Presented by Gumption Theatre Co. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. 13 Feb 2016
Children's Theatre on the Fringe has a meaty program this year.
If any of the presentations provides rich investment in the culture and fun of theatre to nurture our future Fringe audiences, it is Prince Pipsqueak.
This is a ripper of a show.
It holds the children utterly entranced. It is an interesting narrative performed by skilled young actors who offer no half measures in their performances. Theirs is total energy, total focus and total engagement.
The Prince Pipsqueak story tells of a young prince who wears pink fairy wings, loves to dance, chases butterflies, and plays with the girl up the road, Poppy. She's the farmer's daughter and she's a bit of a farty tomboy. The only thing the prince and Poppy have in common, says the narrator, is that they are best, best friends.
Their relationship is explored with lots of energetic play before the nitty gritty of the plot descends. The king and queen are hitting Hawaii for a holiday and Pipsqueak has to run the kingdom. Pipsqueak is aghast. The King challenges him as a weepy weakling who must prove himself. Poppy volunteers to prop him up. There is counsel from a range of local identities, all brilliantly played by the narrator, Peter Cortissos. From gangsta rapper through to suave Frenchman, he does one and all with nary but a change of hat. He's hilarious, captivating and convincing - an actor of substance.
Once Pipsqueak accepts the mantle, he becomes arrogant and insists he can and should do it all alone because he is a male and men are supposed to run things. It was ever thus.
Poppy is an emancipated girl and she's having none of this misogyny. She dumps him.
And, through song and folly, character changes and plot twists, Pipsqueak clues up, Poppy forgives him and everyone, including the King, reaches self-realisations and acceptances of the fact that there is strength in difference.
The play is produced and directed by Abbie Johnstone and Jason Marsiglia and its messages are delivered with lots of pure fun and games and character development, the script incorporating enough broad references and asides to keep the parents amused on their own level.
It is all staged very simply with a ladder, a hatstand, a dress-up box and some drapes concealing the "backstage" area. Children are invited to sit on an array of rugs and cushions at the front of the stage. It is very comfortable.
Hugo Fielke plays Pipsqueak. He's a bright new talent who uses his long, lanky limbs as gloriously gawky comic tools. Alicia Case is Poppy. She's another exciting new player on the Adelaide stage with just a hint of the young Vivian Vance in her comic presence.
This production can't be recommended too highly.
It is five-star proper children's theatre with no shortcuts.
What's more, the children don't just love it, they relish it.
Samela Harris
When: 12 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: The Studio, Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
By Amy Herzog. Critical Stages, Catnip Productions and Mophead Productions. The Q Theatre. 11 Feb 2016
Growing up is tough and the more people there are to impart wisdom and provide guidance along the way, the better; as they say, it takes a village. Having an extra couple of decades of life experience under their belts, grandparents can be an invaluable resource to draw on throughout this process – especially if you’re as sassy and open-minded as Leo’s 91 year-old communist grandmother, Vera.
Leo (played by Stephen Multari) is a young man who has rolled into New York at the end of his epic, coast-to-coast bike ride across the United States. Intending to pay a fleeting visit to his Manhattanite nana while he’s in town, Leo decides it would be nice to extend his stay to spend some quality time with the ageing Vera (Diana McLean).
We quickly learn that Leo is carrying a great deal of emotional baggage, and that he is running away from an accumulation of complex problems that have become too much to process. Through his time spent with Vera, he finds the space to slowly confront his issues and move on to face the world awaiting him.
While very much a contemporary play within a modern context, 4000 Miles does a marvellous job of linking generations. This is achieved via cultural references to Vera’s rich and colourful past, but also a quirky soundtrack spanning a number of decades. Refreshingly, you’ll also find no tired clichés or old people moaning about ‘kids these days’, but rather two generations meeting in the spirit of love and respect.
What is nice about this progressive play is that the characters, despite their troubles, are devoid of cynicism. There are so many bleak and dystopian or saccharine stories being told to audiences today, and it makes a nice change to experience one that rejects this kind of extreme and instead offers up balanced reflection and reason.
Mclean and Multari are incredibly affable as the grandmother/grandson duo, and both serve up top-notch, uncheesy American accents. There’s no question their on-stage relationship is convincing and, like the script for 4000 Miles overall, it contains a heap of nuance.
Aileen Hunter as Amanda, Leo’s flamboyant one-night-stand and Eloise Snape as Leo’s ex-girlfriend Rebecca, are engaging and both have a fiery chemistry with Multari. Their presence on stage even when their character was not called for was somewhat baffling, but thankfully not to the point of complete distraction.
Overall, 4000 Miles is an intelligent play that can best be described as unyieldingly real. It is an eloquent portrayal of the power of sanctuary for those overwhelmed with what life has thrown at them. If this is a taste of things to come for the next generation of playwrights, bring it on.
Deborah Hawke
When: 11 to 13 Feb
Where: The Q Theatre
Bookings: Closed
The Un-Rest Cure. Written by Ben Brooker. The Tuxedo Cat – Cusack Theatre. 13 Feb 2016
Adelaide local and emerging playwright Ben Brooker has written three short plays that propose a broken future; one where our obsessions and indulgences have spiralled out of control and now determine our way of life.
They are set 15 minutes into the future. That is, 15 minutes into an imagined alternative reality where the bastardisation of technology, democracy, and human relationships has altered our existence.
Each play is a vignette, lifted from a broader theme and thrust upon us. Tension, inherited from the imagined future circumstances, is fuelled by our lack of context and inevitable confusion. It is absurdism – or is one just absurdist in exploration of its meaning?
It is tough going and hard work to watch. One listens intently for little hints and clues that might unlock the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. When they come, they are rewarding. But there are few ‘Ah-ha’ moments there in the theatre; one is required to do more research to understand what it is all about.
The Cusack theatre of the Tuxedo Cat is a hot-box on arrival. Fans have been dutifully laid out for patrons to cool themselves throughout. When the lights come up we find Patrick Klavins, representative to the government - and perhaps all that is left of it - agitated and fidgeting. Idealistic young Rachel Burke has just arrived. A sense of excitement, yet trepidation is on her. She has been looking for this place for a long time. She is heavily prejudiced. One senses she has navigated some form of post-apocalyptic world to get here. Brooker describes it as a “city overrun by corporations”. But Klavins does not have what she is looking for. He does not hold the answers, but rather waits, nay yearns, to meet his maker. This is Small Government.
The second vignette sees Tamara Lee and Michael Allen sitting side by side on illuminated boxes. Allen is on a drip; liver disease perhaps? A recovering alcoholic? He doesn’t look yellow… The couple are waiting, we aren’t told what for – Brooker writes it is a “life-saving delivery”. Relationships are suffering as individuals become more reliant on technological innovation and less on personal interaction. She is his enabler, but there is a twist in store. Point/Click looks at human relationships from a place of disconnection; where humanity has grown numb.
Finally we witness a grieving father at the funeral of his deceased child. Only three in attendance – or is that two and one spirit… Where are the people who loved him? An adolescent of only 14 years, mistakenly killed in a drone war; perceived as a threat on his way to buy lunch. Nothing now remains but the reminder of a few dirty coins fused to the pavement. The grief is too much to bear for a mother. This is an exploration of autonomous weapons in Dead Birds.
The acting is brilliant and helps you to engage with the complex stories. Brooker and his cast appear to have developed a deep understanding of the text and execute with equanimity. Their composure in the heat is particularly spectacular.
The plays themselves show great promise. But at times they are altogether too abstract to really enjoy upon first hearing. One would love to see some investigation of the themes within an expanded context. There are some very interesting concepts here that deserve to be properly explored.
Brooker is undoubtedly one of Adelaide’s most exciting emerging playwrights. Bravo.
Paul Rodda
When: 12 to 16 Feb
Where: The Tuxedo Cat - Cusack Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
A Jethro Compton production. Noel Lothian Hall, Adelaide Botanic Gardens. 13 Feb 2016
It is a dusty haze one encounters on entry to ‘The Bunker’. It takes a few moments for eyes to adjust as we find our way to bench seating. Earth grinding beneath our feet as we slide into position; the bunker slowly reveals itself as one becomes accustomed to the darkness.
The haze begins to clear…
We are boxed into an underground shelter. The walls lined with hessian and clad in timber planks. Oil lanterns hang from the ceiling providing a warm, dull glow. The sounds of no-mans-land, a desolate windy plane, can be heard sweeping above our heads.
We are at war.
Two male voices begin to harmonise, in acapella, with a performance of Silent Night. It is Christmas, and the war is on hold for a few hours while both sides take time to celebrate. It is a break earned, but short lived. A time for the soldier’s minds to travel to nicer places, to better times, to loved ones lost and left behind.
And travel they do.
In this horrible place it is all they have to keep themselves sane. They share stories from their past, of loved ones waiting, and occasionally to events imagined; dreamed; desired.
They are Arthur, Gawain, and Lancelot. Names fondly bestowed upon each other as young friends growing up together in boarding school; the knights of the round table, playing out their fantasy in the very real, very awful reality of war.
Herein lays the legend of Morgana. Literally Morgan le Fay in Arthurian legends, but also know by many other incarnations, she is a mythical enchantress, wanton and full of unrequited love. Whether she is real in the character of the Frenchwoman who falls for the soldier Gawain, or simply a figment of his imagination and desire we may never know.
The Bunker Trilogy was first performed in Adelaide in 2014 taking the Fringe award for Best Theatre. Now internationally acclaimed, the audience anticipation is palpable; expectations are high.
And we are not disappointed. The production is spectacular.
The four actors, Hayden Wood as Arthur, Jonathan Mathews as Gawain, Sam Donnelly as Lancelot, and Bebe Sanders as Morgana are spectacular to watch. Their performance is a lesson in focus, energy and restraint.
Produced and designed by Jethro Compton Productions with a vision to create “cinematic, innovative and exciting theatre”, one can say the brief has been met and exceeded.
The whole production is visceral. The penultimate scene brings a tear to the eye.
This trilogy is acclaimed with good reason, and The Bunker Trilogy’s, Morgana is a show not to be missed.
Paul Rodda
When: 13 Feb to 14 Mar
Where: Noel Lothian Hall, Adelaide Botanic Gardens
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Joanne Hartstone productions. White Queen. 12 Feb 2016
Delia Olam emerges from behind the white drapes swaggering and swigging in the character of the executioner. He is drowning his apprehension.
The audience knows already that this play will not end happily. It is the story of a martyr.
Then Olam goes behind the screen and returns as a woman, then onwards over 75 minutes depicting a series of characters. She comes and goes between torrents of dialogue. For each character change there is a change in head wear.
Olam maintains a peculiarly low-key conversational delivery, sometimes letting her voice drop dangerously in the offhandedness of her character.
But she also is the mystical singer we never see. In this tale of a 19th Century Persian poet and suffragette we are to imagine that we can hear her somewhere close but somewhere hidden.
Behind the screen, Olam plays a double bass and sings the ancient Persian poems. Her voice is lovely and one realises that the wordy storyline of the Muslim martyr is just elaborate dressing to put the music into context. Olam sings a series of songs which would do Womad proud. There are moments of immense beauty when her voice rises from behind that screen to fill the air with clear, timeless lyrical purity. Her range is superb. The audience is transported.
It is a quirky production. For a little cultural immersion, the front row audience members are served sugar lumps and rose water tea.
The show runs about 10 minutes too long but, as an entity, it is one of those eerie and original Fringe experiences which will haunt the memory.
Samela Harris
When: 12 to 14 Feb
Where: White Queen
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au