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
The Arts Theatre. 16 Feb 2016
It was 1986 when Frank Woodley first attended an Adelaide Fringe Festival as a performer. This year marks his 30th anniversary returning to our fair city to entertain us with his unique brand of comedy.
Physically, Woodley may have aged in that time, but his wit and energy is still as young as the day he first sprung onto the stage and gave us, what he himself describes as, “an awful performance” – let alone what the critics had to say about it!
In the wake of the Lawrence Mooney saga, a newsworthy event not lost on this particular show, one does feel an overwhelming temptation to bait Frank into a Twitter furore by declaring his show an absolute pile of steaming sh!t. But of course it was nothing of the sort; the audience simply loved every minute of it!
An incredibly versatile performer, returning year after year with a completely different style of show, this year’s offering is a straight forward serving of 60 minutes of stand-up comedy. The price of admission will get you a comfy seat in the favoured Arts theatre, and the best value 60 minute show you’ll see all Fringe – at just on 90 minutes long!
Woodley manages to duck and weave over and through just about every topic you could imagine he might cover – plus a few others you wouldn’t expect to hear in public (don’t mention the glass half full to anyone who was there!). But he really comes into his own when his wit is matched by his innate physicality. A general chuckle, and the odd giggle, erupts into screams of laughter when Frank demonstrates the “catwalk model stumbling” routine. His “buff guy walking” is pretty damn accurate too!
Some of the stories are a bit overcooked, carrying on just a few jokes too long, but he is just so easy to sit back and watch. Even when you are not laughing he is still a joy to behold.
Frank Woodley is a well-known and popular comedian. You don’t need me to tell you he’s good. Hold this show up against his physical comedy productions such as Fools Gold from 2014 and you might be left wanting, but I doubt you’ll be disappointed in any case – so get along and see it!
PS this isn’t the only show he is doing this year, introduce your kids to Woodley with Noodle Nut which finishes its run this weekend on the 20th and 21st of Feb.
Paul Rodda
When: 16 to 21 Feb
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
By Duncan Graham. The Tuxedo Cat – The Perske Pavilion. 14 Feb 2016
Following a stream of successful productions in past festivals, Duncan Graham brings Red Ink to the Tuxedo Cat’s Perske Pavilion as one of two shows being presented in the 2016 Adelaide Fringe Festival. The other being Ollie and the Minotaur.
Red Ink is a Rashomon-style retelling of a single dramatic event from four very different points of view. Narrated by three of the four characters they provide witness statements to an unseen, unheard interrogator – the audience. Each has some responsibility to the chaotic incident and its tragic outcome, but portrays themselves as a victim of circumstance and the actions of others.
As the story unfolds, they reveal hints to the stereotypes and unconscious bias that prejudice their recollections, and ones loyalties realign from one flawed character to another and back again. The central theme revolves around police violence, and the associated accountabilities thereof.
The performances are all strong, with Matthew Gregan admirably mastering the challenging character of the Man, an individual plagued by mental illness, and Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Sophia Simmons and Sarah-Jayde Tracey equally robust as the Shopper, the Police Officer and the Checkout Assistant respectively. With no actual interaction between the characters on stage, the players do well to keep us engaged as they play out the tension and sense of foreboding.
Whilst the story is enjoyable, there are flaws. Most intrusive is the lack of continuity between the recounting of the Police Officer’s experience and that of the Shopper and the Checkout Assistant, which do not always seem to marry up. This is distracting and at times confusing.
The possible connection between the Man and Shopper feels as though it should be much more central to the piece; however it is only hinted at in the final moments, and is also left under explored. One feels the sadness of the Man's plight and the lack of societal understanding and acceptance around mental illness. Red Ink is a moving piece, with further opportunity for development.
Nicole Russo
When: 12 to 23 Feb
Where: Tuxedo Cat, Perske Pavillion
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Alysha Herrmann. Somebody’s Lounge Room. 16 Feb 2016
Production creator Alysha Herrmann partly sums up Another Elusive Maybe as being about “loneliness, and love and community and how we don’t ask for help.” It is that, yet so much more.
A little community is created in the intimate lounge room of an urban Adelaide home where an experience is created and shared, rather than a production observed. The room features ceiling high windows looking out on the street. A cosy three seater lounge and chairs bestride wood floorboards. On the floor, are three little white clouds with cute faces on them, a white rug with a table next to it and opposite, a box with a guitar on it. Herrmann is garbed in a pink robe, top and pink hair band with white flowers and pyjamas.
Her program notes suggest Herrmann offers nothing remotely associated with the darker edges of loneliness, or stoic desperation of refusing to seek help, as to appear strong.
Herrmann’s exploration of loneliness and love springs from the experience of early motherhood; all the joys, mystery, doubt and angst of that experience. Herrmann and Soundscape artist Ryan Morrison ply the audience’s ears via Bluetooth Silent Safari headphones with a delicious stream of poetry, conversations and sounds. Offered in a light, cloud soft dreamy style the difficult experiences and feelings prompted by motherhood and more take on a fairy tale like air.
Here lies the work’s great magic. Herrmann teases out a blend of fantasy and reality in conversation with audience members. The audience is peaceably seduced aurally, while responding to game like questions, then genuinely warm conversational ones. All of it’s anonymous.
There are so many simple, yet sophisticated layers to this wonderfully human work providing deep food for thought about the issues Herrmann set out to explore and experiment on. You feel comforted by what you hear, because the delivery takes the sting out of the real struggle those words are dealing with, as much as you love the genuine warmth and joy there too. Equally, because of this, you feel at ease anonymously having a frank and honest discussion about some deep things. You are in a comforting place known to most, a lounge room. This one was deeply comforting, using only two lights for atmosphere up facing front and back of the room.
You might feel you’ve spent years being close to this mother who sat before you. Yet you never directly expose yourself to her emotionally. This experience sharply prompts a reassessment of what it means to be brave enough to say things out loud, to seek an honest place, non judgemental, in which you can let it all hang out. You are a small community in that lounge room. You are personally disconnected. Yet you feel safe.
The sold out season is no reason to fear you will not get to experience something highly recommended. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and invite this experience to your lounge room.
David O’Brien
When: 16 & 23 Feb & 8 March
Where: Somebody’s Lounge Room
Bookings: Sold Out
Threewoods Playwright. Bakehouse Theatre - Studio. 15 Feb 2016
A visitor to Hong Kong will be fascinated at how well a huge population has so successfully socialised on such a tiny - and beautiful - piece of real estate. But beauty can be only skin deep. On 28 September 2014, Kong Hong police used tear gas against a huge popular movement urging the Chinese government to allow Hong Kong's voters to elect their own chief executive and all members of the legislative council, as promised in the Basic Law, and to permit the free choice of candidates without any limitations. Never mind that this was not the case even during British occupation; the last British governor, Chris Patten, rushed through a raft of democratising initiatives. What Hong Kongers want is what we Australians take for granted. The Immigration Lottery is producer, director, writer and actor Cathy SK Lam's protest satire to enlighten the world of the increasing mainland Chinese control over Hong Kong since handover in 1997.
Cathy investigates her ambiguous national identity, and the post-British diaspora from Hong Kong through a character named Jenna Wong who attempts to leave Hong Kong by passing a test to migrate to the fictitious United Nation of Hap Asala, and thus exposes the issues. She was incredibly prescient, as only two months after the world premiere of The Immigration Lottery at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014, the aforementioned Umbrella Revolution took place, and the current show incorporates the energy of that protest. I don't bandy around the word brave to describe your average theatrical work, but to parody the policies of mainland China in their administration of Hong Kong, and to reference the protests, definitely is brave.
While the performance and writing lacks sophistication, a certain Kafkaesque atmosphere was created, and there is much to amuse and ponder. Cathy as Jenny pulls everything bar the kitchen sink out of her bra for a prop, and the plea for each Hong Konger to take notice of what China is doing, to take some responsibility, is palpable. Some sense of the street activism was achieved by having a dancer post pictures on the walls - her arms wrapped in cling wrap for protection against the tear gas -and a minor movement piece with an umbrella.
They are a highly organised lot. Besides a wordy program, you can scan a QR code for a 'Performance Handbook' with additional background information and pictures concerning the Umbrella Revolution and the theatre work. If you're lucky, you can get a hardcopy after the show and you might be asked to be interviewed on camera for your feedback.
Not compelling theatre but a compelling issue.
David Grybowski
When: 15 to 20 Feb
Where: Bakehouse Theatre - Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au