Writer mostly
Prayers to Broken Stone
12–23 September
Gasworks Arts Park
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| Matthew Sini |
If you could invite anyone to your show (and you knew they would come), who would it be?
Assorted Doomsday Preppers, Oprah, Paul Capsis, French pop singer Sheila, Gong Li. I would die happy if they all came, but only if they all came to the same performance.
The Melbourne Fringe in three words?
Fire and Blood.
A favourite Melbourne Fringe memory.
Being squashed into a small space in Brunswick and watching friends perform a wonderful show with an all-cardboard set (2015’s The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow).
What is your experience as an independent artist being part of the Melbourne Fringe?
Marvellous. It is great to work with others to make beautiful things come to life. But it’s also been wonderful meeting the teams from other shows. There’s a real camaraderie. We’re all just scrappy art monkeys flinging our art poo at people to enjoy …*stares blankly*. I promise my metaphors are slightly more salubrious in my show. Slightly.
What think makes the Melbourne Fringe unique?
Art poo? Sorry. There’s that sense of experiment and innovation that you get with other fringe festivals, but there’s also just this chill vibe among most of the artists. Many artists I meet are keener to hear about your show than to tell you about theirs. That’s lovely. Also, outside of Vilnius, Melbourne Fringe is probably the most Lithuanian fringe festival ever.
Your advice for choosing what to see in the Melbourne Fringe.
I would say what many have said before: Go see the “superstars,” but also take a chance on something small and or weird-looking. You will be pleasantly surprised in most cases.
Do you think there’s a better system than star ratings for reviews?
I’m at risk of starting up a rant here, so I will just say this: I don’t understand why you even need ratings. I’ve done some reviewing in my day, and I always hated when I had numerical/star/grade ratings imposed on me. The rating is the review. Want to find out if a show was good? Read the review. THAT’S the rating. That’s what a review is for.
Five shows/events that you will not miss at the 2017 Melbourne Fringe.
Pee Stick
Josh Glanc: Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chamedian
The Last Journalist on Earth
How To Kill The Queen Of Pop
And Then the Snow Fell on Egypt
