The oddest thing about Fag Boy and the Married Guy is that the plot is detailed in its program guide description (and the title does away with the need for the first few minutes of the show), so there are no surprises and no tension if you've read it. Maybe don't read the program guide if you want to see it.
Meanwhile, also at La Mama, Cock isn't what its title suggests.
Written and devised with his cast (Hikaru Freeman, Daniel Kilby, Josh Dore, Richard Manzart, Grant Morrisey), Kevin McGreal's work is an experiment in form that uses the unique talents of his cast to look at questions about gay male culture from different perspectives. And, of course, it's not just about cock.
Using dance, song and monologue, some pieces work better than others and as a whole the work needs some shaping, but it's made from the hearts, frustrations and loves of its makers, which is why I haven't written any cock jokes.
The worst thing about this is discovering that I missed some really great performers (like Dr Brown and Tim Spencer); the best is being reminded of the brilliant folk I didn't miss.
BRON: There have been so many great things I've seen this year I couldn't possibly choose just one!
I though Nicola Gunn's Hello, My Name Is was the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time. Full of ideas that I wish I'd thought of and a structure that shows an intimate knowledge of and attention to theatrical craft.
Similarly Tim Spencer's Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine was elegant and restrained, intricate whilst accessible and possessing a very dry wit. The performance of Not Nick was extraordinary and I actually gasped during the show – which rarely happens to me at the theatre.
Some other highlights include The Suitcase Royale's Zombatland, Dr Brown's Befrdfgth and all of the artists I get to work with, present and produce as part of the Last Tuesday Society. Youse are all inspirational and ace.
SM: Bron is half of the mad genius that produces the Last Tuesday Society. I grew up imagining life as a boho arty person: LTS is better than my dreams. Seriously, if you haven't been to a Last Tuesday gig, what are you doing? OK, so I miss a lot cos they are on Tuesday nights and I'm asleep when the good stuff happens, but I made it to the Xmas Office party and never has a better Xmas party been had.
Without a second's hesitation my favourite Xmas party moment was the rat running across the rafters. It wasn't a performance; a rat ran across a beam over the stage. It was brilliant. But was it as brilliant as Bron's lithurgical-cum-rock-eisteddfod-nativity jazz ballet? Nah. And I don't know that any Xmas performance will ever be so glorious.
CELESTE: I am the kind of person who lurks around in the shadows of comedy shows desperately hoping not to be seen or acknowledged, watching other poor suckers get picked on for their glasses or laugh or job... My favourite moment this year was having Dr Brown completely turn this fear on its head. I saw Dr Brown's Befrdfgth four times this year in its festival tour and found myself completely drawn in and actually desirous of being noticed by the irreverent clown and wanting to become a part of the ridiculous world playing out in front of me. It wasn't a fanatic thing either, as speaking to Phil (Dr Brown) doesn't make my knees knock or lips tremble. It is the feeling that I am enjoying myself so much that I am so much a part of the scene in front of me that I find it hard to hold myself back from becoming a part of it. Thanks Dr Brown!
SM: Celeste's inspired and beautiful direction of Choir Girl ensured that the girl was joined by a choir (it was written as a solo piece), and the finals gala of the Short and Sweet Theatre program showed just how much she'd re-invigorated this program. Keep an eye an her.
DAN: Wild Duck. Anita Hegh's breakdown was absolutely devastating. An Enemy of the People. An almost shockingly timely play (particularly given its extreme age) and profoundly affecting. Lipsynch. Nine hours of theatre in three (?) different languages. It was spectacle that packed an emotional punch. More Sex Please, We're Seniors. If only because it mitigated how utterly terrible the other major new musical which premiered in Melbourne this year was. Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine. A breathtaking exploration of the world's oldest profession: entertaining. Pompeii L.A. Everyone else has cast their billets doux on this show; so, what they said.
SM: Glitter and bad pop can bring the world together and at Dan's Fringe show, Eurotrashed, I got to sit inin a room with people who also wanted to sing along to "Euphoria" and make Jedward jokes.
MELBOURNE FRINGE 2012 Eurotrashed Daniel Kilby
4 October 2012
The Butterfly CLub
to 7 October melbournefringe.com.au
Damn you Daniel Kilby! Maudit sois-tu! It took weeks to get Loreen's "Euphoria" out of my head and now it's back and it's hard to write when I'm doing the dance and looking for my own dancing ninja.
If you have no idea what I'm on about, then I'm reaching a much broader demographic than I thought. I'm talking about the annual event that stops my world, the event whose delayed finals broadcast made me turn Facebook off for the first time in years.
Eurovision. Gay Christmas. It's impossible not to love this annual celebration of white suits, glitter, wind machines and atrociously catchy pop music that's been running since 1954. Only countries in the European Broadcasting Union can compete (which includes non-European countries; I don't understand so please don't ask), but that doesn't make it any less popular in the rest of the world and it's watched by squillions.
Dan's a fan with whom I can never compare. I've forgotten who sang what by the time we get to voting at the Eurovision party; Dan knows who scored what in 2003, has all the CDs and knows the lyrics.
He also knows the international rules of the Eurovision drinking game and Eurotrashed is a celebratory deconstruction of songs that define when and why we drink for Eurovision. If you're only drinking for white suits, key changes and fire, you have a lot to learn and have possibly been far too sober for Eurovisions past.
And he sings these songs. Just him. No dancers, no inexplicable creatures, no commentary from the wonderful Julia and Sam. Of course he is wearing a white suit and suitably glittered shoes, but who doesn't? The unexpected delight/horror is hearing the lyrics (does anyone really deserve to know what Jedward are singing?) and discovering that some songs are really quite good, and others worse than remembered.
As a first run show, it's under rehearsed and Dan needs to relax and trust that what he's doing is going to be loved. Eurotrashed must go to Midsumma after its Fringe tryout and work with a writer and director will give it a deserved 12 points. What made his 2011 show, Things I learned in high school, so lovely was the personal stories and the chance to get to know Dan. This is missing in Eurotrashed – and I suspect that there are some very good stories that result from being drunk and covered in glitter. It also needs the obscure Eurovision trivia ramped up and a sense of the scope of this event for those who aren't as obsessed.
Meanwhile, there's one show left (Sunday). If your a Eurovision tragic, you'll get it. The hardest thing is not singing along. (Please make the next run a sing-a-long.) If you don't know Eurovision, shame on you, but Eurotrashed might inspire you to watch next year. And regardless, you get to hang at the glorious Butterfly Club, where watching the cocktails being made is as fun as watching the shows.
I was late for Daniel's show (damn you daylight savings), but running down the corridor I heard a lot of laughing and a song about fucking. Apparently, it's what everything is all about.
So I knew I was going to like it.
Daniel made it through catholic high school as the only gay boy (that he knew of), but getting through a music conservatorium education when he was into show tunes and art songs was another challenge altogether, even when he vipped out his Wagner.
But it took a few more years to kill those damn self-doubt vampires – thank you [title of show] – and realise that he so has a story to tell, that the best way to tell it is through slightly obscure show tunes and by believing people are going to want to hear it.
Like the best, Daniel has the help of a great pianist and he opens up his heart to tell some tales that he'd rarely shared. Good stories need truth and it's in those moments of honesty that performers and audiences bond. When storytellers are brave, we see how meaningless our superficial differences are. Who hasn't decided in seconds that the cutie we've said hi to is our happily-ever-after, and we all did things in year 10 that we didn't tell our families ... until our solo cabaret shows.
The Things I Learned in High School is on at Longplay in North Fitzroy until Saturday. Forget the Fringe hub for a night, grab a drink and a meal and share your love of song (and fucking) with Daniel.
I was running late for Daniel's show (damn you daylight savings), but running down the corridor I heard a lot of laughing and a song about fucking. Apparently, it's what everything is all about.
So I knew I was going to like it.
Daniel made it through catholic high school as the only gay boy, but getting through a conservatorium education when he was into show tunes and art songs was another challenge altogether. It's taken him a few more years to kill those damn self-doubt vampires – thank you [title of show] – and realise that he so has a story to tell and that the best way to tell it is through slightly obscure show tunes.
Like the best, Daniel opens up his heart and tells some tales that he probably thought he'd keep quiet. This is the stuff that bonds performers and audiences. In those moments we know that most of our differences are meaningless, because we all did things in year 10 that we didn't tell our families ... until our solo cabaret shows.
The Things I Learned in High School is on at Longplay in North Fitzroy until Saturday. Forget the Fringe hub for a night, grab a drink and a meal and share your love of song (and fucking) with Daniel.
No Matter Where You Go, There You Are RSVP, Jennifer Williams, Cathie Clinton, Yvonne Coughlan
2 October 2011
Clifton Creative Arts Centre, 314 Church St, Richmond
to 9 October
I just got in from this show and had the kind-of-brilliant and kind-of-disappointing experience of being in an audience of three. But I'm stressing the brilliant, because it's a night of storytelling that I really can't compare to anything else and I'm so glad that I went. (Watching Doctor Who so nearly won...)
So no matter what you're hoping to see this week, please make time for this.
I'll give it some more words tomorrow.
Spring Awakening
Monash Uni Student Theatre and Monash University Academy of Performing Arts
1 October 2011
Alexander Theatre, Monash University
to 8 October
www.monash.edu/mapa/
With over 60 Monash Uni students and recent graduates involved in every element of this production, it would be tedious to mention everyone who helps make this Spring Awakening so memorable; so, you'll have to read the program – and the only way to do that is to see this show.
.....
Spring Awakening is one of my favourite musicals from recent years and MUST's production is – I have to say it – a must. You might see versions with slicker dance and more mature voices, but you won't catch one with more heart.
And, really, the Clayton campus is a 20-minute drive from the city and there's parking at the door. Don't use its distance as an excuse.
As the fortyfivedownstairs program continues to bring us companies and writers who know how important it is to tell our stories and are willing to take the kind of risks that create amazing theatre, Scott Gooding's happy ending for Vicious Fish's Belbel Project is a satisfying hour of Fourplay.
A long-term couple wanting change have a remarkably cool new bed. With crisp purple sheets and geek-perfect proportions, it's ready to break in – but they don't want to fuck with destiny, so he invites a hot young man and she invites a hot young woman...
Now, before anyone gets excited about watching bored middle-class swingers, know that Fourplay's far more interesting and the only writer resorting to cheap puns is me.
There are still more Melbourne Fringe artists profiles on AussieThearte.com this week including:
Anna Lumb, who I first saw hoop twirling at a Last Tuesday Society gig in Fitzroy, and who brings so much more than mere skill to her performances. See I HEART Jack with World Around Us II for a pretty brilliant Fringe double feature.
Dan Kilby, whose first ever Fringe show opens on Tuesday and who gave my favourite answer on all the profiles: If you had access to the TARDIS, what performance would you see first? Carrie on Broadway, because I am a gay. I'm now adding Carrie to my TARDIS wish list, because I'm a hag.
Spencer Bignall, whom I'm going to see perform for the first time tonight at Spring Awakening.
Finding shows in the Fringe Guide is one of the more difficult tasks facing Melbourne theatre lovers.
There's nothing wrong with grabbing a handful of M&Ms, throwing them on the diary page and seeing all the shows that a red choc landed on.
But, as I read through the guide, facey invites and emails, there are shows that grab my attention and I'll putting up some themed Fringe suggestions with links to their Fringe page.
I haven't seen this company, but I've heard some pretty good things about them.
The all-female collective is diving in and joyfully examining contemporary sexism, gender politics and constructed identity. Before anyone dares roll their eyes and screams that we live in a gender-equal society, please remember that women are still under represented as directors and leaders in commercial and funded theatre, and that there is a generation of young women who are willing to subject themselves to pain and unnecessary surgery to make their vaginas look like they belong on a Barbie doll. And don't get me started on the word "actress".
Their show with a very long title has also been mentored by the Melbourne Fringe Outside Eye program.
And, as a bonus, their performance space is a grotty Fitzroy sharehouse.
Daniel is presenting his first solo show ever. This is one of the wonderful things about Fringe festivals: emerging artists can use the umbrella support of the festival to get seen and show us their stuff.
Some of them will be awesome. Some will learn a lot of lessons. But none can become our favourites unless they get in front of an audience.
Daniel's show is about those coping mechanisms we develop in high school that still form the basis of our ongoing personality disorders. We all have them. (I don't dance in public because some bitch laughed at my dancing in my year 9 fashion parade.)
It's been many years since Daniel was at high school, but he still has to figure out how much of his education was a lie. Are there really nine planets in our solar system and does being gay make him inherently evil?
There's also some songs, pianist Trevor Jones and a subtle Dr Who reference.
And you'll get to hang at out that the very hip Long Play bar and performance space in North Fitzroy.
