The Octagon. Gluttony. 28 Feb 2019
Our Hans can do no wrong. We love him as shamelessly as he is shameless. Year after year his doting fans pack his venues to the rafters and fall about in mirth at his every piece of cheeky shtick.
So what can one say that is new or different about his 2019 production?
Only that it is 2019 and he is more famous than ever, the international star who wowed America’s Got Talent and went on to play Las Vegas. He has photos to prove it. Only at the Paris Hotel, he says, but he’s working on getting to play the Bellagio.
Being a man of the moment, Hans, aka Matt Gilbertson, opens the show in Sound-of-Music mode but wearing cute little German pedal pushers and bike helmet and doing perilous loops on a Fringe Lime Scooter. What? No bling?
Don’t be silly. The bling is beneath. He strips down to reveal gorgeous midnight peacock sequins on another clever Mum-made outfit.
Rock the Boat, he sings, and the audience rocks along with him. “Do I know my audience or what?” he brags. Ah, but are there any Germans? Yes. Oh, local Germans. Not as bad as having the German Ambassador on opening night, eh, as happened.
Hans already has cast his eagle eye across the audience. He has spotted the potential targets. He has patter going with his front row, perky teases.
He does something different; does some Sound of Music a la Brecht and Weil. Stunning. Applause. Applause.
A bit of tap. Costume change. Feathers. Some topical jokes. More audience chiding. Some polka.
Time for audience participation. He hauls up the prepared victims to frock up as dancers. It is funny but he does not take the audience humour to the risqué lengths of yore. He may utter a lot of expletives but he’s family friendlier these days. It’s the 4.45pm timeslot, he says.
Hans is a bundle of unbridled energy. It is hot as hell outside on this heatwave afternoon, but Hans is hotter hot stuff. He is a stomping, pivoting, whirling, marching, shimmying whirlwind. He’s on accordion. He’s on piano. He’s belting out songs with his bigger and absolutely marvellous Ungrateful Bastards band with its sensational pianist backup singer. There are no Lucky Bitches this year. Hans dances alone. He does the splits alone. Some men in the audience might miss the dancing girls, but Hans doesn't seem to. He is Adelaide’s favourite home-grown superstar. He’s what his audience wants and he gives them an ever-loving all.
Samela Harris
5 Stars
When: 28 Feb to 17 Mar
Where: The Octagon at Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
RCC Fringe. RCC Fringe – Elder Hall. 28 Feb 2019
The British trio, The Tiger Lillies, was formed in 1989 by singer-songwriter Martyn Jacques. Adrian Stout replaced the original bassist in 1995 while drummer Jonas Golland joined up in 2015, so they’ve been a fairly stable combo for a while. The Tiger Lillies have been nominated for many awards but the highlight was an Olivier award and four other nominations for the adolescent-loved musical Shockheaded Peter in 2002. Their reputation precedes them. They are famous for their ghoulish make-up and costumes, accomplished yet understated musicianship, and macabre themes. Apparently they used to shock people. Commentators attribute stylistic influences toBertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill –Weimar Berlin cabaret in general – as well as gypsy, circus and British music hall. There could not be a better venue for the Lillies than the Gothic Elder Hall.
Having never seen the Lillies, one finds their new act, The Tiger Lillies Present Edgar Allan Poe’s Haunted Palace, completely underwhelming. The musical trio is aptly aided by a female and a male actor performing in a narrative which one does not fully grasp except for references to Edgar Allan Poe’s large and famous oeuvre of poems. Within the context of a Victorian theatre tradition, a cavalcade of imagery is implemented by superbly timed digital moving and still mega-graphics. Weird and wonderfully ethereal musical arrangements, and instruments, are fascinating. But the songs are individually monotonous and collectively too similar, always delivered in Jacques’s falsetto, and often finishing with a smug and showy flourish. The performance work by the couple is a lot of action without clarity of purpose with an unsatisfying and ambiguous denouement. The show falls in the crack betwixt cheap horror tricks appealing to an adolescent crowd – which they do – and having sufficient variety to keep an experienced theatergoer engaged. Applause for each song fades as the night wears on and seems weak following the confused ending.
One suspects Lillies’ fans might find this a bit of a let-down, while more than an hour is too long for the newbies.
David Grybowski
2 Stars
When: 26 Feb to10 Mar
Where: RCC Fringe – Elder Hall
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Ignition Entertainment. GC Underground - Dom Polski Centre. 1 Mar 2019
The many-faceted Greg Fleet is back in town, this time bringing life to the GC Underground, which is definitely not the easiest venue on the Fringe. Gluttony and The Garden may have the roaring Superloopers but the GC at the Dom Polski Centre has boom-doof-clanks from elsewhere in the venue. That Fleet and his cast work clearly and good-naturedly with this interference speaks only of their professionalism. One of the cast, Jasmine Fairbairn, makes a gag of it. “What noisy neighbours you’ve got,” she cracks to Clayton Storey who is playing the young Greg Fleet.
But nothing can take away from this charming piece of extremely intimate theatre.
This is not a Love Song is “memory theatre” in its most literal form. It is the living memory of the live actor performed around and with him onstage. It is the haunting of Fleet’s mind for the things he did and didn’t do when he was younger, the way he mismanaged what should have been a beautiful relationship. It is about youthful perversity and self-indulgence, immaturity and stubbornness and about how one rashly emotional moment may change one’s destiny. It is also about songs and the way they may speak for us all.
In this strange little underground theatre, the play is set on a dais stage with a sofa-bed, a desk and chair, some boxes of vinyls and an empty spirits bottle. Therein, Fleet explains his tale of personal yore and, from time to time, attempts to edit it to mute some of the more painful moments. Embodying his remembrances are Clayton Storey and Canadian actress Jasmine Fairbairn. They play it with such naturalism that, at first, one thinks it is all a bit under-rehearsed. But it is more about the mottled nature of memory and, at times, the prosaic content of relationship-building. Fleet sits at the desk taking notes as they enact his past. He prowls their perimeter and sometimes hunches over the back of the couch where they are sitting. He offers commentary. He suffers pangs of regrets, so immediate they are visceral. It seems he is making old wounds bleed.
And yet, it is not a rare story. It’s a universality thing; immature male screws up his life. Mature female has her life screwed up by immature male.
It is all in the writing and the staging. It is really a lovely little theatre work.
And, not identified at the time or in the promo material, is a wonderful silver-haired old rocker on guitar. He gives another important layer to this show playing beautifully and also, at times, singing the chart of songs which trace the window of memory Fleet has opened to his audience. Everyone sings, not always very well. Everyone is very croaky on the first night, due to a shared throat virus. Fleet says he hopes it will pass quickly for the rest of the season. Hear hear.
But it is not enough to undermine this intelligent little Fringe gem.
Samela Harris
4 Stars
When: 1 to 10 Mar
Where: Grand Central Underground - Dom Polski Centre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
RCC Fringe. RCC Fringe – The Attic. 27 Feb 2019
One’s first task is to find The Attic! It’s actually the old UniBar on the 6th floor of Union House. Inside, the crowd’s anticipation is palpable. Perhaps you have seen the famous photo of Pussy Riot mounting the Lobnoye Mesto of Red Square in Moscow, waving a banner, wearing balaclavas and shaking their fists angrily at the post-Soviet oligarchic system? If not, it’s in the RCC program.
The Russian Orthodox Church expressly supported Putin in his emperor-like bid for an unprecedented third term in the 2012 presidential election. And the pussies rioted. The “iconic Russian feminist punk rock performance art collective” smuggled a guitar and amp into a church and danced furiously. Thrown out rather banally, they thought that was the end of it. But three of the five revolutionaries were later arrested, convicted of “organized hooliganism” and two were sent off to Gulag-like imprisonment. One of the jailbirds, Maria Alyokhina, wrote an account of the experience – Riot Days - and this show – lead by Maria - is a musical and visual interpretation of the events of the book.
At the beginning of the show, the Russian producer explains that there is no musical entity called Pussy Riot as such, but that for the first time, four key members of the “iconic Russian feminist punk rock performance art collective” will be playing together on stage. This is history in the making! They are accompanied by a couple of menfolk.
Even if you are not bowled over by the hard-driving, deep bass throb of post-punk apocalyptic thumping by a bunch of emos, one must appreciate what these brave women have done. They took on one of the most powerful authoritarian governments in the world because they were mad as hell and weren’t going to take it any more, and are definitely unbowed by the business.
The music is chaotic and raw. A narrative is shouted in spoken Russian and English surtitles overprint the still and moving image media which is, unfortunately, a little difficult to see in The Attic, and a shame, because it is the heart of the matter. The material is graphic and a terrific insight into the Russian justice system, such as it is. The show is tetchy, edgy, dangerous and unpredictable – things could spiral out of control.
While not accomplished art, it is compelling performance work, and exciting. A unique insight into the events of those dangerous days. The stuff Fringe is made of. Bravo!
David Grybowski
4 Stars
When: 27 Feb to 3 Mar
Where: RCC Fringe – The Attic
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Empire Theatre at Gluttony. 27 Feb 2019
Beautifully balanced in killer heels, poured into skinny pants that show all his curves, and sporting a gorgeous emblazoned haute couture diaphanous jacket, Justin Clausen looks the classy diva and for an hour he belts out famous songs made famous by fabulous divas! He’s every woman who matters!
Accompanied by Jamie Burgess on electric piano, the pair perform songs by Tina Turner, Tina Arena, Olivia Newton John, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Cher to name a few. Burgess capably supports Clausen, including contributing to the humorous patter in between songs but which doesn’t always hit the mark.
The show begins tentatively but hit its straps with an excellent rendition of I Know Him So Well from the musical Chess that was made famous by two more divas – Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson – in 1985.
Burgess and Clausen know how to whip the audience into shape, and soon have everyone clapping hands (and in time!) throughout I’m Every Woman made famous by Whitney Houston in the 1978 film The Bodyguard.
Although the show is a cabaret act, there is a serious moment as well. Clausen bares his soul and explains how he reacted to his mother abandoning him and his family when he was a boy. He explains how he went from being a happy kid who loved to sing songs with his mum – both trying to emulate divas – to having to find his own way as a solo act. It’s a touching moment and Clausen uses the story as an introduction to Tracy Chapman’s Sorry, but it felt a little contrived and it had the effect of dampening the energy of the show, especially at a time when both performers are riding on a high.
But the audience is sent out on a happy note, and Clausen’s impersonation of Cher is worth the price of admission by itself.
The show needs a little tightening, but it’s a good fun, feel good show.
Kym Clayton
When: 27 Feb to 3 Mar
Where: Empire Theatre at Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au