What Melbourne loved in 2016, part 15

All that's left is me. Tomorrow I'll publish my 2016 list of the shows I loved, but it's time for some moments.

This year marked 10 years of me reviewing. I had a month off to breathe.

I only saw 165 (or 20+ more if I count events with multiple performances) shows this year. There were also less reviews but a lot more tweets. And I was teaching arts journalism; meeting and reading young writers who want to write about the arts is as good as it gets. It's been a shitty year for arts writers, but there are plenty of voices who are going to be there and demand that they are heard. And I love teaching.

Selfie. Not giving a single fuck in Ubud in November.

Plus a special thanks to Faster Pussycat Productions for the new logo.

SM's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: Having this series welcomed back after a year off was awesome. Getting the emails and messages and talking to people about it IRL reminded me that we are a strong and active community.

Like so many others, I was a bit over it this year: funding cuts, Fairfax cuts, creative and writing tertiary courses being branded "lifestyle choices", far too many people still excluded from having a voice on main stages, boring conservative mainstage programs, and criticism of that dullness being ignored. The arguments I began to have in the 1980s are still happening; it's fucking depressing.

Then in the last couple of weeks I saw:

• Blaque Showgirls at Malthouse. An Indigenous fuck you to every condescending, well-meaning and earnest statement about acceptance and respect. Laughed until I cried.
• Burning Doors by Belarus Free Theatre at Arts Centre Melbourne. Some people are using theatre to save lives and change their world. Some people risk so much more than a couple of dull hours to go to the theatre.
• Hot Brown Honey at Arts Centre Melbourne. Standing screaming ovation for rejecting everything that denies women and especially women of colour a voice. 
• Briefs at Arts Centre Melbourne. The other side of the Hot Brown Honey coin. What this show said about gender and masculinity needs to be bottled and drunk by everyone who tells someone to "man up".

Maybe there's a lot of hope for our main stages in 2017.

And throw in Moira Finucane telling a room of cheering people that "Art does change culture and it does change lives", at a fundraiser where Finucane and Smith raised enough money to create the kind of art that does change lives.

Going to Coranderrk to see Coranderrk and hearing the voices that spoke there 135 years ago.

Being totally relaxed lying in bath in the Embiggen Books window for Between Two Lines at Melbourne Fringe (Anna Nalpantidis with Elizabeth Brennan).

Coranderrk at Coranderrk

Between Two  Lines

iOTA singing "Life on Mars" at the Melbourne Festival Bowie concert.

Watching children cut Cameron Woodhead's hair at Haircuts by Children at Melbourne Festival.

Cameron Woodhead at Haircuts by Kids

Having no idea what was funny at Two Dogs at the Melbourne Festival.

The moment when Joshua Ladgrove decided that Neal Portenza couldn't do his scripted show when there were only nine people in the audience and The Age reviewer was in the front row. 

Watching a stage of naked women dancing in Nic Green's Trilogy at Arts House.

The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child reading that wasn't a reading because it was just a group of friends hanging out and reading out loud. (Thanks Ben McKenzie.)

Getting a bag of "FUCK YOU" candy hearts at Dion in the Melbourne Fringe.

Dion

The best way to read a play

The whole audience breathing in together when the black world became white, and again when the white world dropped to reveal Hamer Hall in Back to Back's Lady Eats Apple at Melbourne Festival.

Dancing in an industrial fridge in a hotel dressing gown as Otto and Astrid sang "Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter" at the Finucane and Smith Christmas Cocktail party.

Otto and Astrid

Robbing a bank with Richard Watts and Fleur Kilpatrick at Pop up Playground's Small Time Criminals.

Fleur Kilpatrick, me, Kevin Turner, Richard Watts at Small Time Criminals

Running late to see Pound It, walking down the stairs and wondering who that amazing voice could be coming out of – then seeing Bridget Everett and knowing that I was going to love every second of her show.

Every tweet from Candy Bowers.

Hanging out in Ai Weiwei's cat room for kids at the National Gallery of Victoria at 6.30 am during White Night.

Ai Weiwei's cats at NGV

What SM is looking forward to in 2017: Whatever it brings, everything else that everyone else has said, and The Book of Mormon.

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8
part 9
part 10
part 11
part 12
part 13
part 14
2014
2013
2012

What Melbourne loved in 2016, part 4

Today's moments are from three men whose theatre voices are bold, challenging and totally their own: Daniel Lammin, Stephen Nicolazzo and David Finnigan. We're going to see a lot more of their work of in the years to come

Daniel Lammin
director, writer, obsessive collector

Daniel Lammin's 30th birthday present-to-self selfie

DL's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: No piece of theatre this year hit me with as much force as Picnic at Hanging Rock. The book is my favourite Australian book and the film is my favourite Australian film, both having had an enormous impact on me growing up. I also love the work that Matt Lutton, Tom Wright, Zoë Atkinson and Paul Jackson have done together in the past, so consequently my expectations were enormous. The result though exceeded my expectations beyond my wildest dreams. The production captured the concerns of Lindsay’s story, the sexual repression of young women and the Australian landscape’s rejection of us as an invading force, and crafted it into an impressive work of art in its own right, pulsing from Matt’s rigorous direction, Zoë and Paul’s remarkable design, the cast’s tremendous performances and Tom’s diabolical, awe-inspiring text.

It also understood the most misunderstood aspect of the story, that at its heart it is a work of horror, one that crawls under your skin and festers there for the rest of your life.

Watching Picnic was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had in the theatre, both because of what was happening on the stage and what was happening in the audience, a mass of people battered and thrown by the uncompromising force of what they were seeing, jumping and screaming and gasping in unison. The teenager sitting next to me literally jumped out of his chair at a moment of sublime theatrical horror, and sat on the edge of his seat for the rest of the night. It was a perfectly executed theatrical event, one that shows tremendous respect for its source material but with the imagination and rigour to be a great work of art on its own. It left me breathless, exhilarated, disturbed, in awe and in tears, and like the book and film before it, left an enormous and life-changing impact on me and my work as a theatre maker. I confidently rank it as one of the best pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen.

What DL is looking forward to in Melbourne theatre in 2017: Unsurprisingly, I’m incredibly excited to see how the same team approach The Elephant Man. It’s a beautiful story but a theatrically complicated one, and if they apply the same rigour to this one that they applied to Picnic, it could be something really special. I also can’t wait to catch CULL during the Comedy Festival (I missed it during the Fringe and regretted it enormously), and to see what She Said Theatre does next – their work is just getting better and better, and continues to be some of the most important being made.

SM: Daniel wrote and directed Awakening for MUST (performed at Trades Hall). It was an adaption of Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind (not the musical also based on it) and was one of the most moving and gut-punching pieces of theatre I saw this year. Another MUST show that nowhere near enough people saw. I really hope that someone gives this show another season because it's heartbreaking to think that it won't be seen again – with the same cast please.

Brilliant update: Awakenings has been picked up by the super-wonderful fortyfivedownstairs, so put 10–21 May in your diary now. Book here.

And while you're there, look at the at what else is coming there next year. What a season!

Stephen Nicolazzo
director,  Little Ones Theatre; likes Madonna 

Stephen Nicolazzo

SN's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: Hands down, my favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016 were: Cain and Abel (The Rabble ), Gonzo (St Martin’s/Malthouse) and Terror Australis (Leah Shelton at Melbourne Fringe). These works were brave, beautiful, and furious. They were focussed on the craft of visual story telling and the presentation of complex political perspectives in cheeky, adventurous and moving ways.

All were born from Australia’s most courageous female artists: Emma Valente, Kate Davis, Clare Watson and the divine Leah Shelton, and all were a formally adventurous master class in contemporary theatre practice. Finally, each of these works had exquisite craft on display, which to me is an integral part of theatre making. They didn’t bend the rules simply to provoke. They bent them to explore craft and courage.

This is what I want in my theatre. My personal moment of 2016 was getting to tour Dangerous Liaisons for the last time. It has been two years since Dangerous opened at MTC Neon, and it has grown substantially since then, blossomed into a work that I am extremely proud of. It is so rare to develop a work after its initial presentation and in the case of this one, it has been such a unique gift to refine, reassess, and nuance. So very grateful to all of the festivals and presenters who took a risk on our huge mother fucker of a show and to the audiences across the country who have fallen in love with it.

What SN is looking forward to in Melbourne theatre in 2017: The Theatre Works 2017 season. CAN.NOT.WAIT.

SM: I'll see any theatre Stephen makes, but I missed the return of Dangerous Ls and I missed the Madonna night that he programmed for Melbourne Fringe – but I loved lying in bed and watching the pics and videos of it on Twitter.

If you want to support Little Ones Theatre's Midsumma show, donate here.

David Finnigan
playwright

Georgie McAusley and David Finnigan. Photo by Sarah Walker

DF's favourite moment in Melbourne theatre in 2016: This might not be the moment, but I found myself really, really sinking into Nat Randall's The Second Woman performance at Next Wave. I went along intending to stay for a few minutes, found myself there for an hour or two at least. It was weirdly satisfying, so many dimensions to it, but it was sitting afterwards with Jane Howard while she unpacked it for me, that was the real lightbulb moment. I dug that. Maybe that's the combination: good artwork, good analysis, good chats with good humans. That's all you need.

What DF is looking forward to in Melbourne theatre in 2017: I'm looking forward to the major companies retreating further out of touch, the existing funding structures coming apart at the seams and the whole system continuing its histrionic slow-motion collapse, so we can hurry up and see what weird alternatives emerge out of the edges.

SM: I loved seeing Kill Climate Deniers at the Melbourne Fringe, but my moment was reading the play. I was sitting in a cafe in Avalon on Sydney's north coast (which is exactly like the awesome web series Avalon Now, made by real estate site) eating a huge salad with purple cabbage, kale and every super food – while listening to a woman ask why they didn't have a quinoa salad (nuts weren't good enough protein for her) – then being recommended a chocolate cake that was pretty much melted dark chocolate and dates. It was like I was living in the world of Kill Climate Deniers; I WAS in the world of Kill Climate Deniers – and willingly being part of it.

(PS: I love being sent new scripts to read.)

part 1
part 2
part 3
2014
2013
2012

What to see on the last day of the Fringe

Melbourne Fringe

What to see on the last day of the Melbourne Fringe?

Tessa Waters

Most of the Melbourne Fringe is over BUT not all of it. I'm off to La Mama to see Blaaq Catt and Hart. 

Those shows are sold out, but you can still see Neal Portenza...Tracey at 8.15 and Tessa Waters: WERQ in Progress at 7.15 at The Courthouse Hotel – where there's also good food, good beer, board games and $10 Espresso Martinis.

I've seen 38 shows this Fringe. If I can* get from Carlton to North Melbourne, I am going to try to get to Tessa and Neal AGAIN. Tessa's in a work that changes every night and I really didn't see what Neal's Tracey has turned into.

And they are two of the funniest and smartest clowns around.

#SeeTessaAndNealTonight

(*My La Mama show finishes 5 mins before Tessa's starts, so unlikely.)

Review: Neil Portenza ... Tracey

Melbourne Fringe
Neal Portenza has run out of room for his full show title. Tracey
Neal Portenza
29 September 2016
Courthouse Hotel
to 2 October
melbournefringe.com.au

Neal Portenza. Photo by Kristy Sheilds

Even though The Courthouse Hotel has $10 espresso martinis and is a 30 second walk from The North Melbourne Town Hall, the Fringe crowds haven't drifted over.

As the Town Hall shows have closed, TODAY is Melbourne's opportunity to make Neal Portenza has run out of room for his full show title. Tracey a standing-room only performance.

If you regret it, I'll shout you an espresso martini and a turkish delight.

My review is on The Age/SMH.

We will forever be known as the Portenza Nine.

Review: Black is the Colour

Melbourne Fringe
Black is the Colour
Deafferent Theatre
25 September 2016
Meeting Room, Arts House
to 1 October
melbournefringe.com.au

My review is on The Age/SMH.

Review: Kill Climate Deniers

Melbourne Fringe
Kill Climate Deniers
Clan Analogue
303
melbournefringe.com.au
killclimatedeniers.com

A version of this is on The Age/SMH. 

In a Northcote bar, liberal lefties sculled their boutique beers and leapt to their feet to dance and cheer for a play called Kill Climate Deniers. Could Andrew Bolt be right?

At an Australian Parliament House gala, Fleetwood Mac perform – it’s filled with music jokes and has a joyous retro techno soundtrack – and armed eco terrorists attack.

To ensure no wasted taxpayer dollars, writer David Finnigan (from 2013’s controversial Kids Killing Kids) performs this version – it’s been a radio play, an album and an audio tour of Parliament House – using milk crates, an overhead projector and DJ Reuben Ingall.

Finnigan performs all the roles (all female) and interweaves the fiction with the real story about the reaction of a politician and Melbourne commentator Bolt to the play’s development funding from the ACT government.

Its satire is bitingly sharp and its truth could easily be satire. Both hurt with their absurdity.

PS. Remember that I'm tweeting piles of #melbfringe @sometimesmelb.

Review: Bliss

Melbourne Fringe

BLISS!

Isabel Angus

Courthouse Hotel

to 25 September

melbournefringe.com.au

My review is on The Age/SMH. 

Isabel is doing character comedy (and gender analysis) like no one else.

PS. Remember that I'm tweeting piles of #melbfringe @sometimesmelb.

And here's  The Jono Show to watch at home. 

Review: Pressure Down

Pressure Down
Hayley Butcher
13 September 2016
The Butterfly Club
to 18 September
melbournefringe.com.au

Hayley Butcher in Pressure Down

My review is on The Age/SMH.

Melbourne Fringe 2016

Melbourne Fringe 2016
15 September – 2 October
melbournefringe.com.au

Andi Snelling in Deja Vu

After reviewing at the last ten Melbourne Fringes, I'm having a break from blog reviews this year. My review brain was oozing out of my ears.

I'm still seeing lots of shows, will have some reviews in The Age and will be tweeting, hopefully in perfect quoteables.

Twitter #melbfringe is such a fun hashtag to hang out at. You get immediate responses to shows, can find out about last-minute ticket offers, and get to join conversations with other fringe-mad people about art, the universe and the best cheap eats near every venue.

I've met some of the absolute coolest people at #melbfringe, who I now know IRL.

And, there are super-cool writers seeing shows for AussieTheatre.com.

I am trying to answer every email; if I missed yours, send it again.

However it is impossible to see every show. It's impossible to see all the shows I really want to see. Then there are the shows that I didn't know I wanted to see until I hear how great they are...