Pluck

Pluck @ Holden Street Theatres

9:30pm, Sun 7 Mar 2004

Score: 10

Short Review: Pure genius. Really.

Sweet mother of goat, what a fabulous show. Words cannot do it justice, but if I were forced to select a collection of words, they’d include witty, inventive, expressive, brilliant, and fun. Twice each.

A collection of classically trained musicians, Pluck – Adrian Garrat on violin, Jon Regan on viola, and the smokily beautiful Sian Kadifachi on cello – perform what can only be described as a musical-theatrical-comedy show that delivers on all counts. The music – apart from that when Garrat played a “dead” violin – was superb; the comedy wickedly funny; and the trio’s acting was simply sublime – the eyes were everything.

So much good stuff – the violin funeral (was that Monica?). The romancing duel. Adrian’s collection of music artifacts. The audience participation (brilliantly managed by Regan). The constant upstaging of each other. The eyes… the eyes!

Look, I could rant on and on and on and on about how wonderful, how mirthalicious, how sweet Pluck were. And I should, because they deserve it. But, as I said before, my hacky words cannot possibly do them justice – so I’ll cop-out by saying this is simply a must-see show.

…but I won’t do that!

Swamp Fairy @ East End Exchange (The Swamp)

7:00pm, Sun 7 Mar 2004

Score: 4

Short Review: Nice idea, but…

A cabaret show based on the output of rock-song-opera king Jim Steinman sounded like a great idea when I was reading the Fringe Guide. And, scanning the programme when I arrived at The Swamp, it looked like it would be a cracking show: “I’ll do anything for love…”, “Holding out for a hero”, “Paradise by the dashboard light”, “Total eclipse of the heart”, and “Bat out of hell” were all there (13 tracks all up, including 2 spoken word tracks).

Simple premise, really – in a biker-goth fantasy world, Johnny woos Jenny before being killed by Jimbo. A bit of lamenting in heaven/hell and earth, then Jenny lops herself and the lovebirds are re-united. All set to Steinman lyrics. So, does it work?

Erm… nup. The music (bass, keyboards & pre-records) was a little thin and, though Darren Mullan did a great Meatloaf impersonation and Jamie Jewell’s Jimbo was great, Oriana Forte managed to completely thrash her vocals – dunno whether that was the mixing or the room, though. The plot… well, it’s cabaret, so let’s play fair and not say anything nasty.

A final point – The Swamp is a long, thin venue. Great for a pub, crap for viewing shows. ‘Nuff said.

Trio Relikt

VIP-Concert @ Scott Theatre

5:00pm, Sun 7 Mar 2004

Score: 7

Short Review: Hilarious! …for all the wrong reasons ;)

I have no idea what attracted me to this musical show featuring three Russian vocalists, but I’m so glad I was present at this performance. Accompanied by the same gruff translator that Valeri and Gleb used, Trio Relikt wandered through some nice traditional Russian songs that had the predominantly (probably 90% – you could tell by the amount of laughter during the “humourous” songs) Russian-speaking audience clapping wildly.

The Trio’s own onstage fun factor seemed inversely proportional to their guitar proficiency – the only member of the Trio who didn’t strum strings had a great time, wandering all over the stage and flirting with the audience like a shy schoolboy.

Now, I’m no stranger to not knowing what the hell is being sung – I grew up listening to Dad’s German beer drinking songs every Sunday morning, and have recently developed a passion for J-Pop. But the use of the translator, who sprung into action after the Trio introduced songs, was inspired… but for all the wrong reasons…

In between songs, someone from the audience walked up to the stage and handed a request on a piece of paper to one of the Relikts. He, in turned, looked at the request, chuckled to himself, then rambled off about a minute of Russian to the audience, who laughed appreciably. A pause; the Trio looked offstage to the translator, who then uttered the immortal words in his own thick accent: “I don’t understand what he said.”

The non-Russian-speakers in the audience, myself included, pissed themselves laughing. Much applause, too. Applause and laughter and idiotic grins. Thereafter, Trio Relikt had much fun at the translators expense – dragging him onstage for bows, getting him to translate long strings of text to “many Russian words” and “two popular songs without comment”. So funny… so funny.

As for the music? Well, they’re not as tight as Tripod, let me tell you. But they did a wacky accented cover of “Yesterday”, and an uptempo “Besame Mucho”. And a bunch of Russian songs.

But, truth be told, I won’t be remembering any music from this show. Take a bow, Mr Translator :)

Tripod

Tripod @ Union Hall

11:00pm, Sat 6 Mar 2004

Score: 8

Short Review: Cabaret – the best way to see Tripod

After the appalling Tosswinkle episode that Tripod brought to Adelaide for ff2002, I vowed to never again subject myself to one of their “themed” shows. However, the prospect of “old-style” Tripod in cabaret-mode was too tempting to pass up.

And the boys were in fine form – using the crowd as guinea pigs for testing out new songs, constantly making fun on Gatesy’s lack of a sex-life, and just generally doing what they do best – being funny. Most of the new songs were great, two that still stick in my mind being the anti-shorts song, and the photo-developing ditty.

The undeniable highlight, however, was their cover of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android”. This piece demonstrated just what good performers the boys are; the harmonies, the timing, the humour were all top-notch.

I can now forgive them for ff2002.

Uber Alice – the elaborate adventures of a New Zealand manicurist…

EpicWorlds @ North-South Dining Room

9:15pm, Sat 6 Mar 2004

Score: 7

Short Review: Ridiculously fun

A one-man show presented by Jonno Katz, Uber Alice describes the rise of New Zealand’s greatest deity, Alice Winkins, a manicurist fated to rule the universe. Erm… yes. And the joyous thing? That’s about the least absurd aspect of the show.

With a biblical-like opening, we are introduced to God and the premise for the play. Then Jonno appears, accompanied by a hideously amusing Kiwi accent, and proceeds to tell the story of Alice. Her escape from her mum, like much of the rest of the show, was brilliantly played out, as Katz swaps simply between the two characters in a brilliantly funny bit of theatre. Likewise, the audience-assisted sex-scene is cunningly done – after which Jonno re-appears clad in a dressing gown, accompanied by a bag of cookies he shares with the audience in a hospitable interval.

At one stage, after Katz had sneezed unexpectedly, he told the audience (through his thick accent) “That wasn’t in the script, that bit.” My response was one of disbelief: “There’s a SCRIPT?!” Actually, that’s a little unfair. This was a unique bit of comedy – original in both content and presentation, the laughs often came from the ridiculous nature of Jonno’s ramblings – the flashback to a tale of “heartbreak, treachery and abuse” was pants-wettingly good.

Not bad, not bad at all.

I Spied – True Confessions Of An Ex-ASIO Spy

David Callan @ Uni Cinema

7:10pm, Sat 6 Mar 2004

Score: 9

Short Review: Classified!

David Callan used to work in ASIO – and this show was designed to give the audience the inside story of what happens inside the Organisation. He takes us through training, his many jobs over the years, all the way up until the time he left, all the while providing humorous and sobering snippets in equal measures.

His stories about the anti-terrorist training excercise he was a volunteer victim for was stunning, his running gags – “what’s your mother’s maiden name?” – well timed, and the bomb disposal squad incident was… well, just piss funny. All the while, his delivery was excellent – and the script has obviously been lovingly cared for, such is the wonderful pacing of the show.

Yep, the raves are well deserved – a wonderful bit of enlightened comedy.

I Was Here

Your Mama Productions @ Weimar Room

6:00pm, Sat 6 Mar 2004

Score: 8

Short Review: Intriguing…

I Was Here is essentially just an arrangement of comments made on the doors and walls of women’s toilets around the globe. This may sound like a piss-poor premise for a bit of theatre, but it actually came across rather well.

Using three actors to repeat the same text over and over, with different delivery each time, was really quite an intriguing idea. There’s only a total of about 5 minutes of dialogue in the whole piece, but each iteration makes it sound fresh. The only exception was the statement “I made Ian kill himself. I am so sorry”; this was always poignant, as were the supportive followup statements.

All the while, the three girls roamed the black stage with paint pens, spreading graffiti as they went. And the statements used were rarely crude (as is the case of 98% of graffiti in male toilets), but often inquisitive, informative (“grammar’s not just a party trick”), or supportive. A real eye-opening thinker of a show; masterfully done.

Spaghetti Circus @ Tiny Top

2:00pm, Sat 6 Mar 2004

This was my first visit to the Tiny Top, for a snippet of the Spaghetti Circus‘ act. Was it worth it?

Oh yes. The Amazing Rubber Girls bend in a most… unnatural way. And the old bearded lady? Um… yeah. Words cannot… thingy.

$5 for 10 minutes? Yes please.

Throw Down

Throw Down @ The Umbrella Revolution

1:00pm, Sat 6 Mar 2004

Score: 8

Short Review: Stunts with attitude!

Victorian circus troupe Throw Down should be applauded for bringing this act to town. In doing do, they have filled a gap that has been noticeable from ff2002’s circus program – the trapeze and suspended acts have been (sadly) notable by their absence thus far. Not any more; Throw Down’s trapeze act was quite the breath-taker, and their suspended acts were as imaginative as they were powerful.

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves a little. The opening act, involving some deft handling of glass balls highlighted by torchlight, would look even more spectacular in a pitch-dark tent, but didn’t detract from the level of control exhibited. Acts of strength, balance and control are at the forefront of Throw Down’s performance – the less svelte of the troupe’s women showed astounding poise in her chair-balancing act.

After the initially sombre and aloof attitude of the opening acts, their was a little comic relief as the sound guy took to the stage for more balancing tricks. A mysterious legged bag also inexplicably scuttled across the stage occasionally, lightening the mood.

Some (handcuffed) juggling, the trapeze work, some spectacular hula-hooping, and the troupe performing all manner of leaps and bounds whilst skipping rope(!) rounded out this tasty show. Well recommended.

Half-Arsed Expectations

Half-Arsed Productions @ Promethean Theatre

9:30pm, Fri 5 Mar 2004

Score: 4

Short Review: Underdeveloped

It sounds like a great idea – combine the backstage and onstage banter at a comedy club into one piece, showing the audience what goes on behind the curtain. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work as well as one would have hoped.

Joey D has “accidentally” got himself engaged, and the ball-and-chain-to-be has him on a tight leash. He’s contemplating giving up comedy, much to the chagrin of his cohorts. Between scenes backstage, where Joey and the team contemplate their profession, we have four stand-up routines from the troupe. And, honestly, only Joey D and Pepe (with a great redneck routine) provided any real laughs here – although it was probably played that way.

The whole show had an unfinished, underdeveloped feel to it; the character of Stella, in particular, was used both minimally and poorly. Still, there was the odd laugh or two to be had here (especially the bitches about other Fringe comedians)… but hardly essential viewing.

To be fair, though, the artist description on the Fringe site is bloody funny :)

Songs for the Deaf

Fresh Track Productions @ North-South Dining Room

7:15pm, Fri 5 Mar 2004

Score: 7

Short Review: Disturbingly entertaining

Songs for the Deaf comprises three short plays by Caleb Lewis. Essentially, each play is a tragedy, but each is also spiced with humour.

Bunny opens with the absurd image of actors in bunny and bear suits. Both Romy Loor and Andrew Brackman display suitably numbed characters, revealing more about their lives than they’d probably care to. This was a nice, solid piece.

The Half Windsor is a cracker. Dealing with prejudices and perception, Caleb Lewis shows that he can act (as a feisty bum) as well as write. The final piece, Rocket Baby, features Roberta Tyrrell playing a corrupted 10-year-old schoolgirl. Gutsy acting, but an incoherent and unbelievable script.

In short, this was a solid and entertaining bit of theatre. It was freaky how easy it was to identify with the characters portrayed, and there’s certainly some stuff in there to think about. This is, by far, the better of Fresh Track’s productions this Fringe.

Making of Snow

Snow Machine @ Weimar Room

6:00pm, Fri 5 Mar 2004

Score: 6

Short Review: Pretty, but…

Snow Machine are a three-piece band from Sydney. Relying heavily on electronic backing, but with live keys/guitar/vox over the top, they generally seemed to produce a lush instrumentation with little-girl-lost vocals dripped over the top. This isn’t unpleasant, but not earth-shattering, either.

The lead singer’s voice is quite attractive, really, and when you get a simple beat/guitar backing (such as the second track of the evening), the result doesn’t sound unlike Garbage. But Snow Machine sound their best when they’re harmonising, and putting some depth into the vocals. The songs were also accompanied by some projected visuals, but they were somewhat lost on me, as I spent most of the show watching the singer’s nipples (highlighted as they were by the lighting and her white top). Truth in reporting.

I bolted at the end of the set – had to run to catch the next show – and I suspect that I missed an encore. Oh well. My scorecard shows 7 ticks from 13 songs, so I guess that puts this gig a little above average.

Incidentally, this show marked the first time this Fringe that I’ve seen an artist use a laptop other than a Mac. Them wacky creative types, eh?

Espress Yourself! A Comedy About… Coffee

Final Draught @ Weimar Room

4:00pm, Fri 5 Mar 2004

Score: 6

Short Review: Undergraduate

Melbourne theatre group Final Draught present this rather simplistic play, intertwining stories of love, greed, and life in general around coffee. The only really interesting thread of the story involved deadshits Pete and Joe in their get-rich-quick schemes.

The humour is very undergraduate, but that didn’t perturb the crowd of mostly schoolkids. There are, however, some very funny soliloquies that various characters occasionally launch into – Cat’s Joe Scully rant was one such mirthful encounter, as was the corporatisation bluster. The odd Star Wars reference, and the “real gun” discussion, round out the highlights.

There was soooooo much about this show that I wanted to hate – the overacting, the wooden acting, the non-acting, the tacky dialog, the bad double entendres, the crap sight gags, the shitty stage management – but Espress Yourself! stumbles to a climax that is so ridiculously stupid, I found myself grinning like a loon. I dunno whether that’s much of a recommendation, but there you go.