Gobsmacked Theatre Company. White Queen. 12 Feb 2016
There in the White Queen are two female soldiers in desert cam fatigues, holed up in a bunker draped in sandy-coloured camouflage netting. It's quite a scene, made even more dramatic when, in a great whirring burst, sleety snow gusts out of a vent.
On a hot night on the Fringe, it’s surprising how the stuff lies about on the stage.
The incongruity of the snow is one of the things one contemplates when experiencing this offbeat theatre piece by Katy Warner.
It is like Waiting for Godot meets the War in Iraq.
The two soldiers are just passing the time, stranded somewhere, nowhere in a war zone That's all there is to do. Get on with the waiting. Talk the same talk. Play an imagination game - or not. Pretend they have some vodka. Argue about what's in the rubble. Reflect on the business of killing, on rotting flesh, the survival of a baby.
They are afraid, exhausted, fatalistic, perhaps losing the battle to stay sane. They are PTSD in the making.
Adelaide actors Suzannah Kennett Lister and Sarah Cullinan are directed by David McVicar in this tight little production. They establish character and sustain tension. Despite the heat in the White Queen, the play and the good performances take ownership of the audience.
It is a relevant, meaty, interesting think piece, a credit to the Fringe.
Samela Harris
When 12 to 25 Feb
Where: White Queen
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. 11 Feb 2016
Every year they sing that they're just fading away.
This year, two of their number broke out of the old theme song's chorus line, whipped up the tempo and kicked up their heels proving the refrain of the previous song, "We're just old on the outside".
The old Footlighters AKA The Royal Adelaide University Old Footlighters have become quite the Adelaide cult in reviving the lost art of revue. Their student heyday was in the 60s. Now they are in their 70s.
Despite this year's title, they show no sign of slowing the pace of song, dance and satire despite the show's 2016 subtitle, "The 6th and almost probably definitely the very, very last show ever in this current series". Clearly this heralds a new series since, without these grey grads, there would be no undergraduate humour in town.
And, let's face it, they pack out the theatre.
This year there are some new faces and new script writers. Arwed Turon, Robyn Layton, and Kay Rollison are among them, with Michael Muecke and Tish Brown chipping in. Margie Butcher is there, too, fleetingly, and oddly, legendary Footlighter Wayne Anthoney makes an appearance on film only. And there are the stalwarts, better than ever: Bob Lott - producer, director, bassist, and star; Andy Ligertwood, more dashing than ever; Kitty Peake ever peaking; Mark Coleman, medicine to any skit; Margie Hill with a spring in her step; and Michael Johnston, ever the tonic.
It remains lamentable that the young have not sustained or revived the art of uni revue.
But, Adelaide's uni olds are defiant undergrads at heart and they have become an annual arts phenomenon. They are the last word in chic retro.
And so they poke and prod at the country's array of silly politicians. They mock the system of knights and dames. They spend their kids' inheritances, rock up as jockeys, do over the Antiques Road Show and are generally fun and silly, hit and miss, song and dance, and rockin' good spirit.
They create an hilarious karaoke with the audience singing along as they ping and blow on bottles for musical accompaniment and, of course, with Rob Morrison magnificent on trumpet, Lott powering away on double bass and Damien West and Gerard Spalding among youthful add-ons, the old Uni Jazz Band soars again.
Yes, it is much of the same just as it is supposed to be. Revue is revue is revue.
The pith is polite. There are too many lawyers and judges up there to push the envelope. But it is pertinent - or utterly irrelevant. It is also snappy with a backstage crew just as seasoned as the performers on stage.
If you can get a ticket, you should. This show is in the Fringe icon department.
They're far from fading. They are on their sixth wind and they are not even puffing.
Samela Harris
****
When: 11 ro 20 Feb
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Worklight Theatre. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. 10 Feb 2016
Joe Sellman-Leava is very literal about labels. He has a lot of them. He covers himself himself in big white adhesive paper labels. He gives some labels to audience members, too - 'friend' and 'enemy', for example. But the reason he is there is to make a big point about racism.
He lifts nametags of famous figures such as Idi Amin, Enoch Powell, Donald Trump, Jeremy Clarkson and even Tony Abbott. He impersonates them to repeat phrases they have uttered on the racist front. Adelaide audiences may not have heard of some of the British figures but he makes it clear that Abbott with his "send-back-the-boats" message has been classified as one of the world's headliner racists.
Sellman-Leava tells a family story in which he describes England's racism as ubiquitous. It has plagued and scarred his life. When asked where he is from, people don't want to know that he was born and lived in Devon but where did his family originate. They want to know about his skin colour. His mother is white and his father is Indian, he explains.
Sellman-Leava goes on to describe the pain of being called "Paki" and "Indian" and the discriminatory treatment experienced in the UK under those labels, experiences so troubling that his family changed the tell-tale racial label of their name and Patel became Sellman-Leava.
This UK production, written by Sellman-Leava and directed by Katarina Reinthaller, comes to Adelaide as winner of the Holden Street Edinburgh fringe Award in 2015. It has been festooned in five-star reviews from the Edinburgh festival.
It goes straight to the heart of the mighty refugee debate with Sellman-Leava using his own experiences as the strike-home bottom line. When the argument for refugees is that they are guilty only of seeking a decent life, that they are human beings with rights to an equal life on planet earth, he presents himself as an example. He does not touch on religious discord or political baggage. It's about humanity and understanding, one vulnerable person at a time.
It is also about England, so some of Sellman-Leava's issues are new to young Australians. That England's massive influx of black immigrants goes back to Britain's territorial expansions as a colonial superpower puts a different slant on the origins of the country's mixed population. He does not mention the prejudice against the Polish workers in the UK either or the myriad other forms of discrimination which abound in this world.
The issue can go on and on.
Sellman-Leava simply uses himself and the labels we use for ourselves and others to frame his personal story, made vivid by theatrical flair.
He is unashamedly didactic and often angry.
With his suitcase of props and his plethora of stark white labels, he is a travelling showman with a modern message.
For older audience members, it is not new and having to wait while the entire front row learns to fold paper planes is a bit tedious, but the student ranks who fill Holden Street for much of its brilliant program absolutely whoop with approbation at this intelligence from a first-generation English mixed blood.
His impact is helped not only by his performance skills but also by the fact that he is an extremely handsome young man. His mission is to advance the conversation on the refugee crisis, race, and the rise of the far right, and in this he is clearly succeeding.
Samela Harris
When: 12 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: The Studio, Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Holden Street Theatre's Edinburgh Award 2015 in Association with Show and Tell & Gary McNair. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. 10 Feb 2016
He takes up but a corner of the stage with his old carpet, his lamps and cardboard boxes but Gary McNair fills the theatre with a very big tale.
He tells of the grandfather who lived his life on the promise of betting tickets. The thrill of the possibility and the waiting expectations of a win were more valuable to him than the win itself. The old Scotsman had always been poor. Then again, he had won a fortune on the 1966 football World Cup and had stories and stories to tell of his win, of the reactions of the football fans of the Gorbals. His grandson listened avidly to his stories and, when old enough, was taught the very simple betting system and the joy of living between bet and result.
The boy was keen to believe the old man's many tales and loved his granddad dearly, but there was sometimes a thread of doubt about the tall stories and how much money he actually had.
The old man, he understands later, was addicted to gambling.
And so it comes to pass that, given a month to live with cancer, the old man started betting on beating the odds. He set a target of living to see the year 2000.
McNair swings between the character of the old man and the boy. He tells the story with a passion of ownership but it is never clear if it is his own family or a story told - just that it is a true story.
The old man garnered media attention with his bold bid on his own life.
With his strong Glaswegian accent, McNair takes the audience on a potent and intimate journey. His conviction and his emotion are theirs. His hopes and doubts are theirs.
It is an agonisingly tender tale and, at the same time, a rugged male tale, a fool's tale, an eccentric's tale...
It is also a tour de force and another must-see at Holden Street.
Samela Harris
When: 12 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: The Studio, Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Matt Byrne Media. Maxim's Wine Bar. 11 Feb 2016
Castaway your mind back to the 1980s when the American TV series, The Love Boat, ruled the air waves. Or perhaps you recall the trio of similarly titled made-for-TV movies. Doesn't matter if the grey cells aren't finding the memory, because show-writer Matt Byrne and his crew will deck you out in a lei, pipe you aboard his world premiere, and sail you in love boat fashion through an archipelago of nearly forgotten television island series. C'mon, you can think of some of them - my favourite has the initials GI.
The vaudeville format that Byrne developed back in 2002 with his Barrackers show is still going full steam ahead. Utilising two guys, two girls, plenty of real life characters, a few songs, a pirated soundtrack, and a bombardment of jokes, puns and insights that provides far more hits than misses. I loved the phantom pirates haunting the rear of the ship, the washed up rock stars, and the oldies. Karaoke is a cruise favourite and we are introduced to a word for the wrong lyrics to a song - please see the show and remind me what it was. The cast, in a line, and taking turns, give plenty of examples, and more than ten pirate jokes, when probably three good ones Arrrrrrrh! enough.
Matthew Byrne scrubs up well as the ship's captain, and his gummy old man and Yorkshire tourist were treats. As director. Byrne found strong points in Stefanie Rossi's vocal talents, Kim York's dramatic capacities and Marc Clement's physical comedy.
The two hour cruise was too much of a good thing, and there is a hearty and satisfying one-hour show stowing away below decks. Cutting is such sweet sorrow. Even so, I think I know people until I'm reminded by Matt's Fringe shows that he is the keenest observer of the average punter that I know, and the best person to find the funny side, and actually write a show about it, every year. How could you miss this Adelaide favourite about us?
David Grybowski
When: 10 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: Maxim's Wine Bar
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au