Libbi Gorr’s Three Night Stand: Bring Your Girlfriendz Tour

Libbi Gorr @ The Regal

8:00pm, Thu 19 Feb 2004

Score: 7

Short Review: Rollicking

In an audience where women outnumbered men eight-to-one, Libbi Gorr pitched the subject matter of her show perfectly – but the end result was a bloody good laugh for all concerned.

Gorr opened by getting the audience involved in a big girly moment – the pronouncement of the Three Sacred Vows of Women. The first of the three saw Gorr almost lose control of the audience, such was the reaction. But the big surprise of the night – for me anyway – was Libbi’s singing. With sterling piano support, her songs were remarkably strong – the Shadenfreude song, in particular, had me chortling. And her cover of NIN’s “Closer” was… well, genius.

The coup de grace, though, was the screening of Libbi’s encounter with Major John Hewitt. This piece was the ideal closer, with Gorr singing smokily over the top of a cunningly edited piece. Divine, classic comedy.

This wasn’t a laugh-a-minute show, nor was it a swear-fest (though the c-word was used, respectfully, towards the end of the show). It was, however, good, solid entertainment.

First Sound

Sound of Human @ The Umbrella Revolution

10:00pm, Wed 18 Feb 2004

Score: 9

Short Review: Pummelling

After his Human in the Audiosphere performance in ff2000 (and appearing with Pablo Percusso in ff98), Ben Walsh returns to the Adelaide Fringe on a much bigger stage than he’s had in the past.

He needs it, too. The stage is littered with all manner of drums, hanging structures, water-bowls, springs, and (surprise, surprise) even a “traditional” drum kit. And Walsh plays them all in a wonderfully measured set that would alternate pounding tribal rhythms with delicately constructed tunes; visually violent explosions with quite passages of flute.

The last two pieces are incredible. First, Walsh demonstrates his mastery of the familiar drumkit as he matches a tremendous variety of pre-recorded musical styles; then, playing within a frame supporting drums above, below, and to his sides, his limbs become a blur, the roar immense. And it’s at this point that you realise that First Sound isn’t just a study of rhythm; it’s also an exploration of space.

The lighting was another standout of the performance – sometimes subtle, sometimes stark, always engaging.

Despite the equipment problems he had on the night (mic issues, levels, an errant drum stand), Walsh put in a stunning performance. Not to be missed.

Three Piece Suit with a Sideshow Lining

The Happy Sideshow @ The Umbrella Revolution

8:30pm, Wed 18 Feb 2004

Score: 8

Short Review: Erm… Freaky

I missed the Happy Sideshow in 2002, so I was keen to experience their talents early this time around. And this was a fair eye-opener of a show.

I mean, it’s not every day you see someone insert fish-hooks into their eye sockets and drag a woman riding on a little red wagon along. It’s pretty rare that you see someone ascend a tower of milk crates and perch themselves, swami-like, on top of a tin can, metres from the ground. And you’d be hard pressed to see a woman hack away at her metallic cod-piece with an angle grinder, while men cavort in the resultant pyrotechnic piss-stream.

You’ll stare; you’ll gasp; you’ll join in as those around you mutter “there’s no way he’s turning that drill on”. Oh yes, he does.

Go see the spectacle for yourselves.

Mindbender

Peepolykus @ The Umbrella Revolution

7:00pm, Wed 18 Feb 2004

Score: 4

Short Review: Confused

Opening with a clever bit of mime, UK company Peepolykus promise much in the guise of psychic Michael Santos and his two off-siders. A bit of audience participation by Santos’ audience plant, Raymond, was well handled, with some light humour and neat sight gags.

The whole show takes a turn for the worse with the Python-wannabe death sequence. It seemed that Peepolykus decided to set sail for surrealism, but it all seemed horribly flat and uninspired. The appearance of a bear(!) as Santos tries to reconcile his past was puzzling; the musical finale just plain out-of-place.

There were some highlights with a little trickery after the death sequence; Santos gains “real” psychic powers, which left a few in the audience (me included) wondering how the tricks were performed.

In short, this is a confused production. A shame, really, because the first third of the show offered so much.

Cirkus Inferno

Daredevil Opera Company @ The Umbrella Revolution

5:30pm, Wed 18 Feb 2004

Score: 6

Short Review: Slapstick

The first show of my ff2004 assault, I approached The Umbrella Revolution (“the red tent”) with a little trepidation after Adelaide’s recent spell of hot weather. Luckily, it was only a little humid within the tent, not detracting from the physical humour of Cirkus Inferno.

Lucky and Lady, the focus of much of our attention for this piece, emerge from the audience for an amusing descent into the ring (be warned – you will get wet!). The set is bold, surrounded by wacky placards – “can this lunatic make a lunar landing?” – and it’s only a matter of time before the pair are flailing away with comedic aplomb, using roller-skates, pogo-sticks, and a helmet made from a toaster, using almost every trick in the cartoon-humour book.

Presented by Canadian outfit, the Daredevil Opera Company, this is a competent piece of physical comedy – Lucky remains resolutely deadpan throughout, and Lady’s expressions are endearing. There’s also opportunity for a fabulous bit of audience participation, and the closer is quite imaginative. Great for a younger audience, but the old ‘uns amongst us needn’t feel left out, either.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.