Joanne Hartstone. The Cellar, GC. 17 Feb 16
Who is this man? If Thom Pain is at a loss to know, who are we to help?
He speaks a fractured stream of consciousness. There is narrative in there somewhere. Isn't there? There's the boy who was attacked by bees but thought they were trying to help him, to take away a pain that was already there. There was a dog. A horse walked into a bar.
And thus flow the existential contemplations. There's the woman he wooed with his one-card magic trick. Should he draw the raffle?
In his way of thinking, there is a pattern. He pauses to reflect on it. Yes, he has mentioned the boy and the bees. He needs a volunteer from the audience. Maybe not. He blows his nose on a handkerchief and then uses it as a prop to talk about brains. His thoughts skitter. Absurdist non sequiturs meander forth.
He seems an innocuous man and yet there is something threatening about him. He defies the fourth wall. He is unpredictable. He is confronting. His mind is made up and unmade in a trice. He is sincere. No, he is teasing.
His ramblings are peppered with wonderful one-liners. Listen carefully, or you'll miss them. They're funny.
He says he is a clever man - and he is.
It is a clever script and, when the show is over with its beautifully tailored ending, one recognises why this Will Eno creation was distinguished as a Pulitzer nominee. It is imaginative, alternative, rich in striking imagery, ideas and surprises. And yet, it is the sad tale of a small man.
New York actor David Calvitto has brought this character with this dense and complex script to Adelaide.
He plays it as if he is just a bit uncertain, as if it is just a bit improvisational. He seems devastated when a man abruptly storms out of the theatre and suggests that perhaps the whole audience would be better off following him. Did that man really leave or was he a shill?
Anyone who does not see this show through to the end is cheating themselves of a magnificent theatrical experience. It's not quite like anything one has ever seen or could ever forget. Bravo.
****1/2
Samela Harris
When: 17 Feb to 6 Mar
Where: The Cellar, GC
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Joanne Hartstone in association with Seabright Productions. The Queens - The White Queen. 17 Feb 2016
Sam Donnelly, in his spare time out of the bunker from playing in the Fringe-favourite trilogy, is disguised as a Trekkie tragic at the Queen's Theatre over the next few weeks. Writer/director Jon Brittain of Britain shows off his intimate knowledge with the famous Vulcan and the fan phenomena. Within the context of a Star Trek (first series, mind you) obsession, there is a boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back story. Our hero, caught in a tractor beam by the famous TV show, reaches a life-changing turning point when his unabashed Trekkie girlfriend is gonna mix with his workmates who have no idea of his secret obsession. But ‘lurv’ conquers all.
Donnelly is vastly energetic and well directed in employing an attention-seeking physicality, but he is hampered by the poor acoustics of the Queen's Theatre, which is but a shell, and not really a theatre. The show is like Donnelly acting out an American romantic comedy movie. Do you need some knowledge of Star Trek to enjoy the show? I would say so. What if you enjoy love stories? This one is pretty cliché, but I was moved by our hero's passion to right a wrong with the love interest. If you have a great interest in obsession, you'll be fine.
PS The 50th anniversary of the official Star Trek Convention will be in Las Vegas in August 2016. See you there!
David Grybowski
When: 17 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: The Queens - The White Queen
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Superbolt Theatre and Seabright Productions. Garden of Unearthly Delights - Umbrella Revolution. 16 Feb 2016
Dinosaur Park, formerly appellated Jurassic Park, and probably not now for copyright infringement reasons, was a sell-out show at the Edinburgh Fringe last year. The Park family wants to share with you a private screening of the hugely successful movie directed by Steven Spielberg in 1993; the original Michael Crichton novel spawned another three films with a fifth in the pipeline. But the movie is missing and daddy Terry, and Jade and Noah - with theatresports novelty and inventiveness - act out key movie moments that poignantly reflect and interweave with the life of a single dad raising teenage kids. Noah is an enthusiastic teen living in his fantasy world as a consequence of being sidelined by the battle for emotional supremacy between Dad and emo Jade.
Co-creators and performers Maria Askew, Simon Maeder, and Frode Gjerløw run on high octane with cleverness. Dinosaurs, deep family matters and DNA molecules are acted with alacrity. Plenty of potted palms place you on that dangerous island. T-rex is a back pack, and electronic gates are mic'ed voice effects. Raptors in the kitchen remain dangerous.
Deep knowledge of the dino franchise would be a megasaurus-size help but is not essential. At times poignant but mostly funny, Dinosaur Park is good fun Fringe fare.
David Grybowski
When: 12 Feb -14 Mar
Where: Garden of Unearthly Delights - Umbrella Revolution
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Organised Pandemonium. Garden of Unearthly Delights - Speigeltent. 17 Feb 2015
Organised pandemonium indeed! Adelaide, meet Las Vegas, in this return to the Fringe of a disco-circus extravaganza! Craig Ilott directed the award-winning glitz shows Smoke and Mirrors and La Clique Royale and has topped himself here. Disco is re-imagined with an impossible array of laser lights and shimmering sequins, and the beats are pounded out with the savagery of a high tech nightclub. Ilott has assembled an impossibly talented cast combining singing and circus with burlesque and vaudeville. Crooner Brendan Maclean from The Great Gatsby issues a dancing version of Gordon Lightfoot's '70s ballad, If You Could Read My Mind that would have him turning in his grave. Wait a minute, he's not even dead! And while the disco tunes are flying out the door, he reverses things by slowing down The Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive with a ukulele into a thought-provoking anthem to show biz.
Let's be frank about this, there was a hint of sexual liberation about the show. Strongman Stephen Williams wowed them on the aerial straps and Mirko Köckenberger dressed and undressed upside down on a stack of suitcases. The girls loved these guys when their ripples were revealed as the clobber was shed. Smiling Craig Reid bulged his tights in all the wrong places, looking more like an adolescent and unlikely cartoon hero, but he's not known as 'the incredible hula boy' for nothing. One, two, four, eight, more, so many he transformed into a human slinky! Emma Goh defied gravity more than once high above the runway in dreamy tableaus that accompanied many of the songs. Gosh, Chaska Halliday and Rechelle Mansour showed they aren't just chorus girls with a sizzling Turn The Beat Around. The accomplished Joe Accaria hid behind sunglasses way up back and mixed his live percussion with favourite songs. There was no expense spared for the outrageous costumes or anything else for that matter.
And then there was Marcia Hines. Decades as a pop and disco diva, she was the first black woman in Jesus Christ Superstar, inducted in the ARIA Hall of Fame, and passed on her wisdom on Australian Idol. Trussed up in a shimmering tight dress of gold lame, she was a paradigm of dignity and beauty, giving the audience the disco soul they came to see and hear.
This is a must-see show of non-stop stunning amazement. Double bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 12 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: Garden of Unearthly Delights - Speigeltent
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability. The Bakehouse Theatre - Main Stage. 17 Feb 2016
Of Two Minds is a beautifully crafted piece of writing, transformed by Director Josephine Were into a smooth moving, lean and crystal clear piece of theatre. Were’s production never fails in its capacity to uplift the heart as an ensemble of four women work through their challenging day of dealing with the outside world and their inner minds turbulent voices.
Stage Designer Meg Wilson and Sound Designer Sascha Budimski’s contributions ensure the split experiences of the outer world and inner mind is not only clear to an audience but filled with rich added emotional depth and comic pathos.
Actors Michaela Cantwell, Zara Taylor, Rachel High and Kathryn Hall alternate action to their projected offstage inner voices with speaking onstage. Movement Coach Kialea-Nadine Williams has smartly kept movement across the stage strictly functional, yet left room for the cast to imbue each movement with as much personality as they wish; the success of her approach never so obvious than in Rachel High’s show stealing dance number.
Each character is offered up simply in an understated, yet burningly heartfelt spirit. Fear of spiders, constant falls and foodie temptations, and more fill their lives in a confusing tumble of emotion.
Of Two Minds while seemingly a simple, ‘easy’ work is quite a complex one in terms of its emotional content. The challenge of rendering vulnerable humanity clearly and faithfully is a significant one, and one this creative team has successfully met.
David O’Brien
When: 16 to 21 Feb
Where: Bakehouse Theatre Main Stage
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au