by Van Badham. Ayers House Museum. 25 Feb 2015
It was a Van Badham play, ‘Notoriously Yours’, which won the 2014 Adelaide Critics Circle IAF Award for Innovation, it being a terrific thriller presented by five.point.one with ground-breaking originality involving lots of iPhones and high-tech.
Van Badham is back with a play which could not be of more dramatic contrast.
Late Night Story is a spooky old ghost story.
It is also a ghost story with a fresh feel and a real zinger of a twist.
It is classic for its genre but original a la Van Badham whose rise in the theatre world has etched her out as one of the most able and exciting playwrights in the land.
As the title suggests, ‘Late Night Story’ is a late-night production. It is most aptly and, indeed, superbly presented in the ample bay window space of the Ayers House Museum. It seems made-to-order for the play's grand old Adelaide estate setting. The audience finds itself in a sumptuous room, albeit sitting on particularly hard white chairs with very dubious sightlines. The lighting is dim and exquisitely eerie. Long pink curtains dress the windows through which the external shutters are seen in stark silhouette. An iron cot and a pile of books furnish the stage. There is a table with two chairs and a lamp. A grand piano is attended by an enigmatic bearded pianist. He is Richard Wise and his score for the show could not be more evocative and aesthetic. A metronome ticks loudly.
Xaviera Grace begins her story. She needs a job desperately. She is interviewed by a strange woman stooped over a walking stick. The woman does not reveal her name or anything other than a governess is needed and there are two children in a house with a strict routine. The governess may not touch anything in the house and must remain in her room throughout the nights.
Xaviera is played by Claire Glenn, fresh-faced with rich caramel hair in a 30s bob. She "is" the hapless heroine and the audience takes to her straight away. Glenn is a glorious actor to watch and hear. Her skill and focus are key to the thrill and tension of the play for, out of the entirely unbelievable, her character must deliver innocence and credibility. Tamara Lee looms, large and angular as the potential employer. She gives away little except the job.
What ensues through the days and nights in that strange place cannot be revealed. There is another character potently embodied by John Maurice. He's the man of the house. He may or may not be who and what he says he is. Indeed, nothing may be what it appears to be. Or it may.
Badham, writer, director and designer, does not attempt to make the story logical or believable. It is a ghost story. It is a story about fear and superstition and about meddling with minds.
It is a story well told and wondrous to behold. A five-star show.
Samela Harris
When: 24 Feb to Mar 1
Where: Ayers House Museum
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Gobsmacked Theatre Company. Holden Street Theatres – The Studio. 25 Feb 2015
There's nothing upmarket about the name Gobsmacked for a theatre company, so keep expectations low for its Fringe production of ‘Anna Robi and the House of Dogs’.
This play, written by Queenslander Maxine Mellor, is vulgar, gross, over-the-top and somewhere way out there.
It opens with the fairly graphic sounds of a man masturbating over phone sex and then takes us into the world of the woman on the other end of the line - Anna of the House of Dogs.
She is a very annoying young woman hell-bent on losing her virginity.
The problem is that she shares a bed with her sick and nasty old mother and the rest of the house is a sea of squalor dominated by faeces and fecund dogs. Housekeeping consists of adding layers of newspaper to cover the last layer of newspaper.
Hence there is a wonderful set designed by director David McVicar. It is dominated by a double bed with ugh-beige sheets. The floor, of course, is a mass of newspapers which have their own aesthetic. Fake dog turds lie here and there. The backdrop is a wall of cardboard cartons labelled "Catalog". The horrid old mother is addicted to catalogues and home shopping.
That vile old bitch is played by Emily Branford who milks the laughs by taking the character as far as she can. She uglies up and does a lot of grimacing - almost to the gurning point. She is loud and mean and generally repulsive. She is a nightmare version of the bedridden grandparents of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.
Then comes the dream sequence and Branford transforms to a 50s Home Beautiful mother complete with birthday cake. There's music and mime, and a bit of a dance. It breaks the ugliness and shows another side of Branford's comic spirit.
But all too soon, it's back to bed and torrents of sexual fury - much talk of lipstick penises and stinking vaginas.
If one is supposed to have any sympathy for the frustrated daughter, played to gawping and gawking excess by Hannah Nicholson, it fails. She comes across as shudderingly deranged.
There is humour, however - quite a few titters and one or two laughs. It is, after all, so absurdly crass. One might call it a "grotesquerie".
The arrival of the fantasy man is a high spot. The arrival of the phone sex fellow is not. Both characters are versions of Roger and he is colourfully played by Phil Marker-Smith.
If you are into the possibly humorous depths of pissing in the bed, dog-mating and squalor, this is your show.
Samela Harris
When: 23 Feb to 8 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres – The Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Strut and Fret. The Garden of Unearthly Delights – Rymill Park. 24 Feb 2015
As home to the premiere season of this new Strut and Fret show, Adelaide is being treated to the most highly anticipated (and priced) show of the 2015 Adelaide Fringe.
Billed as an evening of “visual and edible wonderment”, ‘Fear and Delight’ asks that their audience “shed their inhibitions and experience an interactive feast of theatre and culinary wonder…”
The Complete Experience finds the addition of an immersive, ritualistic, cult-like initiation in which audience members are lead on a culinary and visual journey through Adelaide’s Rymill Park. Guests are confronted by characters participating in unconventional acts as well as theatrically prepared appetisers which tickle the imagination and challenge the taste buds.
On the menu are selections like ‘Oyster Black Seafood with Edible Sand’ served from a clam shell; ‘Beef Jerky with Ant Mayonnaise’ presented on a cow skull; and martini cocktail glasses filled with a ‘Jelly of Seaweed, Water Plants, Frog Spawn, Roasted Meal Worms and Fried Grasshopper’.
In some instances the descriptions are theatrical only; but in the case of the ants and meal worms – that is exactly what you’re eating!
After our brief, interactive ceremonial jaunt, we are seated for the main meal. As VIP guests at the ‘Fear and Delight’ show our table is formed from the sides of an enormous raised stage, 25 seats long on each side, on which the performance will later take place.
This front row location proves to be one of the key draw cards of ‘The Complete Experience’, experience.
Carefully prepared by internationally renowned chefs Didier Prince and Roy Wiggers of ‘The Dutch Food Slingers’ the main meal is as experimental and theatrical as the actors serving it. Whilst Heston Blumenthal might look twice to see what interesting creations this duo has delivered, I doubt that he would try them twice. Much of the food is over-cooked in concept and a tad underdone on flavour. This is not to say it doesn’t taste of anything but one does struggle to finish most of the offerings available. The ‘Roast Chicken Leg with Claw’ is, however, both notable and delicious.
The official wine sponsor, d’Arenberg, turns out a great selection to accompany the meal including ‘The Money Spider Roussanne’ and ‘The Derelict Vineyard Grenache’. These wines are excellent choices and continue to be enjoyed by ‘The Complete Experience’ guest’s right through the show.
When the show begins, all that came before is forgotten. The performers have us transfixed as they move through the delicate choreographed performance that is ‘Fear and Delight’.
British musicians, ‘The Correspondents’, provide a live soundtrack to the evening with vocals in the supremely capable hands of Mr Bruce, and musical direction by his partner in musical crime, DJ Chucks. The electro swing stylings of Bruce are intoxicating and he is ably supported by Australian-born Simone Page Jones on female vocals. What this performance has, that others of its kind seem to be lacking, is a theatrical narrative which is intrinsically tied to both the soundtrack and the choreography.
‘Fear and Delight’ is more dance than acrobatics and this is its strength. Renowned French dancer, Anne-Caroline Boidin, provides much of the contemporary dance flair and her commitment and energy is outstanding. She is not alone though. The whole cast, whether comedian, acrobat, aerialist or dancer, collaborates on the movement that ties the performance together.
The acrobatic trio‘15ft6’ of the Netherlands are technically superb. Spending most of her time in the air, or at the mercy of her trusted colleagues, acrobat Tain Molendijk stuns the audience with both her agility and aerial beauty as she flips and flexes all over the stage.
Aerialists Saulo Sarmiento and Nick Beyeler turn the heads of female audience members (and some of the males) with bodies many would kill for.
At the conclusion of the performance, the audience is invited to dance the night away at ‘The Devil’s Lighthouse’ with cocktails specially designed by Bompas and Parr.
‘The Complete Experience’ is complete. The show is absolutely worth a look and I encourage you to check it out. Love or hate the prequel it is a unique and memorable experience - albeit not a cheap one for those considering the purchase. Either way, there is something here for everyone and it must be seen to be believed. Go, for the fear and for the delight.
Paul Rodda
When: 13 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: The Garden of Unearthly Delights – Rymill Park
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Black Cat Theatre. The Kings Hotel. 24 Feb 2015
Black Cat Theatre - an ensemble of students and young adults - doesn't think theatre in Adelaide is highbrow enough and thus have dedicated themselves to the noble cause of putting the classics on stage. I had a crack at reading Franz Kafka's pre-WWI novel, 'The Trial,' but dropped it before the end, having found it a bit turgid. I didn't feel that bad because Kafka didn't finish writing it. In fact, he never finished any of his novels, so there.
So I have great admiration for Hugh Scobie for writing an adaptation of an incomplete novel and resuscitating it in this world premiere production. And for Veronica Jefferis for her evocative and thematic illustration.
In 'The Trial,' we witness Joseph K's bewilderment as he is arrested for a never-specified crime and confronts bureaucracy, idiocy and indifference as he navigates a labyrinth court and justice system that doesn't make any sense. Almost any lay person caught up in the courts would immediately sympathise with K. But the play operates on many levels through its use of court metaphors for other meanings, and the fear and anxiety created by the sinister authoritarian regime behind the whole thing.
Scobie's adaptation is pretty good. He focuses more on the absurd and less on the sinister and violent elements of the text, yet makes K's frustrations palpable and accessible. Scobie himself plays Joseph K, looking a little bizarre with his Rastafarian hair bundled up back of his head. No sacrifice should be too great for theatre, Hugh. The remaining cast of five take on the major roles of the novel with Adam Bates adding interest to his Examining Magistrate by channeling Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. The short play includes a long interval that was in fact longer than the second act. And it's the first time I've seen a play without any actors.
David Grybowski
When: 24 Feb to 5 Mar
Where: The Kings Hotel
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
In & Out. Tuxedo Cat - Perske Pavilion. 23 Feb 2015
I found this play to be a little gem in its conciseness and execution. Created, co-directed and performed by Sonja Bishopp, Emma Annand, Ryan Forbes, and Adam Ibrahim, we have a pair of childless couples as neighbours in a nice suburb with freshly mowed lawns and a barbeque in every backyard. The women do yoga and drink tea while one guy is an accountant and the other a carpenter. If the title didn't set the tenor for you, the first scene certainly did when the men meet for the first time (one couple having recently moved into the neighbourhood) and innuendoes involving hot, juicy snags came think and fast. The conflict resides in the men's clandestine love and the repercussions in their marriages, including the women investigating their own sexuality.
Bishopp and Forbes in an interview seemed to be concerned with the cultural oppression of homosexuality, both politically and through social engagement, but this is a scant theme of the play. There were background references to harsh legal penalties for homosexuality, but this device was irrelevant to the action. The power of the work was conveyed in the themes of unrequited love, and forbidden love in the context of marriage, through the development of the relationships between the four characters as the situation unfolds. The fact that the extramarital affair was homosexual added an additional concern for their spouses and danger for the men, but it was not pressured by the legal regime - the legal regime was not the problem. I didn't see the necessity of a fifth character - an ice cream man.
Initial lighthearted and humorous scenes of playful fun and engagement gave way to palpable feelings of bewilderment, betrayal, anger, hurt, and plain old sadness. The performances were physical and quick-footed while also being emotionally nuanced and subtle, with the exception of Sonja Bishopp - playing the spurned wife of a man helplessly falling in love with his neighbour - who was theatrically overwrought in her uptightness so that humour and empathy were lessened. The pace was fast, and a couple of times, peak scenes were played out with alternative outcomes or with thought balloons which generated additional interest.
This play was devised by students for an in-house Victoria College of the Arts (VCA) festival of new works last September. This is a great way for the cast to start their careers.
David Grybowski
When: 23 Feb to 1 Mar
Where: Tuxedo Cat - Perske Pavilion
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au