John Frost Crossroads Live. Her Majesty’s Theatre. 22 Mar 2026
What a hoot!
Farce is perhaps the hardest genre in theatre. Timing, timing, timing. Escalating pace. Doors, doors, doors. Cross purposes. This John Frost Crossroads production has it all—brilliantly directed by Luke Joslin—with a mad, moveable feast of a mighty set designed by James Browne.
It is a set with has serious wow factor, rising to the rafters of the stage and abundantly adorned with luscious Old Master artworks. In sections, it slides seamlessly to and fro to reveal (and enable) the many rooms in which the old whodunnit game of Cluedo takes place.
The location is, of course, Boddy Manor. It is ever so posh, as is its staff: French maid, bustling cook, and professional butler.
’Tis he—the latter—who runs the manor and who carries the show. Oh, my. In the form of butler Wadsworth, Grant Piro delivers one of the most vigorously verbose and epically energetic performances in the memory of this very seasoned critic. One becomes exhausted simply watching him and also spellbound by his impeccable line delivery: rapid-fire, with athletic embellishments, and every word superbly enunciated into the bargain. That stylised diction is one of the show’s funniest elements. Move over Noël Coward. The i’s are dotted, every last consonant lands with aplomb. English precision to the proverbial “t”.
The play is based on the Jonathan Lynn screenplay, but the script by Sandy Rustin—with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price—simply bounces along, packed with references for old and young. No corny vaudevillian gag is excluded; there’s plenty of contemporary wit and one-liners to furnish a big mixed audience with mirth to all tastes. And then there’s the physical shtick: fast, furious, and blissfully ludicrous. The cast works extraordinarily hard to execute it.
What a cast—dazzling, the lot of ’em. Where to begin, apart from the priceless Piro? Genevieve Lemon is pitch-perfect as the supercilious Mrs Peacock. Rachael Beck is pert and decidedly dodgy as Mrs White—outranked for dodginess only by David James as Professor Plum, or perhaps Adam Murphy as Colonel Mustard. Dastardly and sus, the lot of them, not excluding Olivia Deeble as the sublimely seductive Miss Scarlett. And Laurence Boxhall—never was there a more compelling portrayal of a retching wretch than his Reverend Green. Add the other players and the stage becomes very busy indeed, with terrific multiple performances throughout.
Cluedo is as classy as it is downright beaut: cheerful, deadly good fun.
And the frocks are utterly fabulous.
Samela Harris
When: 22 Mar to 4 Apr
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: cluedoplay.com.au
★★★1/2
Adelaide Fringe. Ukiyo at Gluttony. 22 Mar 2026
Serviced is energetic, cheeky, and gloriously committed to the art of the tease—queer male burlesque with a message… somewhere under the glitter. As shirts, kilts, and inhibitions are progressively discarded, the audience obligingly descends into a kind of joyful hysteria. At times, it feels less like “peel[ing] back the layers of masculinity” (quoting the show’s own publicity) and more like peeling off the clothes. It’s difficult to discern whether the show is just bawdy fun or whether there is in fact some point to it. It promises a “love letter to the masculine form,” and the letter is full of promise as almost everything is revealed.
Each routine toys with well-worn masculine archetypes: the blokey tradie, the kilted Scot (yes, we do find out what’s underneath), over-the-top nothing-can-hurt-me male-bravado, and refusal to show emotion. However, Serviced only toys with these issues and doesn’t really develop them into something meaningful. It’s almost a case of don’t blink because you may miss the subtext.
However, there is subtext, and there are two striking examples. One routine sees a performer shedding fem attire, downing a bottle of something, smashing it, and lying on the broken glass. It’s powerful (and very scary) imagery. It shows the transformation from the real to unreal, and the taking of extreme measures to feel truly authentic. The performer is then rescued by others. It’s touching. Society may be unreasonable, but one’s own tribe can be one’s saving grace.
Another highlight features an aerial straps routine set to I’m Just Ken from the Barbie movie, which gives it a special whimsy. Technically, the routine is ordinary—seasoned Fringe audiences will have seen much more ambitious routines—but that’s not the point. The act evokes the loneliness and frustration some men feel in simply being—like fish out of water.
The production ostensibly looks at the pressures of queer identity in a heteronormative world, but itrarely gets out of first gear before driving in a different direction to give another performer the opportunity to get his gear off. (But hey, give the audience what it wants!)
The real highlight of the show is the MC, whose razor-sharp repartee and smoky vocals provide the show’s spine. The MC commands the room with ease, revs the audience up and keeps the show hurtling down a dizzying but largely familiar path.
The audience just loved Serviced . The performers are all high energy entertainers who leave little to the imagination, and they interact with the audience in the most disarming way. You almost want to be engaged by them!
Kym Clayton
When: 10 to 22 Mar
Where: Ukiyo at Gluttony
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Fringe. The Gallery at The Courtyard of Curiosities. 18 Mar 2026
At some point, everyone questions the trajectory of their life—what they are doing, where they are going, and whether it is right for them. For some, this reckoning is prompted by significant events; for others, it emerges more quietly as part of an evolving life story.
Eden follows Dan and Kit, two young people on the cusp of adulthood. They live in a small rural town where, almost by definition, opportunities and diversions are limited. A visit to the local pizza shop is a social highlight, and a trip to the nearby river the closest thing to adventure. It all feels familiar—almost mundane—until it is not.
Written with sensitivity by Australian theatre maker Kate Gaul and thoughtfully realised by the Sydney-based Siren Theatre Co, Eden explores the rites of passage that shape young lives while also illuminating the stark contrasts between rural and urban existence. Its concerns are both particular and universal.
Lara Lightfoot and Karinne Kanaan take on the roles of Dan and Kit, while also embodying a host of other characters—parents, friends, and townsfolk. Lightfoot, who assumes several male roles, performs in overalls, while Kanaan appears in a flouncy dress. This gender fluidity never jars; rather, it underscores the performers’ precision and control. Their characterisations are sharply observed, transitions seamless, and their stagecraft compelling throughout. Diction is crisp, energy sustained, and the emotional range impressive. Whether portraying carefree adolescents, weary adults, or more ominous figures, they draw the audience fully into the world of the play. Their rapid shifts between roles are handled with such clarity that one is never in doubt—though keeping pace is exhilarating, and at times almost exhausting.
The production unfolds in an intimate transverse space, with the audience seated on two sides. The staging is spare: two movable benches suffice. This simplicity serves the work well, allowing the narrative to flow unimpeded. Subtle lighting and an evocative original soundscape—suggestive of the Australian bush and the emotional undercurrents of the story—provide effective support without distraction. Gaul’s direction is incisive.
Central to the play is the river, a presence that shapes both the physical and emotional landscape of the town. It is at once a place of beauty and a site of potential danger. In this context, the customary ‘Welcome to Country’ that precedes Festival performances resonates with particular poignancy. Just as Country holds deep spiritual meaning for Aboriginal peoples, the river assumes an almost mythic significance for the characters. Gaul’s lyrical script imbues it with a near-human presence—an omnipresent force embodying risk, isolation, the unknown, and the longing to escape.
This is an absorbing and finely crafted theatrical experience: the narrative is engaging, the themes quietly resonant, and the performances of a high calibre. It is superb storytelling that trusts its text and performers.
Kym Clayton
When: 17 to 22 Mar
Where: Courtyard of Curiosities, The Gallery
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
SECOND REVIEW
Eden
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Siren Theatre Co. Courtyard of Curiosities, The Gallery. 18 Mar 2026
Not your average young kids escape the bush tale.
Eden is a remarkably taught, rich work. Filled with depth in writing and performance exploring darkness and lightened hope, delivered in a mere 45 minutes and staying with you post show.
Two benches. Two actors. Traverse setting, LED spot array lighting, and perfect backgrounding score. Basic as you can get. The outcome that’s based on is extraordinary.
Playwright/Director Kate Gaul offers a text of deep connection with the Tasmanian landscape of the town her teenage girl characters Kit (Karrine Kanaan) and Dan (Lara Lightfoot) live. Gaul evokes a history—pre-town to existing town—that’s easy, natural, positive. Her cast deliver it with a warmth and joy you feel safely engaged with. Nature is the place Kit and Dan live and celebrate their happy/sad youthfulness.
These actors give such rich life to the history Gaul creates, you are immediately drawn in. To them. Magnetic, powerful, free young women with things to say. Attitude to live it, in spite of everything. Perhaps not quite. As their tale unfolds.
In the midst of all this is the river. The river is everything. The river that’s always moving. An essence of power to be wary of.
Yet it’s definitely a small town with small town issues of the not so good kind. Gaul has those down too. Every facet, every character in, and of, a small town played with insightful gusto by Kanaan and Lightfoot.
What makes this work of two young girls dealing with fractured family lives and discovering each other’s love so powerful is Gaul’s ability to weave a tale in which what is unsaid, is said in oblique ways.
The discovery of a woman’s body in the river is never explained. Speculated on. This is a town girls should not walk at night on their own. Is this death misadventure or something more sinister? Is it a message? A judgement?
Kit and Dan live and breathe this danger, even as they run close to it. This town has rules. A hierarchy. A death grip. Kit’s mother will not abandon it. It is all she has. Kit and Dan know their budding relationship endangers them.
Eden is about choosing, despite the weight of oppressive forces denying choice at every turn; the street, the school, the powerful but ignorant, poverty.
David O’Brien
When: 17 to 22 Mar
Where: Courtyard of Curiosities, The Gallery
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
State Theatre of SA with Soft Tread Production in association with the Maye Pile. Space Theatre. 17 Mar 2026
This production rolls into town after successful runs around the country. For our happiness, two of its original. Melbourne cast have been supplanted by Adelaide-born actors - and jolly good they are, too.
Trophy Boys is a theatrical romp: fast, funny, and packed with rapid-fire socio-political substance. It follows four Year 12 boys at the prestigious (and gloriously named) St Imperium School, holed up in detention in the hour before an intercollegiate debate against their sister school. The twist is that the boys are played by girls. It’s drag — and it’s central to the show’s punch.
Playwright Emmanuelle Mattana has managed to blend slapstick humour with very serious subject matter. The twist is the gender bender.
In the opening stretch, the “boys” lock eyes with the audience, ham it up, and go to town with pelvic thrusts and raucous little dance breaks. They are vulgar and cocky. It quickly becomes clear they also are breathtakingly entitled — and expect little opposition from the girls’ team.
The debate topic — the status of feminism — gets both airtime and a send-up amid the rants and shtick. The set underlines the point with sledgehammer subtlety: huge portraits of famous women (Queen Elizabeth II, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jacinda Ardern) loom over large desks, chairs and a whiteboard. Everything is larger than life, like the characters and the show itself.
The acting is terrific. These are nasty boys who see themselves as future leaders: horny, hypocritical, loudmouthed. They’re also opportunistic weasels, and when the narrative turns darker and an ominous threat surfaces, their true colours show.
The play runs the emotional gamut and, under Marni Mount’s snappy direction, it does so at breakneck speed. It’s only 70 minutes long — though opening night was longer, after a rather whopping 15-minute late start.
Just when you begin to feel sympathy for one of them, there’s a catch; you leave the theatre admiring the character work while liking none of the characters. That’s oddly refreshing.
A well-lubricated young opening-night audience seemed to thrive on both the revue-like antics and the overall didacticism.
This is the sort of daring theatrical playground which promises to draw a that fresh demographic through the door, and that’s a good thing — and it’s also wonderful to see a crowd having fun while performers so skilfully stretch binaries.
There’s no star; it’s an ensemble. Myfanwy Hocking is superbly committed as Owen, the smart scholarship kid — though, by the end of the day, he’s smarter than he is kind. Tahlia Jameson provides a sharp contrast as Scott, living behind a butch veneer. Kidaan Zelleke, as the debate supervisor (not a team member), punctures the prize of privilege with a moving scene about the dubious joys of extreme wealth. Fran Sweeney-Nash plays the audience like a proverbial instrument as Jared, the athletic, uber-straight lad: a lovely comic talent, and the direction lets them shine.
Would this play work if boys were playing boys? It’s an interesting question — probably not. The girls have it. And even if, structurally, it’s essentially an extended revue sketch, it remains provocative, funny, and disgracefully wholesome.
Samela Harris
When: 17 Mar to 2 Apr
Where: Space Theatre
Bookings: my.statetheatrecompany.com.au
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. The Mortlock Library at The Courtyard of Curiosities. 17 Mar 2026
A retelling of the ancient Greek myth, told by one Storyteller and one Musician.
It’s been performed in cafes, shops, gardens, homes, boats, tents, lanes, fields, caves, and a very occasional theatre.
Over 500 performances across four continents since its creation in 2016.
While one has not been as active as is customary this Fringe, I have been privileged to attend some of the best shows on offer! However, those closest have hinted that my reviews could be more succinct. “Whose got the time to read an essay?” So…
Wright and Grainger’s Orpheus, which won Best Theatre (Adelaide Fringe) in 2023, is quite simply a masterpiece. The duo’s unique style of gig theatre brings us their most recent iteration of Orpheus. Myth, woven into contemporary lore here, survives being replayed, retuned, interrogated, and reshaped.
Drawing on the pantheon of Ancient Greek deities, who, across their shows, often frequent a local caf from whence they magically and brilliantly interact with contemporary mortals, this extraordinary duo from Yorkshire in the UK have crafted a highly engaging, visceral story. I was utterly spellbound.
This magnificent iteration of the tragic tale of Orpheus & Eurydice, from Orpheus’s point of view staged in the grand Mortlock Library marks a significant development in both the work—which I was first privileged to attend in the intimate, rustic Barbara Hardy Gardens at Holden Street Theatres in 2019—and the style of presentation. I should mention here their production of Eurydice, also staged in this extraordinary venue, sees the other side of the story.
Last year, the iteration I attended at The Treasury 1860 saw runway staging free the movement of these energetic performers significantly. Orpheus is never static. The danger comes the moment he pauses and…but that, to the uninformed, is a spoiler!
This staging in the Mortlock Library augments the runway configuration with lighting that supports Wright and Grainger’s wonderful delivery, delivery that flows with great ease between chatty and commanding. Further, the duo is supported by a superb live string quartet who also serve as vocal chorus. These additions to an already lyrically compelling text propel Orpheus to new heights!
We meet Dave, a man who, like so many of us, has lost the wonder and colour of childhood, out with some over exuberant mates for his thirtieth. He meets Eurydice in a bar, and the story takes off on its joyous path—until Eurydice meets a Fate that takes her to Hades.
The gods have a habit of dropping in unannounced. Wright & Grainger simply let them order coffee first. And the story takes another wonderfully engaging turn.
Alex Wright is electric as the main storyteller, his dynamic rapid-fire delivery to match Grainger’s sometimes driving guitar exquisitely balanced by measured sensitivity and powerfully held moments of stillness and silence. Phil Grainger’s singing is simply sublime, his virtuosity as a bard unquestionable, his stage presence incredibly engaging.
In this, Grainger really is a bard in the old sense: one who understands that the song isn’t about being heard, it’s about what happens after the last note.
By the time Wright & Grainger’s Orpheus, reaches it’s inevitable yet refreshingly surprising conclusion the room is loaded up with a rich cocktail of heartbreak, humour and reverence, a deeply communal and cathartic experience. While it’s a story so old it could be devoid of relevance, this Orpheus explodes into a life that is compelling and immediate. If Fringe is about finding something that stays with you longer than expected, then this is one of those evenings you measure the rest of the festival against.
Word around is we won’t be seeing Wright & Grainger for a few years of Fringe, so needless to say, Go! See It!
John Doherty
When: 19 Feb to 22 Mar
Where: The Mortlock Library at The Courtyard of Curiosities
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au