★★★
Adelaide Fringe. A Mulled Wine. The Chapel – Migration Museum. 18 Feb 2023
James Hilary Penwarden sports a They/Them badge on their suspenders. The they/them pronouns work for them because as they say, “everything about me is plural.” A self-described “attention whore,” they cover their natural assets in an androgynous deconstructed tuxedo-look that describes them well enough. When they are not titillating and teasing the audience, they have much to say about acceptance, and to come out has its considerable costs in the cruel world of the conventional - socially and financially. Absolutely enduring is their total honesty and vulnerability. James does stand-up, purring out their abstract and humourous observations on their non-binary transgender bisexual life. Wow, the sex sounds terribly attractive! And as James says, “if you wish you were gay, you’re probably gay.” That made me think.
The God-shaped hole in your heart to be filled by God as taught in their Catholic catechism took on new meaning as James discovered the eroticism of their other “God-shaped holes.” Helped by James’s magnetic personality, there was more style than schtick. Stories of polyamorous mix-ups with mooncups and pass the chlamydia were pretty funny though - once you got over the self-recognised adolescence. The strong point is their three songs. Wonderfully playful lyrics and catchy tunes, but the guitar certainly lacked gusto. For someone who craves acceptance and non-judgment, their raunchy imagery of Jesus, and Mary’s magical hymen, is a wee hypocritical.
If you are just a plain old ‘S for Straight’ or ‘Stop: I only do the same old thing in bed’, you will learn a lot of the world of the more amorously adventurous. If you are one in the alphabet acronym, LGBTQIA+, you will get this perfectly.
David Grybowski
When: 17 to 26 Feb
Where: The Chapel – Migration Museum
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Hew Parham. The Chapel – Migration Museum. 18 Feb 2023
If you missed Hew Parham’s hit show in January at the Festival Centre, Symphonie de la Bicyclette, because you didn’t have the right padded shorts and lurid lycra top to wear, this is your chance to see a champion. Locally grown and Canadian-trained Parham has been involved in a peloton of shows and his comic and clowning experience shines in this autobiographical tour de force.
Parham plays with your mind in his pursuit of purpose. Egged on or barred by alter egos which are distinguishable by excellent characterisations in body, voice and soul, Parham pursues his dream of acting, from Edmonton and Manitoulin Island to New York and California. The real becomes surreal and vice versa. Symbolism and the comic technique of shelving abound. His hallucination of sage advice from a Mark Rothko painting in the MONA of New York is very much worth listening to for its guidance toward sanity in a world of uncertainty, longing and setbacks. You cannot but be astonished at his honesty and openness, and you want to thank him for sharing. Along the way, he does his bright party tricks of McEnroe and Hendrix, and finds everlasting friendship in Native American spiritualism. It is touching and intimate. “You learn to express yourself because you’ve been through the agony of expressing yourself.”
If you are obsessed with Sequoias, Italy and pistachio gelato, this is a must-see show of the Fringe. Touching, warm and funny. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 18 Feb to 19 Mar
Where: The Chapel – Migration Museum
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. The Arch - Holden Street Theatres. 18 Feb 2023
It’s his eighth Fringe show. He keeps doing it until he gets it right. Will this be the last one? He seems to have got it very right indeed.
This most recent of Goers afternoon shows for the oldies is as slick as can be. He has fresh old patter, fresh ancient anecdotes and a really fresh grand finale. OK, it’s too late for spoilers. He introduces his new character of Miss Dawn Service. Well, his special guest stars, Anne “Willsy” Wills and her sister Susan, introduce Dawn as their little sister. Of course, Dawn in fishnets and heels towers over them and shimmers in ruby red rhinestones, tassels, and giant costume jewellery.
The Wills gals have arrived on stage like glittering fur balls, wearing an effusion of feathers shot with gold and silver; uber-bling on steroids. And from that way over-the-top appearance, the sisters sing really sweet and soft harmonies, swaying gently from side to side. They hark back to the days of performing for the troops in Vietnam, flourishing a Prue Acton mini dress of the day, and make a delicious embellishment to the retro nature of the Goers shows.
Goers’ Fringe shows have a pretty ardent following of fans who are ever charmed by his old-school tradition of meeting one and all as they leave the theatre.
Old school really covers it.
Goers smothers his audiences in nostalgia, evoking sighs and guffaws of recognition. Lots of healthy self-deprecation does not go awry.
It’s all a bit of a love-in.
Samela Harris
When: 18 Feb to 19 Mar
Where: The Arch – Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Editor’s Note: Samela is a friend and fan of Peter Goers and appears on his Sunday Show Smart Arts segment on Adelaide’s Radio 891.
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. After Dark Theatre. The Peacock, Gluttony. 18 Feb 2023
One day in 1982 a group of young men and women met on the studio lot to begin filming for Michael Jackson’s iconic long-form video release Thriller.
Some 41 years later at the Adelaide Fringe Festival six young men and women gathered to recreate the scene, or so it seems. Four men, two women, all muscled and taut of body, on a stage dressed with black 44 gallon drums. A connection was made: bodies, barrels. It was an homage to Adelaide’s peculiar genius for inflicting pain upon the national psyche.
They – the performers – are gritty and slightly edgy, at home in the alley. In any event, Barbaroi (which it is claimed is the Greek word for ‘barbarian’, so why did they not just call the performance by that name?) begins well enough, building through the muscular gymnastics of a youth theatre ensemble who were easily able to deal with tumbles and falls and flips and spins. The rope routine of a single young women with one gleaming green eye was a standout, and it seemed this synthesis of youth theatre and circus gymnastics was following a reasonably well developed path.
Cutting, flashing and sometimes unreasonable lighting attacks the senses, already assaulted by loud and percussive music which seeks to inflict – in places – an industrial setting upon the brain, of a pattern developed and exploited by the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More and refined through the subsequent decades of live performance soundtrack which demands repetitive and pulsating ‘cutting edge’ scores.
So far, so good, but just when you think it’s safe to dismiss them as just another troupe you realise this may well be the real thing. There is no letup in their application, in their power and refinement, and it seems entirely possible the six are forcing their bodies to do more than seems fair.
It is about an application of force, exemplified by a young man who acts maliciously, strutting and pushing, provoking and leering, smiling as he rolls and tumbles, and cajoles and pushes. Even in manufactured violence within a theatrical setting it is a remarkable display of sang froid, perfectly at home within the idea of what the Fringe Festival meant when it first began. This is high quality performance art.
Alex Wheaton
When: 18 Feb to 19 Mar
Where: The Peacock, Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★
Adelaide Fringe Festival. The Bally, Gluttony. 18 Feb 2023
5 Mistakes That Changed History is gentle comedy, but the show doesn’t quite reach the promise of its advertising.
Paul Coulter has researched interesting facts about five historical figures, ranging from Cleopatra to Alexander Fleming. With these facts, he posits that the historical characters made ‘mistakes’ that changed the course of history. Unlike Coulter, this reviewer doesn’t have a history degree (and so won’t argue with him) but humbly suggests that the facts presented are not mistakes but are really poor decisions that either resulted in disaster or in serendipitous outcomes. The distinction is key, because it impacts the nature of the humour that potentially follows: how might the mistake have been avoided, or what might be the circumstances of a different decision.
Some of the stories were more amenable to sharp and cutting witticisms, others less so. In between the sketches, two actors join Coulter on stage and play the roles of the aggrieved historical figures. These interludes struggled to generate any noteworthy humour and generally dragged on the pace and overall impact. The patter from the two actors wasn’t really strong enough and came across as being somewhat forced. They almost appeared to be unsuccessfully improvising.
The basic concept of the show is sound, and the audience was up for a lesson in history and visibly enjoyed learning a few interesting facts. They laughed, but the show fell short and ended up a giggle rather than a belly laugh.
Kym Clayton
When: 18 Feb to 19 Mar
Where: The Bally, Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au