MELBOURNE FRINGE: Suburbia

Suburbia
26 September 2015
Fringe Hub, in a Honda Jazz
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

From genuinely unnerving to simply gorgeous, Suburbia was one of my favourite experiences at the Fringe.

It's also been sold out for days.

The audience of three – the other two with me were on a date; I hope they stay together for ever and always remember this night – get into the back seat of a Honda Jazz and a silent driver presses play on the CD player and takes off around the lanes, back streets and glad-to-be-in-a-car dead ends.

Along the way we see parts of street scenes of violence, love, comfort and Christmas puddings. Drivers change, we taken to parts of the area that I didn't know existed, and we're eventually asked to get out the car...

I'd have loved to see more of link between the vignettes but part of the experience is imagining the story that might be going on, especially as some the most wonderful moments were when real life intruded: a train going past, a dog on a leash pooing, a balcony of people filming with their phones.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: The Audience Dies at the End

The Audience Dies At The End
28 September 2015
Tuxedo Cat
to 4 October
melbournefringe.com.au

This one runs until Sunday and it's on at the gorgeous new Tuxedo Cat.

Review in SMH/Age.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: 6 Degrees of Ned Kelly

6 Degrees of Ned Kelly
1 October 2015
The 86
to 4 October
melbournefringe.com.au/

Melita Rowston's paternal grandfather told the story of how he nicked Ned Kelly's bones from the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1929. Her maternal great great great grandmother ran a pub in Wangaratta and refused entry to Ned and co. Melita wanted to find out the truth of her family stories. The result is part mystery, part travelogue and a fascinating and funny exploration of Australia's fascination with Kelly.

She uncovers facts like Kelly’s bones were nicked in 1929 and, even though the coffins had been filled with lime and should have been squish, Kelly’s skeleton missed out. And she finds records in Wangaratta hotels from the time. You have to go along to find out more. And that’s before she explores stories like Steve Hart and Dan Kelly surviving the Glenrowan fire that declared them dead.

As she visits historical Kelly gang towns, she shares the wonderfully bizarre memorials – log art and robots – and meets equally wonderful people who are certain that they have less than 6 degrees of separation to Ned Kelly.

If any of these stories are correct, then Melita’s degrees of separation could be as close as two. If you want to get your degrees of separation closer to Kelly, you know you have to see her show.

This was on AussieTheatre.com .

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Hersteria

Hersteria
Hotel Now
29 September 2015
Sokol Melbourne (next to Fringe Hub)
to 2 October 2015
melbournefringe.com.au

Simone French and Cait Spiker are 2014 VCA acting graduates and have created an hilarious, high-res, super-colour look at being a young woman.

There's men and sex in their astro-turf and blow-up pool-toy world but this is an exploration of how women get competitive and how so much of the high-maintenance Barbie-sweet or slut-fierce behaviour is often more about being better than your friends.

And there are free lollies in the foyer!

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Sad Digger Mad Mary

Sad Digger Mad Mary
Hotel Now
29 September2015
Fringe Hub, Parlour Room
to 3 October 2015
melbournefringe.com.au

Would you like some Mary Poppins with your queer deconstruction of the Anzac myth? Hell yes!

Tom Halls is Sad Digger. He's on a beach on Anzac Cove when Mad Mary popper-popping Poppins (also Halls) flies down to give him a spoonful of tough love and perspective.

A bit drag, a bit rant, a bit homage, and a bit WTF, Sad Digger Mad Mary explores how the memories of good Aussie boys fighting for god and country are as far from the truth as Mad Mary's arrival in Anzac Cove.

I'd like to see a bit more reflection on the First World War part of the show, especially as it's made by a man in his 20s, who, even with skinny legs and frizzy hair, would have been sent to fight. And I want to see it developed further.

Here's James Jackson's review on AussieTheatre.com.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Ghost Machine

Laura Davis, Ghost Machine
26 September 2015
Fringe Hub, Son of Loft
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

If you haven't seen Laura Davis before, she's the real deal and then some.

Ghost Machine is stand up that's theatre and story and everything that makes stand up soul-on-stage amazing.

There were times when I didn't know whether to laugh myself sick or get up and hug her.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Exit Everything

Exit Everything

Workers Club, Fitzroy
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

I saw this before the Fringe started in a guitar shop in Frankston.

Singing to Nirvana among guitars at the end of suburbia. It reminded me how important music – and rock – used to be to me.

Here's Keith Gow's review on AussieTheatre.com. 

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Lovely Lady Lump

Lovely Lady Lump
26 September 2015
Fringe Hub, Upstairs at Errol's
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

Fuck cancer and that horrible pale pink. Lana Schwartz was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and assures her audience that she makes it through the show and is alive at the end of her story.

This is an hilariously honest hour about cancer: making jokes in radiotherapy; getting used to strangers look at your boobs; wanting to give the "gift" back; and looking ok on the outside but being constantly exhausted, sore, tender and numb.

And there are boob puppets.

I'm in my 40s and it's frightening how breast cancer becomes a thing that everyone has some direct or indirect experience of. So if you're over 40, please book a mammogram when you book your tickets.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Welcome to Nowhere

Welcome to Nowhere
25 September 2015
Coopers Malthouse, Tower Theatre
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

Five incredible writers (Angus Cerini, Zoey Dawson, Daniel Keene, Fleur Kilpatrick and Morgan Rose), one fantabulous director (Emma Valente) and a heap of amazing students from Monash Uni.

If you have to choose one show this weekend, this is it.

Morgan Rose's piece is the highlight. Up to now, I've been unsure of her work but now I totally get her.

Fleur's is all alieny and full of gentle magical realism and heart, Zoey's is loud and mad, Daniel's is about families and dealing with the death of a father who broke his own family, and Angus's is violent and confronting. What more could you want in a night at the theatre!

Working with incredible students who perform, designed and operate, Emma has made these disparate writings come together as a work that speaks even louder than its parts.

Here's Myf Clark's review on Aussie Theatre.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Isabel and Rachel in Prime!

Isabel and Rachel in Prime!
26 September 2015
Fringe Hub, Upstairs at Errol's
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

The fear sets in when the pre-show music is Enya. What if it's a feminist performance-art trigger-warning sacred-vagina dance?

It is. With cloaks, poetry and a sperm mime performed by the Sisters of the Moon.

But Rachel Davis and Isabel Angus are under those cloaks…

Isabel and Rachel are finding their fresh, unique and insanely hilarious voice as a straight-stooge duo that welcomes new characters each show.

In PRIME!, Deborah (Rachel) has been abandoned by her fellow sister performer so has asked Jono, her 14-year old son (Isabel), to fill in. There’s a Vienetta in the fridge at home if he’s learnt his lines and doesn’t display his “ignorance of female autonomy”. But he wants to do the Jono Show, where a bit is funny because he’s a guy pretending to be a chick.

Their commentary on gender issues, especially that of how young women are perceived compared to young men, is painfully spot on, but it’s the misunderstanding, love and acceptance between the Deborah and Jono that takes it to the next level.


This was on AussieTheatre.com.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Poet Vs. Pageant

Poet Vs. Pageant
26 September 2015
Fringe Hub, Son of Loft
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

Another one that I really loved and am really looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Review in The Age.

And back in 2012, The Poet Laureate still let me write my favourite review ever.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Barbaroi

Barbaroi
23 September 2015
Gasworks
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

The Boardwalk Republic is rocking as a south-side mini Fringe hub at Gasworks.

Review in The Age.

MELBOURNE FRINGE: Hart

HART
She Said Theatre
20 September 2015
Fringe Hub, Parlour Room
to 3 October
melbournefringe.com.au

HART is beautiful, heartbreaking and liberating storytelling.

With old checkerboard lino, faded damask wallpaper and a wooden table, the tiny stage in the Fringe hub Parlour Room looks like a farm kitchen from anytime in the last 200 years. A place where people yarn and gossip and share their stories.  It’s here that Ian Michael tells the stories – including his own – of four Noongar men from, what we call, south-west Western Australia.

From interviews with writers (Senna van Helten and Michael) and testimonies told to the Stolen Germinations’ Testimonies Foundation, the four stories are told in the first person. With Michael keeping the same persona, it’s not always clear who’s story is being told, and it’s this technique that makes it such an extraordinary telling.

Each is so personal – it’s easy to dismiss a generalisation, but much harder to ignore one person’s experience – but their similarities and the discussion of generational trauma and forgiveness make it a story about us and now.

HART opens with sound grabs from our politicians. While there are moments of relief and pride, too many cannot see the shame and ignorance in their statements. What do we have to do to get them to see work – “excellent” art – like this?

It continues with photos of people whose stories could also be told. The photos flash by so quickly that it’s impossible to really see them. This is frustrating but painfully cries out that there are so many stories that have already been lost.

Once told, stories cannot be lost and we have to keep telling them until everyone listens.



The was on AussieTheatre.com.