Holden Street Theatres. Holden Street Theatres – The Arch.
While all weapons present moral challenges there are two kinds that stand out because the assailant is absent from the battlefield – nuclear missiles and drones. And I mean 12,000 kilometers away absent; there is no risk to the operator in this asymmetrical warfare. What if that operator is a mother and a pilot at the controls of a bomb-laden drone shortly after dropping the kids off at school? Have a nice day at the office, dear? Who are they killing anyway, and why? Do innocents die? And what does that do to you?
Adelaide theatre impresario, Martha Lott scours the Edinburgh Festival every year to bring to her Holden Street Theatres the very best for the Adelaide Fringe. Lott even offers a scholarship to a deserving company to make the journey; and the awards for her efforts are many. Last year, two different Holden Street shows won the Adelaide Critics’ Circle Award and the Fringe’s BankSA Best Theatre Award for the whole Fringe, and Holden Street shows garnered one or two weekly awards every week as well.
Besides producer and theatre manager, Lott is also a British-trained actor. She has kept this Grounded gem for herself and will be flying solo in this 70 minute monologue. Lott discovered American, George Brant’s Grounded at its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 2013. Years later, she decided to team up with British director Poppy Rowley for an acting vehicle and Rowley proffered Grounded. I asked Martha what attracted her to this work and she gave me a list: “The challenge to the actor; the way we are fighting war; the control and the God complex that America has throughout this war; the fact that as women, we give life, but as fighters, we take it away. That lives are dispensable, contrasting the psychology of the character and the war, and it’s frightening how much we are being watched.” “You can do the personality strikes if you are Top Shit.” Martha points out that the predictions made in this 2013 show have sadly come true, for added poignancy.
Winner of the National New Play Network’s 2012 Smith Prize for plays focused on American politics, Grounded was described as “Top Notch – a chilling portrait of future war…” by New York Magazine. (Sadly, it was already happening in 2012.) The play was named a Top 10 London Play of 2013 by the London Evening Standard. The Guardian described Grounded as “A searing piece of writing” while The New York Times labeled the play “Gripping.”
Personally, I find this a compelling combination – Martha Lott the producer returning to her love of acting, her European director and an American play on a hot topic that has been widely performed in twelve languages. A must-see of the 2019 Adelaide Fringe.
David Grybowski
When: 5 to 16 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Chalk and cheese doesn’t begin to describe them.
Steve Davis is a thorough man. He believes in research and preparation.
For a performance partner, he has thrown his lot in with one of the all-time spontaneity kings in town: Ralf Hadzic, a man known to many as Adelaide’s chauffeur to the stars.
The only thing these two men have in common is the number 17. Seventeen is the number of years Ralf spent as an invisible TV star dancing around in the Fat Cat suit and 17 is the number of years that Steve spent in the unseen world behind the mike of radio on stations from Murray Bridge and Adelaide to Budapest.
They summon fate as an explanation for getting together to put on a show; a sense they had that one day their paths would have to cross.
Those paths finally crossed on the radio when Ralf joined the radio station at which Steve was morning show host and news editor. That was the early 90s.
They found they had both studied radio presentation and media with the great Vaughan Harvey.
The only difference was what they did with the training. Steve went into spoken word and Ralf fell silent within the Fat Cat suit.
Now here comes their Fringe show, 2 Cats on a Hot Fringe Roof.
There is just nothing ordinary about it - or them.
They offer up a taste of their characters and the way in which the spark of their collaboration was struck in one of Steve’s renowned Adelaide Show podcasts: check it out here.
Their show, 2 Cats On A Hot Fringe Roof, is described as a 60-minute comedy cabaret.
Steve will do stand-up about kid’s television and how we communicate in the “childish” era of social media, while Ralf will be sharing the jewels of his collection of exclusive blooper reels of old Fat Cat footage featuring Jane Reilly, Patsy Biscoe, et al. Archival outtakes and gotcha moments plus Hadzig gags and anecdotes, come on down.
It’s certainly promising to be wild and different and risky and, to add to the suspense, they have a barrage of celebrity friends they’re inviting along to see the show for which they have finessed Glynn Nicholas as director.
Not only but also, they are doing the outrageously unexpected; spoiler alert here! They are not going to sit around waiting for critics to review their show. They are going to review their audiences. New reviews every night to be posted on The Adelaide Show podcast reviews page here.
“I’ve been performing for years and one thing that you never get used to is that anxiety about whether or not the reviewer understood and liked your show,” says Hadzic of his life in the Fat Cat suit.
“Steve has been writing theatre reviews for 20 years so we thought, why not put those skills to work for our show,” he adds.
Davis says writing audience reviews is not just a Fringe novelty angle.
“Live theatre is a communal experience,” he says. “If you just turn up and sit in your seat passively, you have stacked the odds against you enjoying the show, while you also rob fellow audience members and performers of the energy you could have added through engagement.
“We’re not expecting audience members to get up on stage or carry our show, but by writing an honest review of each night’s audience, we are honouring the importance of their role in adding the magical spark that makes live comedy worth going out to see,” says Steve.
Samela Harris
When: 18 to 27 Feb
Where: The Historian Hotel
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Here comes the Fringe you have before you have a Fringe - or at least a piece of theatrical fun and games with a couple of well-known names.
Gretel Killeen and Glynn Nicholas are powering into town to do an offbeat two-hander they have very fashionably called #UsTwo.
Perhaps playing on the sexual theme of #MeToo, the Aussie television veterans have devised a show to tell the world the essential differences between the male and female of the species - from their perspectives. One might define it as a quirky double bio show.
Gretel Killeen has lived a fairly public life on television in The Project and Go Back to Where You Came From, not to mention Big Brother and opinion columns in The Guardian. She has also hosted the Logies and turned out a stream of books among them one entitled The Night My Bum Dropped.
Glynn Nicholas has a high recognition factor in Adelaide. He sprang to attention as a busker in Rundle Mall in the early 80s. His immense popularity was unprecedented. Trained in mime by the legendary Zora Semberova and with circus skills from the USA, he became a beloved identity as host of the children’s show Here’s Humphrey and as a television clown and comedian. Among other things, he was memorably the character Pate Biscuit, a delicious character parody of distinguished folk singer Patsy Biscoe. He went on to have his own shows, hosted The Big Gig, wrote and performed Man Overboard, co-wrote Eurobeat and generally has had a thriving and motivated career writing, producing and performing in comedy.
He and Killeen have had very different career trajectories although, like Killeen, Nicholas can brag a hot-selling book.
Their very odd claim, however, is to have spent the last 30 years avoiding working with each other.
Now they are old and wise, experienced in life and love and showbiz and they have stories to tell and even some “outright lies".
And there begins the promise of some very interesting funny business.
Their promo material sings with teasers.
“In the show, Gretel will reveal why you should never marry a man who has a nickname for his willy, why people who wear sensible shoes live longer, and how to train your children to save for your retirement,” says Glynn Nicholas.
“Glynn will reflect on why failure to practice guitar hasn’t helped anyone working on this project and why, when his daughter lovingly calls him ‘a player’, he pretends to be indignant,” adds Gretel.
#UsTwo opens at Holden Street Theatres on January 12.
When: 12 to 20 Jan
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
Adelaide Town Hall. 30 August 2018
This week the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra – affectionately known to us simply as the ASO – launched its 2019 season with great fanfare in the Adelaide Town Hall.
The ASO is one of SA’s best known, most enduring and most important cultural institutions. Throughout 2019 it will perform more that 100 concerts. Phew! Even if you aren’t a regular concert goer, or maybe you are ‘orchestra shy’, there is something for everyone.
The program is available online at aso.com.au. Be sure to check it out soon as some of the special ‘gala’ events will be heavily subscribed.
There is a lot to look forward to in the upcoming season. The Season Opening Gala will see Simon Tedeschi perform Grieg’s ever popular Piano Concerto, paired with Sibelius’s Finlandia and Holst’s The Planets. Everyone knows these fabulous pieces, even if you don’t think you do!
The Beethoven Piano Concertos will feature, all five, to be played by Australian virtuoso Jayson Gillham. Everyone knows the slow movement of the fifth concerto – it featured in the iconic film Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Legendary violinist Pinchas Zukerman will return for a concert with a World Premiere and one of Tchaikovsky’s great masterpieces, his Fifth Symphony in a matinee performance on Thursday.
Last Night of the Proms will celebrate the best of British in an evening of pomp and ceremony. Flag-waving and sing-along included, of course.
There will be a symphonic tribute to the legendary rock artist Prince! iOTA, Brendan Maclean and Prinnie Stevens will supply the vocals! We miss you Prince, but your music will live on!
There will also be Star Wars and Harry Potter spectaculars, as well as the ever-popular Master Series of concerts featuring acclaimed works from the classical repertoire, as well as new music!
And if you’re still not sure, you can sample concerts in advance. The ASO has created a Spotify playlist for each of concert, so you can get to know the music, and its free! Just go online at aso.com.au.
So, what are you waiting for! Head online, or grab a programme from your local stockist of fine promo material!
Kym Clayton
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Nicky Bomba in all his various musical guises. One of the most talented and versatile musicians around right now, he’s turned his hand to many projects, and in recent times has been making quite an impression fronting the massive Melbourne Ska Orchestra.
Regularly venturing to our fair city, and always to rave reviews (admittedly, often from me!), they have some great ska albums under their belt. Always pushing the envelope – MSO’s last collection of tunes, Saturn Return, was released on USB – they’ve really gone the whole hog this year with their One Year Of Ska concept, a program that has the Orchestra release a new tune each week for the full year. It’s a massive 52-tune collection of ska heaven!
As we near the end of June there is no doubt that MSO has come a long way already. Themes within the releases become evident as time passes, with the first quarter covering a range of well-known, and less well-known, ska classics from across the ages and the current quarter showcasing movie and TV show theme tunes. What’s next? Who knows, but it will definitely be cool!
Looking at what’s been done so far, the 13-track ska classics suite covers a swathe of ska, and really is a logical and beautiful place to start the year-long journey. It’s an ode to the ska of days gone by, and includes tunes from the obvious stars of ska like the Skatelites’ Confucious and Man In The Street, the Specials’ Message To Rudy, Madness’ Night Boat To Cairo, Toots And The Maytals’ Monkey Man, or the Wailers’ classic Simmer Down, but some lesser known greats are here too, including Prince Buster’s Al Capone – the first release MSO made in the 52-tune behemoth – and Byron Lee’s Frankenstein.
With such a breadth of tunes included, this classics collection serves as a brilliant intro to the many facets of ska, as well as showcasing the sizeable talents of the MSO.
If the first collection pays tribute to music, the second suite is an ode to film, where the MSO present some fantastic versions of tunes from the big and small screens. Reading through the list, some choices are obvious, lending themselves very well to ska. But others are a surprise, keeping things fun all way through. The Austin Powers Theme kicks it off, with a ska-bossa nova take on the shagalicious tune which includes a couple of cheeky interludes of Dave and Ansel Collins’ Double Barrel. The theme from Curb Your Enthusiasm backs up Austin, and is a fairly logical choice too, but then it gets interesting with less ska-ish numbers, like the Doctor Who Theme, which comes across subtly and very well, the Family Guy Theme, which works spectacularly well, and then a great rendition of Star Wars, which is a fantastic medley of the Imperial March, Luke’s Theme (Main Titles), The Force Theme (Binary Sunset), and The Cantina Band so, just like the original Star Wars, this too is an epic (and yes, I am a Star Wars nerd!).
The mash-up of classic and modern fun continues with the themes from The Flintstones, Game Of Thrones, Hogan’s Heroes, and a bit of Latin flavour with Narcos. Silliness ensues with the Monty Python Theme, which skips along joyfully, while the James Bond Theme keeps the mix suave and cool.
There are a few more tunes to round out the collection, so keep your eyes peeled for those. Signing up to the MSO’s email-out, will ensure delivery of a link to the new tune right to your inbox each week, keeping you up to speed with all things ska.
And if the relentless releasing of new tunes each week is not enough for you, then get ready to concentrate all the ska you can imagine into a single night of joy, as the Melbourne Ska Orchestra are about to grace Adelaide’s shores once again! On Fri Jun 22, the MSO plays the Governor Hindmarsh, and with a 20+ crew of players, they’ll blow the place apart!
It may be cold outside, but the MSO will be hot, hot, hot! See you skanking down the front!
Luke Balzan
When: 22 Jun
Where: The Gov
Bookings: thegov.com.au