Presented by The Adelaide Show Podcast. Historian Hotel. 17 Feb 2019
Sometimes, life is better away from the unearthly crowd. Coromandel Place could not be more out-of-the-way really, being noted only for a deeply bohemian artists’ collective and the charming little Historian Hotel. But this is the alley where the cats are at play: Two Cats on a Hot Fringe Roof. And since they started playing, the Historian Hotel’s rafters have been rocking and the walls reverberating with laughter.
The Two Cats are desperately, wickedly, absurdly funny.
Now this is not your run-of-the-mill Fringe comedy show. It is decidedly Adelaide-insider humour. It suits the older crowd although it is emphatically PG.
It’s a double act stand-up comedy show about the early days of live TV shows, particularly those for children. Hence, the funny bones it tickles are those who can remember going to bed with Fat Cat. Indeed, Fat Cat is its star. Ralf Hadzic was one of those brave performers who steamed for years inside the Fat Cat suit. And while Fat Cat didn’t talk back in the day, he’s sure talking now. It’s an anthropomorphic expose. Hadzic has stories to tell, children. Talking of which, Steve Davis performs in Playschool attire since he is one of the world’s great students of the dramatic art of Playschool. He has experimented with its styles and philosophies and is now the great Playschool method actor; in real life, if one is to believe his schtick. Well, it must be seen to be believed. Similarly his Mr. Squiggle. Oh, my. It is rib-ache funny.
Secret ingredient to the excellence of this production is slick professional direction by Glynn Nicholas, another Adelaide legend with strong links to the old children’s TV days. It’s quite a team. While it seems superficially all very in-group and casual, it’s a tight show with lovely comic timing.
So there we have it, off-Broadway, so to speak, an Adelaide Fringe jewel, with very nice pub dinner deals into the bargain.
This is for you, boomers.
Be quick. It’s a short season.
Samela Harris
4 Stars
When: 17 to 27 Feb
Where: Historian Hotel
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
EDITORS NOTE: Samela Harris is partnered with Steve Davis in his capacity as an Adelaide Theatre critic. They do reviews together on Peter Goers’ SMART ARTS Radio 891 Sunday morning radio program.
Adelaide Fringe Festival. Mopoke Theatre Productions. Clayton Wesley Uniting Church. 19 Feb 2019
This performance of Puccini’s much-loved opera Tosca by Mopoke Theatre Productions is one out of the box. It is terrific.
Mopoke is a relatively new theatre company and is known for its pared down productions that get to the very heart of the art. Pared down in terms of scenery, costumes, set dressings and lighting, but strong on style, passion and integrity.
Tosca is a story of tested love. Tosca is a celebrated opera singer who is in love with handsome painter Mario Cavaradossi, but she is ever jealous that he is seeing other women, which he is not. Mario assists escaped political prisoner Angelotti to avoid recapture by the evil Baron Scarpia, but by doing so he places himself in grave danger. Scarpia arrests and tortures Cavaradossi to give up Angelotti, but he refuses. Scarpia instead tries to get Tosca to betray Angelotti in return for Cavaradossi’s release, but Tosca murders him in trying to defend her honour. From there it all goes pear shaped and doesn’t end well for anyone! Its grand opera at its best!
In the title role, soprano Joanna McWaters is excellent. She plays the taunting coquettishness of Tosca superbly, and her vibrant voice is well suited to the aria Non la sospiri, la nostra casetta (Do you not long for our little house). Her scene with Scarpia in Act 2, as she fights for her honour, demonstrates her well-honed acting abilities. Her Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore (I lived for art, I lived for love) in Act 2 is a highlight, but slightly overpowered.
Andrew Turner sings Cavaradossi, and does it with convincing style. Like McWaters, his fine acting skills are evident, especially in Act 1. His final aria E lucevan le stele (And the stars shone) tests him, as it would do any tenor, but he is convincing and the audience’s collective heart breaks for him.
Joshua Rowe is truly menacing as Scarpia and he looks and sounds the part. His wonderful baritone voice is well suited to Scarpia’s signature aria Già, mi dicon venal (Yes, they say that I am venal), and it is another highlight of the production.
Rounding out the cast in the smaller roles are Daniel Goodburn (Angelotti and Spoletta), and Rodney Kirk (Sacristan and Sciarrone), who injects character and humour into what he does.
Hearty congratulations also go to Music Director Andrew Georg who excels at the piano throughout. The piano is the sole musical accompaniment in this production, and he amply demonstrates why he is a Geoffrey Parsons Award winner. His accompanying is empathetic, encouraging, and beautifully nuanced. It matters not that we aren’t listening to an orchestra. He does it all.
Nicholas Cannon’s direction is very capable. One can see his thoughtful influences throughout, particularly in Act 1 which seems slightly more refined than Acts 2 and 3.
The intimacy of the church amplifies the experience and one feels so close to the action that it borders on voyeurism!
This production is definitely worth seeing. There are two more performances: Thursday 21 and Saturday 23 February.
Kym Clayton
When: 18 to 23 Feb
Where: Wesley Uniting Church
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Empire Theatre at Gluttony. 16 Feb 2019
Roll up, roll up - the one-woman Big Tops & Tiny Tots Circus Show is in town!
Written and performed by circus veteran and coach, Luth Wolff, the show combines slapstick comedy and good old fashioned tricks with some great take-home messages. Wolff easily keeps the attention of her young audience with a mix of juggling, magic, hula hooping, and a particularly impressive display of unicycle skipping.
Wolff cleverly sprinkles the educational elements of her show amongst the frivolity, opening with question-and-answer on how to be a good audience member. She regularly involves the children in the performance, getting a lucky few onstage and offering tips on how to achieve basic circus skills at home. Everyone gets the opportunity to join in from their seat with singing, counting, and a loud and frenetic session of spinning-plate monitoring at the close of the show.
Wolff is an experienced and engaging children's performer, making the Big Tops & Tiny Tots Circus Show a fun and worthwhile afternoon out for the under-7's.
Nicole Russo
When: 16 Feb to 17 Mar
Where: Empire Theatre at Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
State Opera Of South Australia & Melbourne Recital Centre. Elder Hall, University of Adelaide. 18 Feb 2019
It is difficult not to praise this production of Purcell’s King Arthur too highly. It is one of the best operatic performances seen in Adelaide for some time and will long stay in the memory of those who heard (and saw) it.
Under Paul McCreesh’s expert, sensitive and almost avuncular direction, the Gabrieli Consort & Players give the audience an authentic experience of what the music must have sounded like to Purcell himself. The musicians play on period instruments that are meticulously prepared and some of which are infrequently seen, such as ‘bass violins’ and ‘theorbos’. They play with clarity and with techniques purposely developed to recreate an authentic sound. And then there is the choir! They only number nine but in the pleasing acoustic of the Elder Hall they sound like many more. But, because their diction, musicality and general vocal technique is exemplary, they synchronise so well that they sometimes sound only like one or two.
King Arthur is an example of a ‘semi-opera’, where there is much spoken dialogue and the principal characters do not sing – they just speak. There is also dance and all the excess and splendour which we come to expect from grand opera. For this production, McCreesh has stripped away the dialogue and presents only the music and singing in a concert production that is devoid of scenery and the like. It sounds like it could be dull, but it is anything but. The singers are so accomplished as actors that your mind’s eye fills in all the other ‘stuff’ in an instant.
This reviewer usually contends that a concert should stand on its own two feet, and that audience members shouldn’t need to do homework prior in order to understand or enjoy it. But in this case, a little research goes a long way. The story line has nothing to do with the usual Arthurian stories – there is no refence to Camelot or the Knights of the Round Table. Because the main characters, such as King Arthur, do not appear in this production it is all too easy to (almost literally) ‘lose the plot’! Having said that, the concert is still able to be enjoyed for itself: a celebration of fine baroque music and superb singing.
There are many examples of stunning singing, but the highlight of the night is the duet You Say ‘tis Love sung by tenor Marcus Farnsworth and soprano Anna Dennis accompanied by harpsichord and theorbo. Paul McCreesh doesn’t need to conduct – he sits with the rest of the choir. It is sublime.
A standout aria is What Power Art Thou. This is often sung by counter tenors in concerts , and it is electrifying, but Purcell scored it for a bass, and pleasingly it is sung with great authority and gravitas by bass-baritone Ashley Riches.
The audience show most appreciation for the chorus Your Hay It Is Mow’d, which is sung with such gusto and humour that one thinks one is in a country tavern drinking and singing along with the locals! It is infectiously good fun!
This production is outstanding on every level. Highly recommended. There is only one more performance – Tuesday 19th February!
Kym Clayton
When: 18 and 19 Feb
Where: Elder Hall
Bookings: bass.net.au
Adelaide Fringe. Oily Rag Theatre. 17 Feb 2019
Charlotte appears across the lawns of MacKillop Park. She is of imposing proportions and attired in a strange period costume, a see through skirt showing legs in white bloomers from the front and a copious bustle behind. She opens a large book with bold hand-written contents and proceeds to read. Her voice wavers. She is clearly nervous. There is a considerable crowd around her; history lovers lured by the promise of strange creepy tales of yore.
Charlotte begins with Mary MacKillop, Australia’s first saint. She gives an abridged account of Mary and the Josephites, identifying herself as one whose life had been spring-boarded by her time in the Josephite Women’s refuge. Thence, she went into service and ended up marrying her master and rising in social standing, living here, in the “village” of Kensington. And thus, sustaining this character with a decidedly posh voice, she leads the group from point to point around the streets of historic Kensington.
From a script devised by Oily Rag’s Shannon Norfolk, she reads of the stench of tanneries and the sound of horse carriages. In 1879, the first horse tram left from Regent Street and took an hour to get to the city. The walking audience gathers around on the footpath, looking and imagining. There weren’t too many murders along the route but there were many tragedies. One was, amazingly, the local trapeze artist and acrobat who held regular performances for the neighbourhood but met with a strange ending. Then there were the publicans and their tales. People died early.
Charlotte places her audience, which on opening night included a small white dog, under the old original street lamp which towers preserved in Pioneer Park. She tells about the local doctors and the typhoid outbreaks from the creek. There’s an interesting scientific history in this neck of the woods, it turns out. And, who knew there was a “suicide corner” let alone why and how? But that’s enough of tantalising spoilers. The commentary is extensive and very well researched. Perhaps because of poor night-time light, nerves, or lack of rehearsal, some bits of narrative were a bit ragged on the opening night’s walk. One rather wished the performer, Heather Crawford, knew the material more intimately. But her voice is loud and clear and as the first night wore on, she relaxed into her role and engaged a little with members of the audience, always keeping the spirit of anachronism as tidy as possible.
This show is a brilliant idea and it was a hit before it opened. It only takes 20 odd walkers per night and most nights already are a sell-out. One imagines Oily Rag will develop the theme and just get better and better. It’s onto a good thing.
Samela Harris
3 ½ Stars
When: 17 to 27 Feb
Where: Mary MacKillop Park meeting place
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au