And after the emotional maelstrom of yesterday, today was decreed an all-comedy day!
Chris Knight: absurd genius. Mike Wilmot: filthy. GhostBoy made me wear a nappy onstage in front of an audience of three reviewers. O’Neill is just as scatterbrained as ever… sometimes for good, sometimes for ill.
After a couple of days of patchiness, it’s great to hit a day of wall-to-wall quality :)
Gravity Boots have refined their zaniness from last year; it’s a bloody brilliant show. Also talked to Richard Fry for aaaaages after Unbeatable Hearts… what a top bloke (and a top show!). I also managed to catch the last half of the Rhino Room’s Late Show, too, with spots by Arj Barker, Gordon Southern, Andrew O’Neill (the main reason I went in), and Greg Fleet. Pretty bloody pleased with all that… a great day!
I’m having a pretty ordinary run of shows at the moment…
…but it must be said: Tough!, despite its dodgy title and less-than-enthralling Guide blurb, is an absolutely cracking piece of comedy. Go see it!
Day 18: a day bookended by Jane Austen and non-Fringe ennui.
Yay – Clipsal’s over! No more 8:30am practise sessions! I’ll be able to sleep in!
…oh wait. I’ve got a pre-lunchtime show tomorrow. Sigh.
More cancellations, more last-minute finangling, more sub-par scheduling. Sigh. At least I’ve got the opportunity for a decent night’s sleep tonight…
Apparently, a race on the Clipsal program was cut short last night at the behest of the Premier’s Office after it became apparent that the race noise was intruding on the Ennio Morricone concert in Elder Park last night (which, I repeat, was one of the most magical performances I’ve ever seen). The comments on this page are a disappointing bit of class warfare – from everyone involved. Very sad.
One of the greatest experiences ever tonight. Ennio Morricone was just awe-inspiring.
Nothing left to say… until tomorrow.
Only three (new) shows today… Helpful Tip For Performers: it’s a lot easier to get people in to watch your performances if you don’t cancel them.
Thought I’d try to get home at a reasonable hour, since I’ve got a long day tomorrow. At 2am, one more drink was suggested at the Fringe Club. That lead to heated debate over the merits of Raoul which spilled into Rundle Street, interrupted only when Martin Dockery plunged into the battle. So now it’s 4:20am, the fucking Clipsal practise laps start in about 4 hours, and I’ve got the sneaking suspicion that, retrospectively, this will be the day when it all started going terribly wrong.
In a good way :)
What is up with this weather? It better fine up before Ennio Morricone on Friday night…
Swung by the Fringe Club (after a midnight show at The Austral was a no-show) to catch Let’s Get Leotarded, which was prefaced by another great PonyDance performance. Those guys are good. Also bumped into Leon and the lovely Telia at ACArts today, too.
Oh, hello Fringe Club. You’re all bigger and nicer and stuff. Though the cocktails aren’t immediately obvious… I may have to pop in again tomorrow to verify whether cocktails are, indeed, available.
Did a spot of socialising today. Chatted to a RIU reviewer – they get 150 words to play with. Attempted to chat with a reviewer from Australian Stage Online – he’d seen all of three shows, and was not an outgoing chap at all. Had a good yarn with the tech from No Such Thing As Normal, with Jenny and Bryan, the PonyDance crew, told Telia how much I adored her work, and chatted with Alice for (probably) far too long.
And whilst the Fringe Club may have Saporro, they still need those cocktails. Will investigate further, yes.
Thought I’d give myself a challenging day today. Reckon I might have overdone it a bit… I think I might have blown a gasket in me noggin.
Those last two shows… wow. I have almost no idea what either of them were about, but man am I glad I saw them both. The principal performer in Carnally, Branden Christine, is phenomenal. Utterly arresting, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-her amazing. And Fastest Train is a gorgeous bit of whimsically abstract Fringe theatre that was sadly neglected in the audience stakes. Both are highly recommended… if you’re after something a little less mainstream.
Go on, live a little ;)
So… Show #50 for the year popped up today. No great fanfare, no great milestone. This assault is all frontloaded; the Festival starts soon, and cancelled shows are starting to come thick and fast – I’ve had two cancellations today :}
I was lucky enough to chat to (or rather, endlessly quiz) the delightful Jane Howard today. Jane’s blog, No Plain Jane, is a real gem of Adelaide arts reporting (and arts reporting in general), especially the glorious Pay It Forward manifesto. Go: read. And, more importantly, do.
Woooooh! Day 10. What’d the temperature get up to… four times that? Christ it was hot.
The Tim McMillan Band is still bloody brilliant. Dr Brown is still bloody brilliant. Telia Nevile is still bloody brilliant. And I am a happy little freak :)
Thankfully, the calf wasn’t cripplingly bad when I woke up this morning – and it’s loosened considerably during the day. I even managed to walk (with only mild discomfort) between ACArts and the cesspool that was the East End this evening.
Some poor decisions were made late this evening; needless to say I’ll be trying to squeeze in another Tim McMillan show this weekend.
And, just as an extra bonus, here’s the great Daniel Townes revealing Shit Comedians Say (to other Comedians); thanks for the link, Sam :)
Into the second week of ffestivities I go, and what do I find? More chatty (in a bad way) audiences. Luckily I had a good rant with/at Martin to alleviate the stress somewhat.
There were more non-audiences today, too. Just five of us – including two judges – for the delightful Monkeyshines, and all one of me turned up for Christophe Davidson. But – after observing the delightful pre-show – we agreed to a performance at another date, leaving me enough time to scoot down for XXXO. Have I mentioned that I love the iPhone Fringe App?
Listen up: Chants Des Catacombes is in the running for my Best of Fringe. Haunting, jarring, exciting, enveloping… and three amazing voices. And a free gig-ette by The Twoks at the end. Loved it loved it loved it – I reckon it’s the best cabaret-ish show I’ve seen in years. It makes me sad to think that I’ll not have time to write that post up before their season finishes.
Pity I strained a calf on the way out to the Gaol, though. I’m hobbling like my father now, and I’m not looking forward to tomorrow morning…
Christ. Now that was a busy day… especially for a Wednesday!
Massive kisses to Martha for offering me the chance to see the media preview of His Ghostly Heart. I bought a second ticket for Fleeto so HST wouldn’t be out-of-pocket. That’s how I roll.
I know I’ve been crapping on a bit about audience behaviour in comedy shows, but… christ almighty people. Keep your fucking mouths shut. There’s a reason why you don’t have a microphone in your hand, and if you need to discuss punchlines then maybe your time would be better spent elsewhere. Double harrumph.