★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Holden Street Theatres. 26 Feb 2020
Among existential questions to ponder: how does it feel in the skin of another? Franz Kafka dwelt on this unknowable in The Metamorphosis when man became insect and then stepped up to the hypothetical of beast becoming man. He wrote this contemplation as an address to the scientific community from an ape who had made the transition - and not by choice.
It’s a gruelling and heart-rending story brought into the Holden Street Fringe program by South African actor, Tony B. Miyambo, in a piece adapted and directed by Phala O. Phala.
This work has been collecting acclaim and awards wherever it has been and the story is not going to change here. It is a breathtaking virtuoso piece of theatre, exhausting to watch.
Miyambo, in loose, haphazardly ill-fitting clothes, embodies the ape, Red Peter, with impeccable physicality, from the simian lope to the awkward biped elevations as the hapless creature takes to the human lectern. Miyambo is the ape man, snorting and straining against the confines of his predicament. His transition is caused by his capture and imprisonment, cruelly confined in a cage on a Europe-bound ship. Miyambo’s expressions of his agony and despair sear through the audience, raw and terrible. He explains, in his hoarsely gutteral voice, that he seeks not to emulate man in order to be like man but as the only option he can see to escape incarceration.
The audience is left both dumbfounded and in awe at the end of this hour of theatre. It has been a mighty trip into a hideous hypothetical. It has been a display of masterful acting, It has been a graphic lesson in humanity and an unforgettable experience.
Samela Harris
When: 26 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Musical Rebirth Of A Silent Film Legend. Mercury Cinema. 26 Feb 2020
The Adelaide Fringe throws up some curious events at times, and this is one of them. If you are into silent films and particularly the art of musical accompaniment for them, then this show is for you.
Historically, films from the silent era (1890s-1920s) were accompanied by live music to assist the audience to better understand and reinforce the emotions portrayed by the actors and to better appreciate the context of each scene itself. Musical accompaniment in picture theatres was usually provided by a pianist or an organist, and the music itself was often improvised, perhaps with a basic ‘programme’ devised by the accompanist or, especially when the films became longer, by the movie studio itself. For longer films excerpts from stock classical music or theatrical repertory music was played.
For this event internationally well-known Australian pianist and composer Ashley Hribar accompanies the 1920 German silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. In its day the film became a global hit, and its influence has continued to be felt for a century. David Bowie loved the film and used the design of the film’s bizzare Dali-esque sets to style his North American tour in 1974 and to promote his Diamond Dogs album (think Rebel Rebel). Johnny Depp’s make-up in Tim Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands was based on the look of Cesare, the unwitting somnambulistic murderer in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
The storyline of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari follows the disturbed experiments of hypnotist Dr. Caligari to discover whether a chronic sleep walker (Cesare) can somehow be influenced to commit murders. But the film has a big twist in the end, and the thesis that Caligari is the insane is turned on its head.
Everything in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is distorted and surrealist: the almost psychedelic and geometrically confused set; the extreme and excessive make-up and the equally extreme facial gestures by actors; and the almost manic nature of the lead characters.
With nothing in the film as it seems, Hribar has fertile territory against which to provide a musical accompaniment, and he comes up trumps. His accompaniment is performed on an amplified acoustic piano, a Moog DFAM drum machine, some physical items such as bells, shakers and brushes, a synthesiser, and recorded sounds. The sound palette is extensive, and richly varied, and it enhances the film. There is as much interest in watching Hribar, who wore Edward Scissorhands style makeup, as there is in the film itself. Hribar demonstrates that he is a classy and talented pianist, proving the merits of a thorough classical training. His improvisations are at times perfectly matched to the kinetics of the film, showing the precision and analysis demonstrated by a Foley artist. He employs a variety of musical styles, ranging from jazz inflected carefree passages, through to extravagant arpeggio flourishes in the style of Liszt and Chopin, to modern idioms.
Hribar is oh so impressive, and the film truly comes to life for a modern audience. This is a gem of a show and is recommended.
Kym Clayton
When: 26 to 28 Feb
Where: Mercury Cinema
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Moa, Gluttony. 25 Feb 2020
For an international superstar, our Hans the German remains a loyal, grounded Fringe performer, albeit he has had to move to a bigger, bigger venue to squeeze in the adoring crowds.
Half the joy of going to a Hans show is feeling the love in the room.
Hans does not short-change all that ardour.
He packs his Fringe hour with bling and volume, fun and folly, glamour, and most significantly, the magic of a genuine connection to his audience.
In this new venue with its towering tiered bleachers, he gives the crowd a sweet tease by not appearing on stage when it is clear he is about to make an entrance. Where is his voice coming from? Then, impossibly, he is spotlit way up there at the top of the stairs, shimmering in feathers and sparkle.
Indeed, Hans is not one to be constrained to performance on the stage. A large part of his act takes place in the aisle where he can best make eye contact with his audience - and pick the target of the night. In this case it is Steve who may or may not be from Munno Para but certainly strikes Hans as P&O Cruise ship material. Hans, it turns out, has come to know this new breed of audience in his forays as a cruise ship entertainer.
When not in the aisles, he is playing it fleet-footed up and down the sparkly stairs and doing agile dance routines with his new Lucky Bitches who happen to be male dancers. Yes, he has amped up the camp. His two female backing singers, he reveals, are now called The Rejections, since, he says, they failed an audition for Velvet. The band remains his Ungrateful Bastards. All and sundry work with him to keep the energy and the high spirit whipped right up.
Hans has new topical patter, new good gags, new old numbers and old, old numbers and, especially, his sensational new single, Oxygen, which is a highly innuendoed love song to his accordion. It’s one helluva catchy tune. And, come to think of it, Oxygen is a catchy name for airing on the radio.
Hans fills his Haus of Hans: Disco Spektakular with bright lights and fireworks and, of course, there’s piano virtuoso, a spot of tap, the famous splits on the chairs and lots of costume changes.
He is a showman through and through. As the years roll on, he just gets better at his craft. Fit, funny, impish and quick-witted, big and beautiful.
Samela Harris
When: 25 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: Moa, Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Black Box Theatre, Neil Lothian Hall. 25 Feb 2020
You will not see better theatre at the Adelaide Fringe than A Special Day.
From the very start, the production breaks down the so-called ‘fourth wall’ – that metaphorical divide between stage and audience – and enchants us. It instantly suspends our disbelief and makes us obedient yet willing slaves to its ingenious artifice.
Inspired by the Italian film Una Giornata Particolare (that starred Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni) and performed in English, A Special Day follows a brief encounter between Antonietta (played by Ana Graham) and Gabriele (Antonio Vega). They are neighbours in a Roman apartment block and their accidental meeting takes place on May 6, 1938, when Hitler and his chiefs of staff visit Mussolini in Rome. Antonietta’s husband and six children have all gone to the big event, and despite her being a devotee of Mussolini, she stays behind to continue with the drudgery of housework. In her efforts to retrieve her pet bird that escapes the apartment, Antonietta chances upon Gabriele. They are very much drawn to each other and an unlikely brief romance of sorts unfolds.
Graham and Vega both give rich and layered performances as they gradually expose the essence, complexities, hopes, and fears of their characters. They are both accomplished actors of the highest calibre: timing and pace is impeccable; gestures are never squandered; and body language subtly enriches everything they do. It is a joy to watch them at work.
But this production has an astonishingly ingenious twist. The box set comprises plain black walls and a few items of furniture and household items. Anything else that is needed is literally drawn on the walls by the actors with chalk as and when it is needed: Vega needs a telephone to make a call, so he draws one on the wall; Graham needs a mirror to make-up in, and she draws one. There are numerous such examples – door bell, phonograph, windows, and bird cage to name a few – and it is mesmerising to watch the set gradually develop in front of our eyes. The audience’s imagination is plumbed to its collective depth – disbelief is suspended.
The emotional intensity of the narrative is enhanced by the use of a recorded soundscape that Vega operates by a remote control from a computer that is placed nearby. They also make live sound effects – such as the pet bird, and door bells – which initially seem ‘cutesy’ humorous curiosities but rapidly become an integral part of the theatrical fabric of the entire production.
A Special Day is full of surprises, but essentially it is a beautifully performed and poignant human drama about two unexceptional people living in exceptional times.
Highly recommended.
Kym Clayton
When: 25 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: Black Box Theatre, Neil Lothian Hall
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. The Octagon at Gluttony. 25 Feb 2020
Railed is a western-themed physical theatre/circus romp performed by the highly polished Melbourne-based company Head First Acrobats. They have other events in this year’s Adelaide Fringe, but this one has a narrative, which makes it all the more enjoyable. Of course the eye-boggling acrobatic feats are all important, but having a story line – even an improbable one that is hyper-charged with plain funny sexual innuendo – gives the whole thing some coherence.
But it pays not to overthink these things and just sit back and let the whole entertaining experience swallow you up.
The troupe of four – Cal Harris, Harley Timmermans, Thomas Gorham, and Adam McMahon – play four bank robbing bandits and loudly burst onto the Octagon stage straddling (or is that mounting?) hobby horses. They brazenly flash their stolen loot (from the Bank of Railed, of course) and proceed to revel at the bar. And then follows a rapidly unfolding series of tricks, acrobatic and circus stunts that get progressively more extreme as alcohol fuels their bravado. Fifty minutes flies by and feels like fifteen – this is high energy and hilarious stuff!
Harris makes light of precariously balancing on five stacked chairs, and his balance routine on an unsupported ladder is an absolute highlight, as is Gorehams’s accompanying comedy routines. Harris’s banter throughout the performance – some of it deliberately sotto voce – is resolutely tongue in cheek and deliberately titillating. It too is a highlight that makes this event stand out from others.
Timmermans routine on aerial straps is a mesmerising display of strength, balance, grace and daring. His routine on the Cyr wheel has everyone’s jaw truly dropped!
McMahon’s comical attempt at a card trick involving audience participation was hilarious, particularly when the gag was unexpectedly revisited and finished several routines later.
Perhaps the absolute standout routine in the show involves two of the cowboys exchanging their traditional hats for a horse and a unicorn mask (?!) and participating in playful tomfoolery until their bromance takes on a new level. No spoiler here. Suffice to say alcohol fuelled testosterone leaves them gagging!
Hats off to Head First Acrobats! If you want to take in a circus event that is inoffensively laced with risqué humour, and you aren’t sure which way to turn, then get Railed!
Kym Clayton
When: 25 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: The Octagon at Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au