FRINGE: Songs for Europe

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2013

Songs for Europe

Shaolin Punk

21 September 2013

Broken Mirror Productions

to 29 September

melbournefringe.com.au

Nul points at Eurovision. If you think a one-star review is humiliating, imagine getting 0 stars when the people around you got over 100 for also singing a cheesy song, with a perfect key change, while wearing a fabulous gown as millions of people watch you on the telly. Songs for Europe isn't about the fabulous hair and endless glitter of Eurovision; it's two stories about people who love the contest, but wish that it wasn't part of their lives.

The first play, by John Richards, is an imagined back-stage encounter with a woman who didn't get a single point. Years later, she is still performing, and is tracked down by a British journalist who is trying to interview all of the nul pointers.  Full of heart, it's a work that has a spike under every joke, gently questions its audience far more than the singer, and remembers that there are real people behind our wittiest mocking.

The second play, by Lee Zachiriah, is about a group of revolutionaries on the eve of the 1974 Portuguese Revoution. Waiting in a cafe, they listen to the radio waiting for the signal to storm the streets: a Eurovision song. One is more passionate about the song contest than the pending revolt, but all have to change their plans when a stranger orders a muscatel and possibly knows what they are waiting for.

Both are full of Eurovision facts and the blend of real and fiction is flawless enough to ensure that those who see it will be adding these stories to their own Eurovision memories, but the hugeness and glitz of their Eurovision background needs to be brought more onto the stage and into the world. 

Songs for Europe is on tonight and next week. The performers (Marta Kaczmarek, Nick Colla, Angus Brown, Noah Moon, Jack Beeby, Chris Broadstock and Petra Elliott) are consistently terrific and the writing surprises at every turn. At Broken Mirror in Brunswick (off Blyth St near the Mediterranean Wholesalers car park for anyone trying to find it with Apple or Google maps), it's away from the buzz of the Hub, but there's a bar, comfy couches and the chances of meeting someone who loves Eurovision as much as you do is pretty high. 

Review: McGuffin

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2010

McGuffin

Shaolin Punk 

1 October 2010

The Loft Fringe hub

season finished

www.melbournefringe.com.au

A scruffy man hands me a business card. It says: One briefcase. No memory. Three rules. Haven't you always wanted to write a TV show?

Yes I have.

McGuffin was a seven-episode Aussie TV drama series, but it was like watching TV in a time before re-runs and VCRS – miss it and it's gone. This was TV on stage and it was improvised. 

Ben McKenzie and his company Shaolin Punk call it hybrid improvised theatre. The structure of each episode was created in advance, but the dialogue, character development and plot were created on the night by the performers, the directors (McKenzie and Sean Fabri) and the audience – who were asked to suggest the pivotal turning points and reveals for each episode.

I only saw the last episode, but – like any good telly story telling – I was hooked into the mystery of the Sanchez Cross and those who sought it. It was a bit like the Da Vinci Code meets Dr Who and Offspring.

Fabri was joined on stage by Gina Morley, Chris Broadstock and Kate O'Neill, who know the rules and style of TV storytelling so well that they must spend many wonderful house on the couch watching the box.

McGuffin was far from slick high art, but it was never meant to be. It was a lot of fun (for the creators and the audience) and the next time they do a series, I'd try to be there from episode 1.

The TV show is over, but Shaolin Punk are presenting three performances of Dungeon Crawl at the Fringe. Impro Dungeons and Dragons.  Yes, it will be geeky.

Set List

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2008

Set List
Shaolin Punk
4 October 2008
Trades Hall

Set List is one of three improvised musical shows at this Fringe (that I know of). It has a fresh and enthusiastic, Micky and Judy, “let’s put on a show” feel about it, but needs to go back to the barn for a some more development

Set List is described as a band that “revels in the nuances, characters and stories behind one genre of music – with every note and lyric made up from audience suggestions”. This show was jazz – of the cheap motel, lounge act variety.

The Set List crew are all undeniably talented and extremely likable performers.  Highlights such as “You make me feel so nauseous”, the ballad about Sean the Anthropologist and the vocal musings about the devil’s condiment, prove the potential for a terrific show, but this performance felt so unprepared.

The ongoing success of shows like the wonderful Spontaneous Broadway is based on intense rehearsal, perfect characters and an obsessive knowledge of (and love for) the genre they are parodying. The Set List characters were very unclear (apart from Ben McKenzie’s band leader) and their stories could have applied to any band that happened to be perpetually touring the world (and not aging) for the last 40 years.

It is uncomfortable to watch performers break character and joke with each other. Even more so to watch them compete against each other, try to upstage (you know who you are) and – it really looked and felt like – bicker with each other. The onstage characters weren’t defined or developed enough to behave like that; it was clear what was character and what was performer.  

Finally – I may just be being obsessive and picky, but if you are promoting your show as a completely improvised set list – DON’T tape the typed and organised set list in clear view of the audience. It kind of destroys the mystery.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com

A Record or an OBE

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2007
A Record or an OBE
Shaolin Punk
10 October 2007
Caz Reitops Dirty Secrets

There are enough Goodies fans in Melbourne to make sure that A Record or an OBE sells out this Fringe. It’s full of shameless Goodies gags and references, Brit comedy name dropping and all the little details that only Goodies nerds will understand. But does it work if you don’t know this trio?

Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie worked together as The Goodies from 1970 to 1982. The Shaolin Punk trio of Ben McKenzie (Graeme), Robert Lloyd (Tim) and Scott Gooding (director) obviously spent many, many, many half hours in the early 80s sitting on the couch at 6pm watching the ABC. So did I. I also remember playing The Goodies with my friends Sam and Michael in the 70s. I always had to be Tim, because he dressed up as a woman.

Fortunately A Record or an OBE is more than a fan tribute (and Rob is a better Tim than I ever was). The show opens and closes with a voice over giving some well chosen Goodie facts, but it also tells us that what we are seeing isn’t true. They ask what could have happened if Bill had left in 1975? Could two Goodies be better than three?

I really liked that neither performance was an impersonation of Tim or Graeme, but reflections of the possible characters that both were off screen. However far too much is based on the audiences’ established understanding of who they were. We still need to care about and understand THIS Tim and Graeme. I could see that the actors knew their characters, but this understanding and empathy wasn’t clear on the stage. There was a bit too much telling and not enough showing.

Fans, of course, are missing Bill (there’s no live via satellite link). Those who don’t know Bill have a limited concept of who is missing. He is a vital offstage character who has really only been described as a scruffy wanna be rock star. The impact of his loss isn’t clear through the characters or the direction. We needed to see the empty space/ the missing limb/the emotional impact of this loss.

Gooding’s direction sensibly times and shapes the show like a Goodies 30-minute episode (complete with voice overs and a very funny Beanz add). The performance space is tiny and has the atmosphere of an intimate BDSM soiree. I really would have liked to see this show take more advantage of the space and make it work for them. Perhaps constrict the staging more and really play with the conventions of 70s TV camera shots. Make it look and feel even more like sitting in the lounge room watching a tiny box.

There is a very witty moment when the duo devises a Bill-less Goodies episode. Graeme stresses that Tim’s idea is not a plot, it’s just a mood – they need action and a story. Is this is a post-post-structuralist-introspective-ironic commentary on the actual script? If yes – it’s a delightfully self-satirical moment. If not...please listen to your own advice. My concern with this script is lack of action and drama. It’s witty and funny, but we don’t see goals and journeys and changes. Dramatically “Part Two” is far more interesting than “Part One”. Break ups are real and will always resonate with an audience.

So, should this show speak to non-Goodies fans? I took someone who didn’t know the Goodies. She didn’t get it. Without the assumed knowledge, the combination of fact and fiction is very confusing and ultimately makes you question the credibility of the whole piece.

As a piece nostalgic-fan-fiction-theatre I enjoyed A Record or an OBE. If you were a Goodies geek – don’t miss it. If you have no idea who I’m taking about, don’t remember the 80s or used to watch the news at 6pm – perhaps wait for Shaolin Punk’s next show.

PS: Why do I have the feeling that next Fringe Neil is going to walk out of the share house?


This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.