we have to sit around for 25 minutes while they (essentially) set up? Why did I have to pay for that?".

Well, for 20 minutes there was all manner of mid-air hijinks, and it was all pretty... disconnected. By which I mean that I was unable to emote at all with these tumbling acrobats. There was a little variety, and to be honest there were actually a couple of genuinely exciting stunts - but when I noticed that the music was (rather blatantly) being used to generate an increased level of excitement for the same tricks seen earlier, I started feeling ripped off. To be honest, the most spectacular part was the performers "dismounts" at the end of the show. Mmmmmm... freefall.

Initially, you'd think that kicking back in a deckie, looking up towards the action is a pretty good idea. Well yeah, it is - unless you don't like looking directly into spotlights, whereupon you're gonna have sore eyes, mon amis. And since I was parting with 67 sheckles for a 68 minute show, I expect to actually have a 68 minute show - not the 58 minutes we got (which, I must remind you, included 25 minutes of piss-farting around before the good bits started).

And, at the end of the day, I felt utterly relieved to leave the GooberDome. Les Arts Sauts took my gladly proffered money and provided me with an emotionally bereft, mesmerisingly duplicitous experience. Millions may love this show, but not I. Go catch every show in the Lunar Tent rather than this hyped gloss.

Posted by pete at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Uncle Gunjiro's Girlfriend

Brenda Wong Aoki @ Playhouse

1:00pm, Sun 10 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Charmingly Familial

"Uncle Gunjiro's Girlfriend" is a monologue about performer Brenda Wong Aoki's ancestry. Spurred by the discovery of a "secret shame" in the Aoki family, it is an exploration of family history and societal conceptions of race.

Aoki's father's family was introduced to America by the emigration of three brothers. With the family steeped in samurai tradition, they each carried to their new home a different focus on maintaining their culture. Initially welcomed in their new home of San Francisco, the "warrior" of the brothers (Gunjiro) fell in love with the daughter of a Arch-Deacon of the church - resulting in societal rejection of both Gunjiro and his bride.

The great thing about this piece is the warmth brought to it by Aoki - she speaks dearly and passionately of her ancestors. There is much focus on the shame (and loss of face) suffered by the family due to Gunjiro eloping with his bride - Aoki's grandfather was forced from his privileged position in the church, and had to resort to menial labour to provide for his family - but the discovery that this shame actually represented an act of heroism managed to bring the importance of self-worth to the fore.

In the midst of all cross-cultural angst (helpfully commentated by newspaper clippings - zim, zim), Aoki still manages to highlight the sheer ignorance of the greater society at the time - Gunjiros "yellow and white blender babies", who later all proved to harbor genius, are a prime example.

Accompanied by a family slideshow, and with husband Mark Izu providing musical punctuation (the "bass talking" was a neat touch), Aoki managed to provide a satisfying look at societal acceptance. A beautifully charming work.

Posted by pete at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mirrorball - Unseen & Unclean: Banned Videos

@ Uni Cinema

11:30pm, Sat 9 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Bloody funny

The only Mirrorball show I could attend, this was probably the one I most wanted to see - a collection of music videos that suffered the wrath of the censors. A UK MTV production, this film included entire clips of the good 'uns, snippets from the more well-known stuff (Madonna, Prodigy), and some staggeringly funny interviews with video producers and directors.

Surprisingly, there were a lot of 80's New Wave videos - the film opened with Duran Duran's banned "Girls on Film" video (complete with mostly naked women mud-wrestling and pillow fighting), and Soft Cell also showed up with "Sex Dwarf". Other clips included tracks from Queens of the Stone Age, Massive Attack, Robbie Williams ("Rock DJ") and Metallica.

In amongst all the videos banned for female nudity, there were a few nixed for other reasons - and these were some of the best clips of the night. The Cardigans' "My Favorite Game" was a cracker, Death In Vegas' "Aisha" was also very stylish, but the highlight for the night was undoubtedly Flowered Up's "Weekender" - a rip-roaring monster of a clip.

There were the gross-out moments, too - Cradle Of Filth's "From the Cradle to Enslave" topped them, with graphic shots of people bowing their own arms with hacksaws. The funniest bits, however, were the interviews with directors - most of them looked like they were totally tripping, and one justified his creation of a (essentially) porn video by saying "pornography is just really, really interesting to us". Duh :)

A puzzling one was the inclusion of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" - especially since the screened video was the most edited version of that clip I've seen. Other than that, however, this was a bloody amusing way to spend a Saturday night.

Posted by pete at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Train Dancing

Red Dust Theatre @ Space Theatre

9:00pm, Sat 9 Mar 2002

Score: 4

Short Review: Why bother?

The opening of "Train Dancing" made me think that it was going to be another Mamu - actor Steve Hodder (playing Ulysses) strolls out and launches into a soliloquy about his heritage. Unfortunately, where Mamu was a warm and charming piece of theatre, "Train Dancing" is a verbose, metaphorical mess.

There's a bit of singing (Hodder raps, whilst Jacinta Nampitjinpa Castle has a gorgeous voice), good live music, but the acting is generally only fair to average - mistakes ahoy. The plot is like a Shakespearean tragedy - boy meets girl (girl abused by parents), boy finds out girls' parents are his parents, a bit of panto, then a big, bloody finale. The core themes of the piece seem confused, however; and the dialogue is - well, there's plenty of it, and none of it is pretty. The excessive use of the 'c' word is obvious, and some of the sexual euphemisms are... creatively crap.

The direction is interesting - there's some neat Lynch-like use of light and shadow, but at the end of the day, there's no reason to see this show when there's so much quality theatre around at the moment.

Posted by pete at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bone Flute

MAU Dance @ Playhouse

7:00pm, Sat 9 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: Sloooooooow

Groo, this was hard work. Comprised of performers from throughout the Pacific region, MAU Dance (led by Lemi Ponifasio, who appears as a shaman-type character throughout the piece) put on a visually dense piece of dance which is only marred by... well, the lack of actual movement.

"Bone Flute" opens with Ponifasio's shamen calling out from the stage, to be answered from a voice in the audience. Then, slowly, a group of warriors climb onto the stage. Eventually, they reach some pre-defined positions, where they break into a ritualistic dance. Their places onstage are then taken by the "Women of Sandstone", who perform dance sporadically between beams of light emerging from the wings. So far, so good.

But then comes the birth. A body appears in the pool central to the stage, and for the next half hour it moves almost impercetibly slowly. Really. From foetal ball to crouching, without too much wayward movements: half an hour. I actually nodded off to sleep, waking as my chin hit my chest, and nothing had changed onstage.

Anyway, at this stage I completely lost the plot - the shaman returned, and appeared to cut his own scrotum open, spilling large eels onto the stage. No joke. The eels flopped around onstage; two fell onto the auditorium floor with a loud plop. The shaman collapses, and five balls (stars?) burning bright blue were lifted to the sky.

What the bloody hell was all that about? Maybe if I hadn't fallen asleep I may have figured it out, but I doubt it. It sure was pretty, though - it's just that bloody hard work was required of the audience to earn the nice visuals.

Posted by pete at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Delirium

Helen Herbertson @ AIT Arts Space

3:30pm, Sat 9 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: (Tripping the) Light Fantastic

As the house lights dim, a dark figure dashes out into the centre of the assembled set and lights a gas flame. The orange flame flickers in the darkness, creating a natural strobe effect; then, as the flame slowly dies to just a pinprick, the audience holds its collective breath until the inevitable occurs - the flame is extinguished, leaving us silent in a Stygian blackness.

A faint backlight picks out a figure in the background - was she there all along? - and slowly, the mechanical shuffling of "Delirium" begins. Helen Herbertson and Trevor Patrick produce a refined, minimalistic presence in the subdued lighting, swimming in light when it is afforded, hiding in the shadows when not.

The set is a masterpiece - holes in the floor open up, exposing bright orange light and smoke to the audience, creating rivulets of fire about which the dancers carefully step. Light smoke also helps create a wonderful pyramid-type effect, as planar lighting reaches from the roof to the floor. The piece is scored to a tense, brooding rumblefest, ranging from quiet dripping to an intense thunderstorm.

But make no mistake, the real star of the show here is the lighting. Herbertson and Partick play second fiddle to Ben Cobham's staggeringly wonderful work in this visual extravaganza.

Posted by pete at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Late Show at The Arts

@ The Arts Theatre

11:30pm, Fri 8 Mar 2002

Score: 5

Short Review: Improv

I rolled up at The Arts Theatre and was stoked at the line-up for the night - the Cream of Irish crew (Tara Flynn, Ian Coppinger, Brendan Dempsey), as well as Dave Johns and Phil Nichol. Then I read the words that filled me with trepidation - "Improv Night".

As we all know, this could be very very good, or very very bad. At the end of the night, it probably leaned towards the latter - helped by the (mostly young) audience suggestions, which ranges from "porn" to "porno" (as appropriate).

Well, the line-up seemed very quick on their feet, providing the odd laugh or ten, but it was no substitute for a "real" show. Phil Nichol impressed with his uniformly juvenile behaviour, and Tara Flynn - well, she's a gorgeous Irish babe, and well worth seeing again :)

As always with improv, your mileage may vary.

Posted by pete at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stand-Up Opera

BJ Ward @ Elder Hall

8:30pm, Fri 8 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Octavulous

One-time Playboy Bunny BJ Ward (who you may know from her extensive TV voiceover experience - my fave being Jana in the Jungle) presents an evening of opera and comedy, with sidekick Joseph Thalken on piano (and, when coaxed, also delivering some powerful vox).

Ward certainly can hold a note, and her range is huge, but her genius is in her comedic timing. Her analyses of various popular operas are bloody funny; she amusingly dealt with sneezing "hecklers"; and the audience participation bits ("ci") were a delight. Thalken also proved to have the comic touch - the Swiss aria bit was a hoot.

The second act begins with Ward wandering through the audience, serenading as she goes, but then takes a very humorous turn as Ward "teaches" Thalken to sing, and thereafter perform a "Don Giovanni" duet - both on piano and vox. They then promise an entire opera in seven minutes - and deliver Puccini's "Turandot", again with a great deal of wit.

Sure, Ward and Thalken may not be the wunderkind of their arts - but they can both belt out steady notes, and they're both enjoying what they do. Really, this show should be a must for anyone (like me) who knows jack about opera - it's educational, but most of all, FUN.

Posted by pete at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Large Attendance in the Ante Chamber

Brian Lipson @ Art Gallery Auditorium

6:00pm, Fri 8 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Strindbergian

First up: thanks to Andrew Litzky of theater simple (go see Strindberg (In Paris) and 52 Pick Up!) for his wonderfully apt, one word synopsis for this piece of theatre.

"ALAitAC" (you try writing the whole thing out) is an odd little number based on the writings of Francis Galton, written and performed by Brian Lipson. Galton was a polymath (learned person of encyclopedic knowledge, expert in many fields), and is reputed to have had the highest recorded IQ (and was quite a fan of the premise of IQ tests). His contributions to science were many and varied, covering fields such as meteorology, statistics, criminology, and his own field of eugenics - which seeks to improve the human stock through maintenance of genetic potential.

As you can probably imagine, Galton's passion for eugenics has resulted in him being viewed in a controversial light... and here, Lipson presents a wacky, eccentric characterisation of Galton. This is best epitomised by the opening scene, where he creates a device used to kick himself in the head.

Brilliantly original, Lipson uses his tight set to full advantage, and this is a very enjoyable piece of work. I can't help thinking, however, that maybe a little liberty has been taken with Galton's eccentricities... if this is the case, then the artistic license was fairly used for a lot of humour. Great stuff!

Posted by pete at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Skin

Bangarra Dance Theatre

8:00pm, Thu 7 Mar 2002

Score: 6

Short Review: I don't see it...

"Skin" is split into two acts, "Shelter" and "Spear". Once again, there was a distinct gender seperation in the dances - female dancers only in Act One, men only in Act Two.

"Shelter", an "abstract portrayal of traditional hunting and gathering", opens with a good piece of dance, professionally executed, with the wonderful effect of performer-created dust clouds catching the minimal lighting. The second piece, describing a stillbirth, was... well, visual wank. Anyone who mentions words like "innovative" are just plain wrong, trust me. The final dance piece of the Act had wonderful (non-traditional) music, but the choreography did nothing with it. The Act closes out with a wonderful piece of shadow projection. Overall, I found the performances to be effective, rather than brilliant.

Act 2 - "problems facing aboriginal men" - opens with an effective portrayal of an aboriginal death in custody... which didn't seem to have the emotional impact that it should have. The rest of the Act, which dealt with initiation ceremonies, petrol & alcohol abuse, and a cleansing ceremony, were also competent (with an interesting use of a gutted car as a central prop!), but contained some of the best dancing for the evening - several male solo pieces. (These were interesting in themselves - the Bangarra web site mentions that "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance is very different from most western theatre dance" - and yet these solos appeared distinctly European in nature).

At the end of this performance, there was a standing ovation from about two-thirds of the audience. I wasn't one of them, though I was happy that the guy next to me stood - it stopped him yelling "WOOOOOOOOO" right into my tinitus ear.

I just didn't get it. In my view, every other dance piece I'd seen in ff2002 (bar one) surpassed "Skin" in terms of interest and, well, plain aesthetic appeal (notice how I kept using the word "effective" rather than my usual superlatives?). The only real saving grace was Archie Roach appearing for a song or two, and the Act Two solos. Still, the audience can't be wrong, can they? Well, if I was the 'Tiser, I'd be compelled to give this show a 9 or a 10 on the basis of the audience reaction - but I'm not, I'm me, this is my review, and it didn't really move me at all. Harrumph.

Posted by pete at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Dolorosa

@ Space Theatre

6:00pm, Thu 7 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Arresting

Documenting British playwright David Hare's 1997 visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, "Via Dolorosa" is not an opinion piece, but more of a chronologue of his travels and conversations with friends, politicians, settlers and historians, both in Israel and the Palestinian territory.

Australian actor Patrick Dickson superbly plays the role of Hare in this stunning monologue, which not only deals with the conflict between Arab and Jew, but also the tensions within the Jewish community (secular versus religious Jews) and Christianity as a whole ("sects and the single church").

Amongst these weighty debates can be found the most impossible humour - Eran Baniel's production of Romeo and Juliet, with Palestinians playing the Capulets, and Jews playing the Montagues ("the Capulets really hated the Montagues") being a prime example. But the performance reaches an arresting and powerful climax when Hare visits Yad Vashem, the museum of the Holocaust, and reads the text of Himmler's speech: a deeply wrenching moment.

The performance ends by posing "Are we where we live, or are we what we think? What matters? Stones or Ideas?". During his travels, Hare met people who conceded that the six-day war in 1967 destroyed "our essential Jewishness, because up till then places and buildings and stones didn't mean anything to us... What mattered to us were ideas."

"Via Dolorosa" designates a stretch of road along which Jesus Christ walked bowed under the weight of the Cross. David Hare travelled the same road, seemingly carrying the values and beliefs of the Western civilisation with him. The resulting play is a powerful, weighty piece of work.

Posted by pete at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No Man's Island

Brussell @ Kiosk Lawn, Botanic Gardens

2:00pm, Thu 7 Mar 2002

Score: 6

Short Review: Competent

On a gorgeous autumn day (puffy clouds on a bright blue sky, light breeze tossing newly-fallen leaves), my arse was parked on a tarp in the middle of the botanic gardens to see this performance, put on by a group out of the University of Ballarat.

Penned by Ross Mueller, "No Man's Island" takes place within the confines of an anonymous prison cell - the surrounds of the Botanic Gardens made me feel like it was a Cambodian prison camp. After an introductory frantic bout of madness, we find two men, Rob and Tim, at various stages of emotional disrepair. Throughout the play, there is the constant feeling that the characters switch between their "strong" and "weak" personae; one character may be acting as an emotional crutch for the other character in one moment, but the next moment sees them effectively switching roles.

Andy Delves is brilliant as Tim, both the strongest and most vulnerable of the two characters. The repetitive music used sparingly creates a unique, brooding atmosphere, but I've got a feeling this would be much better seen at night (rather than 2pm on a sunny day).

In short, this was a competent - though somewhat abstract - psychological piece; worth a look if you've got a spare gap in the schedule.

Posted by pete at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lehmo and Dave's Guide To Health and Happiness

Lehmo and Dave Williams @ Rhino Room

10:00pm, Wed 6 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: Educational :)

Local boys Lehmo and Dave Williams strut on stage, assure us that we're not at an Amway session, then proceed to tell us that we're about to embark on a four-stage plan to better ourselves - to become healthy, happy and have "a huge cock - or huge inner cock, for the women".

Their tips range from the ridiculous (crime as a step to financial happiness) to... the ridiculous (stalking as a way to "make friends"). But always funny, or at least very silly.

Sure, it's not the most polished act in the world - a few crack-ups here and there, Dave constantly checking the show notes on the wall - but it's got a couple of great frontmen, and enough giggles to get one through the night. And the extra added bonus sketch, "The Surreal Estate Agent", is a cracker.

Posted by pete at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Samsara

@ Golden Grove Recreation and Arts Centre

7:30pm, Wed 6 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: No more Vangelis!

Some people love Vangelis. Not I. Which means I'm facing a bit of an uphill battle here, since the whole of "Samsara" has a Vangelis soundtrack.

Not to worry - the performance was great. The wonderfully staccato opening, "Pedestrians" sets the scene for some neato bits of dance, which peaks in the fourth piece, "Killing Fields", which approached the wonderfully organic beauty of 2000's Drumming. The final piece, "Sunrise" would have to be the bravest piece of dance I've ever seen - there's a naked 8 month old held high above the entire cast... I mean, anything could happen!

In general, it's a very individualistic bit of contemporary dance that would've got an extra notch or two on the moobaa-ometer, if only it wasn't for Vangelis... but if you can tolerate the V, go forth and catch this show.

Posted by pete at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

52 Pick Up

theater simple @ The Little Theatre

2:00pm, Wed 6 Mar 2002

Score: 10

Short Review: Funny & Familiar

Yep, it's another theater simple show, and I'm going to go raving once again about how wonderful I think they are, how great the show is, and how you should all go and check this out.

Simple premise: 52 scenes, covering a relationship from beginning to ...(?). Each scene is represented by a playing card in a deck. At the beginning of the piece, the cards are shuffled, then tossed into the air; cards are then selected at random and acted out until the deck has been collected, thus playing the relationship out in a random order.

Sounds simple - and it works brilliantly well. The scenes themselves vary in length, from the two-liners to monologues to more detailed conversations. And, due to the random nature of the scene selection, very odd mood swings are possible - and the audience often holds its collective breath as the next card is selected.

The performances? hey, it's Andrew & Llysa, they could make any script look good. However, the strength of the 52 "scriptlets" is also exceptional - Rita Bozi and TJ Dawe (yes, he of Labrador and Tired Cliches fame) have compiled snippets that are instantly familiar.

And so, with more cheer in my heart, I command all those who are in, or have ever been in, a relationship to go see this show. Seriously. You won't regret it. And for those sad souls whose sole relationship has been with an invisible friend called Trevor, get along and see this show anyway. You'll experience all the bliss, angst, fun and uncertainty that comes from the real thing.

Posted by pete at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shedding Light - Australian Rules

@ Her Majesty's Theatre

10:30am, Wed 6 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Gamut of Emotions

Another flick in the "F5" sub-Festival, "Australian Rules" (IMDB reference) is based on Phillip Gwynne's book, "Deadly, Unna?". It tracks the tensions within the (fictitious) South Australian town of Prospect Bay, which uses football as the common denominator between the Aboriginal and white communities - and ultimately fractures the soul of the town.

Seen purely as a film, this is a wonderful achievement. First-time director Paul Goldman does a terrific job, and the cast is almost faultless. The plot does contain the odd cliche, but doesn't suffer. Best of all, the film forces the watcher to run the whole gamut of emotions. Great stuff.

However, during the following Q&A session with the production team & actors, it became evident that a certain amount of controversy has dogged this movie. Since I've had my head buried in the sand lately, I asked a neighbour what the fuss was about, and was told that a few events involving Aboriginals in the film had been a little too close to recent real-life events, and that the consulted Aboriginal communities had objected to their inclusion in the film. (The same person also complained that the movie strayed from the book, adding in a love story).

Well, ignoramus me being, I can't comment either way on those issues. Still, great movie.

Posted by pete at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dom Irrera

@ Laughing Gas

10:00pm, Tue 5 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Bustagut

Dom Irrera came on stage in front of a full house and started with a "pee and poop" joke.

"Oh no," thought I, "60 minutes of pee and poop a comedian maketh not." But within the next 20 seconds he had excused himself for his foul language, then rapid-fired through 30 euphemisms for the sexual act. And he was rolling.

And this guy hammered the jokes home. No theme to the show, just solid, wall-to-wall funny stuff. No pausing for the audience to laugh, soaking up the adulation stuff here. Lots of semi-crude stuff (topical(?) child sex, fun with homophobes), ridiculous stuff (punching the cat), and just straight gags (airport security stuff a-plenty).

Really, there's bugger all to say, except: see this man. He's basically playing every night 'til the end of the Fringe, so you've got no excuse not to.

Posted by pete at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

El Nino

State Opera SA @ Festival Theatre

7:30pm, Tue 5 Mar 2002

Score: 6

Short Review: Hmmmmm...

"El Nino" is very much the flagship production for the 2002 Festival of the Arts and, while offering some interesting bi-lingual operatics, one certainly hopes this is not the highpoint of the Festival.

Dealing with the miracle of Mary's impregnation, up to several days after Jesus' birth, the libretto is (apparently) sourced from many Biblical texts, as well as a selection of poetry. In addition to the operatic piece, there is a much-publicised film by ex-Festival Director Peter Sellars that runs silently in the background (just below the surtitles), highlighting the experiences of the principal players.

Well, now for the critical stuff: "El Nino" is presented in two acts, which I'm going to call Good Act and Bad Act, respectively. Good Act opens with some magnificent singing from the Chorus, beautifully arranged. The soloists... well, more on them in a minute. The film was well directed, the "acting" perhaps a little dodgy, but it's essentially background material anyway. And the end of this act (leading to the birth of Jesus) was sheer aural bliss.

Then came the second... er, Bad Act. The wonderful arrangements for the Chorus disappeared, the film was dull and repetitive and lifeless and repetitive and lifeless and repetitive. And then came the Children's Chorus. I saw the kids come onstage and instantly thought, "oh no...". Some people actually left at this point, mere moments before the end of the production. Anyhoo, big round of applause from the two-thirds capacity audience who hung around for the second Act (a few left, y'see, and there were gaping holes in the audience before starting).

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, as per usual, were excellent. The vocal leads, on the other hand were patchy... I didn't think much of the opportunities offered to them by the piece, but the two females excelled where the males floundered somewhat - soprano Shu-Cheen Yu was superb throughout, and mezzo-soprano Kirsti Harms suffered only in that she blew all the other vocalists off the stage.

So, at the end of the day, this was an experience - not the flagship operatic sensual tour-de-force that Writing to Vermeer was in 2000, but interesting enough to stay on the right side of the waste-of-money-meter.

Posted by pete at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Cool Taste of Brazil

Samba Suave @ Garage Bar

7:30pm, Mon 4 Mar 2002

Score: 5

Short Review: Street's Vanilla

Hmmmmm. After the Tango of El Tango, we lept into the more laid-back Samba of "A Cool Taste of Brazil".

I confess to knowing nowt about Samba Suave, and this six-member troupe gave me no sparks to encourage me to investigate further. The male vox were overloud, the female vox too quiet (but, when they were evident in the mix, were hoarse and smoky). The electric guitar was also lost in the mix and, when it did come to the fore for solos, it was treated such that it sounded like a trumpet (or flute, or steel drum - it doesn't matter, they all sounded pretty ordinary). In fact, I could've done without all the solos, really.

To be fair, maybe it was the laidback gentle grooves of Samba that didn't light my fire, rather than this performance. Why "Street's Vanilla"? Well, it's just that the performance was pleasant, without being offensive or memorable. Plain vanilla, as opposed to the really nice Sara Lee deluxe stuff.

Posted by pete at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chamber Music Series - El Tango

@ ASO Grainger Studio

6:00pm, Mon 4 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Cellish

If you know me, you're aware of my love of the cello, which approaches almost fetish status. So, given the opportunity, I like to try and eke out some good cello in my ff-plans. So I managed to squeeze "El Tango" into the schedule for my kinky little deep-string fix.

Unfortunately, the first piece played (Salzedo's "Sonata for Harp and Piano") was completely devoid of cello - lest it be called "Sonata for Harp and Piano and Cello", or possibly "Sonata for Cello and Harp and Piano" (since we all know where the goodies are). Or what about just "Sonata for Cello"? But then it'd probably be written by someone else, and you may as well just listen to the seven overdubbed cellos in the opening 30 seconds of ELO's "10328 Overture".

Oops, might have to edit that paragraph sometime. Anyhoo, "Sonata for Harp and Piano" was an energetically moody piece, wonderfully played by Alice Giles (on the big vertical thing) and Arnan Wiesel (on the big horizontal thing). We were then treated to a two different threads of work by Astor Piazzolla. "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" (Arnan Wiesel - piano, Nicholas Milton - violin, Janis Laurs - Gods gift to the string family) managed to put a Tango-esque tinge on all the seasons; "Summer" was a feisty piece, "Autumn" moody and flighty, "Winter" morosely beautiful, and "Spring" was a bright, bouncy piece. "Histoire du Tango" (Alice Giles - harp, Geoffrey Collins - flute) consisted of three pieces, "Bordel 1900" (light and breezy, almost fruity), "Cafe 1930" (which dripped with a smoky melancholy) and "Nightclub 1960" (a punchy little number).

All pieces were played well, and I've got no complaints at all (the cello was awesome) - except for the creaky stage and my SO's ankle (which made a rather loud CRACK in the middle of one piece). Can't wait to hear that on the ABC recording.

Posted by pete at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Suspended Love Story

Strut & Fret Production House @ The Lunar Tent

5:00pm, Mon 4 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: More aerials...

Yup, another show in The Lunar Tent, more aerial work. This time it's a small troupe - only two aerialists - in this short show (30 minutes or so). The 5:00pm slot makes this one attractive for the kids as well, and is well worth a peek.

Sure, it's pretty much the same kind of stuff as other Lunar Tent shows (Acrobat, Cabaret), but this show has a thoroughly wonderful mid-air tango sequence, as well as a more overt circus motif. And hey, it brought a smile to this jaded ff-goer's face.

In short - yeah, it's more aerials, but if the timeslot, attention span or kids preclude Acrobat, get along to this one instead - especially given the $7 price tag.

Posted by pete at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Career Highlights of the Mamu

Black Swan Theatre Company @ The Playhouse

2:00pm, Mon 4 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: Warm and personal

"The Career Highlights of the Mamu" is a very personal piece of work, as seen and told by writer/performer Trevor Jamieson, as he seeks out his homelands and, hence, his identity. Along the way, we encounter the Mamu - or Devil - as the Tjuntjuntarra are forced from their land due to the atomic testing at Maralinga, which is contrasted to the bombing of Hiroshima.

The displacement of the native peoples from Maralinga also brings to light the younger generations movements to Kalgoorlie and the white influences of alcohol and fast food, both of which threaten the traditional cultures. And, despite the weighty matters described, there is still a healthy dose of humour to be had - the discovery of railway tracks is hysterically funny. Good use, too, is made of video cameras on stage, as well as pre-recorded projected sequences and live music.

The most striking thing about this performance is the fondness and warmth shown - only to be expected, really, since it really is a family affair (a large portion of Jamieson's family joins him on stage). The culture of the Spinifex people is also to the fore, with tribal dances shown for the first time to the outside world (in fact, one reason for the Tjuntjuntarra children's presence on stage was to enable them to see and learn these dances). This more than makes up for the lack of coherency in the piece.

Posted by pete at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Longest Night

Urban Theatre Projects @ Parks Motor Maintenance Shed

7:30pm, Sun 3 Mar 2002

Score: 1

Short Review: Unforgivable

At the show I attended immediately prior "The Longest Night", William Yang mentioned that he could see hope in the faces of indigenous children.

However, it was especially tragic to see what skills were being offered to the young indigenous people in the workshop preceding "The Longest Night". The sexes were segregated: boys had the opportunity to be "B-Boys" or rappers, and girls could be "R&B Girls" (complete with "sultry" R&B Top 40 hip moves), or try their hand at acrobatics (tumbling, et al).

If this blatant Americanisation doesn't send a shiver down your spine... well, I guess you can't see the writing on the wall.

America - the place where the black population have been marginalised to such an extent that the major role models available are those of sport stars or music stars. And yet, here we are, inviting a culture of subversive racial subjugation into our country with open arms.

And this was just the precursor to "The Longest Night". After obtaining a coloured ribbon (to segregate patrons into "tour groups") and watching the youngsters performed their newly-workshopped talents, we went on a bizarre "tour" around the Parks Community Centre campus, the point of which completely escapes me. We were then treated to the performance proper.

And what a performance it was. Using the tried, tested and true theme of "look how drug and alcohol abuse can ruin your life", we see Bernie first have her child taken away by a government worker. Then her old druggie mates drop by, and her life (and those of her friends) turns to hell. All this is "acted" out using over-the-top theatrics, creating confusing "action" scenes, backed by a bizarre and contrived selection of music.

Yes, I realise that Peter Sellars had placed an emphasis on the representation of indigenous culture, and the involvement of youth, in his planning of the Festival. And I certainly support the intentions of Urban Theatre Projects - their altruism for their work is certainly commendable. However, to pass this piece off as "art" is really, really hard to take.

(As a sidenote, I noticed previous Festival Director Robyn Archer chose a black ribbon, then wore it almost as an armband. Almost apt, really.)

Posted by pete at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shadows

William Yang @ Parks Theatre Two

5:00pm, Sun 3 Mar 2002

Score: 8

Short Review: Overt

"Shadows" is a piece that somehow manages to meld the stories of East and West Germany, their reunification, and the theme of Aboriginal reconciliation together. Flanked by two slide-show screens, noted photographer William Yang cruised through a ninety minute monologue, accompanied by a selection of his own photos.

Based on Yang's travels and experiences with friends, lovers and colleagues, he covers the period from 1980 to the present day. Along the way, he introduces us to the characters central to his discussion - the adopted Aboriginal son of a friend, an ex-boyfriend, and the people that surrounded them. We then follow him on several trips to outback Enngonia, Berlin (both pre- and post-unification), and the South Australian German settlements.

Yang placed particular emphasis on the continual spiritual malaise of the Enngonian settlement, showing the decay of their culture due to the white inputs of alcohol and violence. He also juxtaposed the systematic decimation of the Aboriginal communities in the earlier parts of last century with the genocide inflicted upon the Jewish peoples by the Hitler-led Germans. And yet, despite these weighty matters, Yang still managed to expose his own dry, wry wit - witness the "second best meal" he had in Germany.

Colin Offord provided wonderfully textured, subtle background music - playing flute (in the style of a didgeridoo), some percussive stuff (with his feet), and this uber-woodwind-string-instrument that pretty much defies description. And this was a very enjoyable monologue; it's just that the political nature of the content was a little... overt for me. As subtle as a brick, that just managed to put a damper in the work that, while optimistic, left me... edgy.

Posted by pete at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Soobee and Jeffree

Broadway And Company

1:00pm, Sun 3 Mar 2002

Score: 5

Short Review: Great for little 'uns

Sue Broadway and Jeff Turpin adopt the personae of clowns Soobee and Jeffree for this short and charming show which, while somewhat entertaining for nutcases like me, is probably better suited to a younger audience.

After struggling with their opening under the warm Lunar Tent, Soobee and Jeffree squeeze some gentle humour out of simple, but visually effective, tricks - their spinning plates representing the solar system was quite amusing - but they excel when it comes to juggling.

Their hat juggling routine was quite mesmerising, but when they started juggling up to seven clubs between them, you knew they weren't mucking around. Their ability to "steal" items from each other while juggling was also pretty neat.

Yup, with a young crowd, Soobee and Jeffree would go off - they had the kids at this show howling like wolves at the moon (not the best thing for tinitus) and giggling like... children. Then again, there's always one kid in the crowd that makes you crack up - this performance, it was the 3 year old that yelled out "FUCK" quite audibly when Jeffree dropped something. Most amusing.

You could certainly do a lot worse than dragging the little 'uns along to this.

Posted by pete at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shedding Light - The Tracker

@ Her Majesty's Theatre

10:30am, Sun 3 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: Visually adept

"The Tracker", the first film on the AFA's F5 program, is a simple tale following the hunt of an alleged murderer by an Aboriginal Tracker, and the police that enslave him. Written and directed by the acclaimed Rolf de Heer, and produced for the 2002 Festival, it's a pretty reasonable bit of work.

Filmed near Arkaroola (South Australia), the film is visually splendid - wonderful shots of the very Australian landscapes, and some magnificent images in certain scenes - "that sunrise" (to tell you exactly which sunrise would be a spoiler) is a masterpiece. de Heer also uses oil paintings to describe the violence which takes place, rather than using live action, to wonderful effect.

The plot is simple and linear; my only complaint was that there were points where characters flip-flopped unbelievably - Gary Sweet (as The Fanatic) transforms from The Tracker's main ally in the party to his greatest nemesis within a scene or two. Likewise, Damon Gameau's Follower goes from wet-behind-the-ears to Bush Guru almost overnight. Grant Page, as The Veteran, is under-used.

In short, this was a pretty reasonable flick, but just not chunky enough to fully satisfy.

BTW - here's the IMDB info (as sketchy as it is) on "The Tracker".

Posted by pete at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

electronic bonk (eBonk)

Tori Hodgman @ Worldsend Hotel

9:30pm, Sat 2 Mar 2002

Score: 6

Short Review: Glass Vase

Tori Hogman, local girl and ex-criminal lawyer, shows us the seedy side of dating using modern methods - phone chat lines and 'Net based message boards. Not to mention a few stories from her past, and a few laughs along the way.

Tori first introduces us to wankline, a phone system for singles to leave messages for one another to contact (if necessary). Tori, ever the thorough researcher, maintained a glass vase of messages left for her by men on wankline - if anyone in the audience yelled out "Glass Vase", she would read some of the sad, sad, SAD (and crude) messages, then get back to the show. A neat trick to get out of comedy death.

Besides wankline, we were also treated to Tori's use of internet Message Boards - with similar crude responses. Actually, Tori seemed to be the antagonist on the 'Net, but hey, it was pretty funny. There were some funny (and serious) family moments presented, too.

Overall, though, this show was perhaps a touch too patchy to warrant a "must see" tag - but was enjoyable nonetheless. And I think it's testament to the thoroughness of her research that Tori was the first person in the room to switch her mobile on at show's end.

Posted by pete at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

American Dreamchasing with Spirit-Drive! NOT Ego-Jive...

Mark "ZonaCat" Hansen @ Iris Cinema

8:00pm, Sat 2 Mar 2002

Score: 7

Short Review: Motor-mouthed

I've no idea why this one got picked out of the Guide. In fact, when I was reading the Guide just prior to going to the show, I caught mention of the performer's web site. Go there, it's pretty... odd. So all of a sudden I was worried: "shit, I've just paid $14 for an American self-help seminar... he'll prolly try to sell me stuff at the end of the show too...".

These fears were not allayed when we arrived at the Iris cinema, and the barguy said "Mark wants you to read this pamphlet before he starts. Oh, and he wants you to have a beer. On the house."

Oh dear. I was worried now. Curiously, the pamphlet didn't contain any pyramid schemes... and then in bounds Mark Hansen. And he launches into his monologue.

80 minutes later, he's still speaking 200 words a minute. No selling, just a bunch of positivity and wacky stories about himself. Pretty entertaining stuff really, if you can handle an over-stimulated American monologue (who uses the word "lugubrious" in conversation - Dali link).

Seriously. Read some of the stuff on his website (www.zonacat.com) - it's great. As for paying money to see him? Well, it's an experience, I'll say that much. And he shouts you a beer - Southwark White, not too shabby.

Posted by pete at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Solos

Ros Warby @ AIT Arts Space

6:30pm, Sat 2 Mar 2002

Score: 9

Short Review: Finesse

This was stunning.

As I've remarked earlier, I've been seeing a disproportionately large amount of dance this ff... and I had to fight to get a ticket to this "sold out" show (my diatribe about the Adelaide Festival ticketing fiasco will be elsewhere), so it was an extreme annoyance to see one-third of the seats in the AIT Arts Space empty. Obviously, there's "sold out" and "SOLD OUT". Anyhoo, I was glad I made the effort.

"Solos" is three solo pieces by Ros Warby. The first, "eve", was choreographed by Warby herself, and is simply magnificent. Warby dances about the space, between (and up against) screens, which act as recipients for pre-filmed dance and movement pieces also. Some of the screens are translucent, allowing Warby to dance behind an image of herself dancing, while speaking softly to herself - positively freaky. Added to this is the use of carefully positioned spotlights casting Warby's shadow(s) onto other screens. All this, and the music the piece was set to was sensational.

After a short interval, "Living with Surfaces" was a more mechanical piece, set to phasic experimental music. Using a fluoro green backing wall, Warby remains physically connected to the surface at all times, as she roams about in a gloriously stilted manner, connected to her discretely shifting shadow. After literally climbing the wall, she traces her own outline upon it in an act of self-definition (see, I do read the notes).

At this stage I was in ecstasy; I was ready to give this show an 11. However, the last piece, "FIRE", saw Warby strutting about the stage chatting indecipherably to herself, occasionally turning to the audience in faux query, and even more occasionally performing something that may be misconstrued as dance. The notes indicate that "the dancer is with out his or her convictions about dance", but I really couldn't tell whether she was taking the piss or not. The lack of backing music only enhanced the suggestion that this piece is "ad-libbed".

However, despite this last piece, I found this performance to be absolutely mesmerising. Go see it, if you get the chance (and dispute any "full house" claims).

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