Presented by That Girl. The Bakehouse Theatre Studio. 6 Mar 2014
If the Adelaide Fringe is the place to premiere brand new shows, then The Bakehouse Theatre Studio is the place to “jump off the cliff with a brand new show” (in the words of the creator/ performer, Lana Schwarcz with her current production ‘Small Talk’).
‘Small Talk’ is a mixture of puppetry, multiple characters, fun with the set and props, and fun with the audience across the fourth wall. The premise of ‘Small Talk’: What if the inner child within each adult was revealed and extracted; brought into the rough and tumble of the outer world? How would it cope? How would the host parent cope? And what if the child was prevented from returning to the inner world? What are the ramifications of losing our inner child as adults?
The setting is the Overside Community Centre’s new Mother’s Club for inner children, run by the zany, weird and not-quite-there convenor, Tilly Scott. Tilly runs her sessions as a sort of cross between an ABC TV children’s show and an adult psych session. Her clients are likewise unusual. There is Margarite, Jason (is he really looking for an explanation or looking for a girlfriend?) and Rachael.
The inner children, once revealed, are an odd assortment of personalities. There is Little Margarite who pees into the audience through her eyes (Fright Night for the front row, but funnier); Little Jason, invisible except for his Spider Man t-shirt and asthmatic breathing; and the angry Little Rachael.
The themes covered during the therapy session are varied - there is violence, racism, red heads, arson, death - personified in drawings on the spin wheel of Safety.
This show is full of quick one liners, astute social reflection, and interesting interactions between the characters during and after the session, all delivered by Schwarcz in quick morphings between adult characters and the puppet children.
Schwarcz is at her best when manipulating the puppets (shadow and life sized) and develops moments of sublime believability when she brings to life the life sized puppet children. A remarkable connection.
The main difficulty at this stage of the show’s development is that the performer is still mastering the complexity of manipulating the set, the props, and aspects of the puppetry. Sometimes lines were fluffed and links between characters confusing. A sympathetic audience was able to see beyond these hiccups and enjoy the show as a refreshing look at the link between the adult and the child fighting for survival in all of us.
Stephen Dean turned in an invisible but silk smooth performance operating the lights and sound. Dean is a huge asset for The Bakehouse Theatre to have on staff.
I was happy to jump off the cliff with Lana Schwarcz and Small Talk. Time to have a sympathetic chat with my inner child.
Martin Christmas
When: 7 to 15 Mar
Where: The Bakehouse Theatre Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Kevin Crease Studio Live from Channel Nine. 8 Mar 2014
The theatre is rich with stories of heroic stand-ins. That it be the case of an actor supporting another actor in a one-hander about the perilous nature of an actor's life has a certain special piquance.
So it comes to pass that Bob Paisley is back in town - the Kansas actor who charmed audiences with his Driving Miss Daisy in the CIT series presented through Guy Masterson. And, it is Masterson for whom he is doing the eleventh hour stand-in. Masterson had to forgo his Fringe 2014 season for family reasons in the UK.
Happily, Paisley knows the award-winning John Clancy piece well. He has performed it in Edinburgh and the US. When Adelaide audiences last saw The Event in 2010, however, it was performed by David Calvitto who promptly won a Fringe Award. Paisley is probably going the same way.
It would be hard to find a more masterful replacement for Masterson. He is personable and able. His performance sweeps easily through the moods and styles of dramatic training - from formal delivery through direct address to the fourth wall, displays of deference, whimsy, heated expostulations, denunciations and comedy. It's a quaint and intense script intended as a virtuoso piece. It is delivered almost entirely in the third person.
It seeks to depict the isolation of the actor, his vulnerability as mouthpiece for the words of playwrights and his predicament at the mercy of costume-designers and directors. It looks at the composition of the audience, referred to as "strangers" and the question of whether or not a real relationship can evolve between stage and audience. It plays upon the devices of the theatre, snipes at the undercurrents of backstage politics and uses all the arts of the stage to present a wry abstract on how peculiar a beast is the theatre.
It also touches on life itself, the idea that every man is an island and, indeed, the existential questions of reality itself.
It's quite a piece. It takes quite an actor.
And there he is, outstanding in a pool of light in that wonderful new Fringe venue called the Kevin Crease Studios. It is a show to be recommended.
Samela Harris
When: 8 to 15 Mar
Where: Kevin Crease Studio Live from Channel Nine
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Kevin Crease Studio Live from Channel Nine. 8 Mar 2014
Those who supported five.point,one through Pozible may ruffle their feathers with pride. Our young Adelaide company has done the city and the online funding system proud.
‘Notoriously Yours’ is an exciting piece of theatre.
It is brave and right on the zeitgeist of popular technology.
Who knew there were so many stagecraft applications for the mobile phone? Instant video projections, mirror, tape recorder, car headlights...
‘Notoriously Yours’ has been written and directed by Van Badham with the support of a tight and talented five.point.one team.
It is a thriller.
It is vivid in black and white - that being presented by the tight suits of the men in ties and the striking off-the-shoulder polka dot costume of the one female. Set against a big white screen, every scene creates aesthetics of black and white, be it tableaux and shadow play or giant video images.
It is a work of outstanding design values.
The narrative follows a libidinous Croatian Australian girl who hooks up with a hacker on an online dating site. But the game of anonymous sex is subverted by national surveillance and she is swept into a complex and intimidating scenario of spies, politics and national security.
Van Badham keeps the action sharp and snappy. It is one of those "where-did-the-time-go?" shows. One forgets that the seats are uncomfortable and could not care if one is hot or cold. The play is the thing.
The actors have already made their mark in Adelaide theatre and here they simply show why they always get good reviews. Matt Crook finds a delicate balance between being a ruthlessly purposeful spy and someone falling in love with the plant. Craig Behenna swings convincingly between poker-faced spy and jealous gun-runner. Brad Williams ably embodies sinister brother and sinister sex partner as well as sinister spy. An ill-fiting shirt is surprisingly effective in helping to establish character. Indeed, the costuming is terrific. As is the performance of Claire Glenn as "Her" - the central character whose night of lust turns into a very dangerous adventure.
There are shades of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, there are hints of Tom Clancy, John Le Carre and even Orson Welles. And yet, with all its retro references, it is about as today as superstar selfies - but with a lot more future.
It also proves that very good things are Pozible.
Samela Harris
When: 8 to 12 Mar
Where: Kevin Crease Studio Live from Channel Nine
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
WOMADdelaide is well and truly underway for 2014 with an early crowd surge and packed centre stage for the first performance of the first day, Mokoomba. The group sport an eclectic mixture of instruments with electric guitar and bass, brass and drums and create an upbeat Afro-fusion of truly 'happy' music!
The group hail from Zimbabwe and take their inspiration from their cultural Tonga roots. Their music is uplifting and funky and the percussive energy makes dancing simply irresistible. The early set didn't stop the audience from getting right into the action as they joined in on a grape vine dance as emulated by the whole group onstage.
It is easy to see why this award winning group are one of the most exciting things to recently come out of Zimbabwe. Mokoomba presented a great opening set and what can only be described as a positive beginning to this great World Of Music And Dance festival.
Paul Rodda
Adelaide Festival. Malthouse Theatre. Her Majesty's Theatre. 5 Mar 2014
Tom E. Lewis became mainstream since playing the eponymous role in The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith in 1978. Recently, he collated the issues of land, entitlement and family seen in King Lear with his experience of the same in the Aboriginal community. Such a conversation with co-creator and director Michael Kantor has resulted in this compelling adaptation of King Lear to Aboriginal conditions.
This production is a rough diamond. Thankfully shrunk to an hour-forty, Shakespeare's script is adapted in word, voice, intonation and even language to the red dust of Central Australia. The cast effortlessly switch from Shakespeare's verse, native languages and the colloquial Kriol.
An elder with a crown divides the mineral-rich land amongst his daughters on the bonnet of an enormous piece of rusting mining machinery that dominates the action whilst doubling as the front porch of a number of dwellings deftly represented in screen projections. The valuable land is an attractive prize to Goneril and Regan, and the role of the bastard mischief-maker Edmund in this rendition is more focused on his intercourse with the daughters than on bedeviling poor Gloucester and the hapless Edgar.
Tom E. Lewis was a sweaty and intense Lear, an old showman. Jimi Bani was a stand-out Edmund. His large frame negotiated the stage with grace and his oration was spot-on. The three daughters have more individuated lives than in the Bard's Lear, grounding them in realism. We don't see that much of Cordelia, but Jada Alberts (Regan) and Natasha Wanganeen (Goneril) do a superb portrait of what the Americans call trailer trash with verisimilitude. A live on-stage trio ably set the mood with Aboriginal and standard chords thanks to music director John Rodgers.
Great in concept, strong in script, convincing in production but a little underdone in ensemble performance.
David Grybowski
When: 5 to 8 Mar
Where: Malthouse Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au