By Thomas Monckton & Circo Aereo. Arts Projects Australia with support from Creative New Zealand. Royal Croquet Club - The Panama Club. 13 Feb 2016
The concert pianist makes an entrance so excruciatingly awkward, he's bound to get a good clap. Squeezing through a tiny tear in the curtain, birth is given to a disheveled, lanky, wild-haired man in evening tails, dropping bundles of music and obsessively starting over to achieve poise and perfection. But he's no run-of-the-mill virtuoso. Kiwi Thomas Monckton trained at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris - famous for its graduates (including Geoffrey Rush) in physical theatre and comedy - and teamed up with co-creator Sanna Silvennoinnen and NZ/Finland's Circo Aereo to bring us this acclaimed show that's been touring the world since 2013.
Nothing goes right for the pianist and Monckton hilariously wrestles with the sheet music, the grand piano's dust cover, the stool, the keyboard cover, a chandelier, the lighting guy and the audience, after fully mastering the curtain. Acute professional embarrassment and frustration, and obstacle-toppling inventiveness in attempting to start the concert are couched in the language of mime (language of mime, get it?), contortioned acrobatics and physical gimmickry. We cheer our hero ever onward - even as he swings from the chandelier - in his quest to tickle the 88s. After a while, I wished he'd just get on with a bit of playing, as some of the business was getting repetitive. But you’ve got to love the guy, with empathy in things going wrong, and for his sheer skill in making you laugh with preposterous slapstick.
David Grybowski
When: 13 Feb to 5 Mar
Where: Royal Croquet Club - The Panama Club, Panorama Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
LER Productions. The Garden of Unearthly Delights – Deluxe. 13 Feb 2016
Costumes, costumes, costumes.
The Seastar Rockers are famous for them. Full body suits transform the all-singing, all-dancing team of performers into the assorted creatures of the deep. Most spectacularly attired is Harriet the Hammerhead shark. But there is also Supreme Stingray, Daphne Dolphin, Pirate Wally the Walrus and, of course, dancing penguins, one of whom is a Hipster.
The music is loud and easy on the ears. There are myriad catchy songs which start off on the theme of who is who, i.e. "I am Daphne Dolphin". The lyrics are straightforward, reiterating characteristics of sea creatures and, in some cases, advising on some of the environmental perils of the sea. There are jokes. The cast not only performs in chorus lineups and solos but moves around among the children.
As for the children, they stand beneath the stage and do all the dances. Some of young ones don't stop bopping for the full 45 minutes of the show. Some of the older ones are busy working out which performer has changed into which costume. Mums and dads are just happy to see the kids having fun with an anthropomorphic taste of natural history.
That's something for everyone, a wholesome bit of enviro-entertainment. Furthermore, it’s a local company well worth supporting.
Samela Harris
When: 13 Feb to 14 Mar
Where: The Garden of Unearthly Delights – Deluxe
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Presented by Gumption Theatre Co. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. 13 Feb 2016
Children's Theatre on the Fringe has a meaty program this year.
If any of the presentations provides rich investment in the culture and fun of theatre to nurture our future Fringe audiences, it is Prince Pipsqueak.
This is a ripper of a show.
It holds the children utterly entranced. It is an interesting narrative performed by skilled young actors who offer no half measures in their performances. Theirs is total energy, total focus and total engagement.
The Prince Pipsqueak story tells of a young prince who wears pink fairy wings, loves to dance, chases butterflies, and plays with the girl up the road, Poppy. She's the farmer's daughter and she's a bit of a farty tomboy. The only thing the prince and Poppy have in common, says the narrator, is that they are best, best friends.
Their relationship is explored with lots of energetic play before the nitty gritty of the plot descends. The king and queen are hitting Hawaii for a holiday and Pipsqueak has to run the kingdom. Pipsqueak is aghast. The King challenges him as a weepy weakling who must prove himself. Poppy volunteers to prop him up. There is counsel from a range of local identities, all brilliantly played by the narrator, Peter Cortissos. From gangsta rapper through to suave Frenchman, he does one and all with nary but a change of hat. He's hilarious, captivating and convincing - an actor of substance.
Once Pipsqueak accepts the mantle, he becomes arrogant and insists he can and should do it all alone because he is a male and men are supposed to run things. It was ever thus.
Poppy is an emancipated girl and she's having none of this misogyny. She dumps him.
And, through song and folly, character changes and plot twists, Pipsqueak clues up, Poppy forgives him and everyone, including the King, reaches self-realisations and acceptances of the fact that there is strength in difference.
The play is produced and directed by Abbie Johnstone and Jason Marsiglia and its messages are delivered with lots of pure fun and games and character development, the script incorporating enough broad references and asides to keep the parents amused on their own level.
It is all staged very simply with a ladder, a hatstand, a dress-up box and some drapes concealing the "backstage" area. Children are invited to sit on an array of rugs and cushions at the front of the stage. It is very comfortable.
Hugo Fielke plays Pipsqueak. He's a bright new talent who uses his long, lanky limbs as gloriously gawky comic tools. Alicia Case is Poppy. She's another exciting new player on the Adelaide stage with just a hint of the young Vivian Vance in her comic presence.
This production can't be recommended too highly.
It is five-star proper children's theatre with no shortcuts.
What's more, the children don't just love it, they relish it.
Samela Harris
When: 12 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: The Studio, Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
By Amy Herzog. Critical Stages, Catnip Productions and Mophead Productions. The Q Theatre. 11 Feb 2016
Growing up is tough and the more people there are to impart wisdom and provide guidance along the way, the better; as they say, it takes a village. Having an extra couple of decades of life experience under their belts, grandparents can be an invaluable resource to draw on throughout this process – especially if you’re as sassy and open-minded as Leo’s 91 year-old communist grandmother, Vera.
Leo (played by Stephen Multari) is a young man who has rolled into New York at the end of his epic, coast-to-coast bike ride across the United States. Intending to pay a fleeting visit to his Manhattanite nana while he’s in town, Leo decides it would be nice to extend his stay to spend some quality time with the ageing Vera (Diana McLean).
We quickly learn that Leo is carrying a great deal of emotional baggage, and that he is running away from an accumulation of complex problems that have become too much to process. Through his time spent with Vera, he finds the space to slowly confront his issues and move on to face the world awaiting him.
While very much a contemporary play within a modern context, 4000 Miles does a marvellous job of linking generations. This is achieved via cultural references to Vera’s rich and colourful past, but also a quirky soundtrack spanning a number of decades. Refreshingly, you’ll also find no tired clichés or old people moaning about ‘kids these days’, but rather two generations meeting in the spirit of love and respect.
What is nice about this progressive play is that the characters, despite their troubles, are devoid of cynicism. There are so many bleak and dystopian or saccharine stories being told to audiences today, and it makes a nice change to experience one that rejects this kind of extreme and instead offers up balanced reflection and reason.
Mclean and Multari are incredibly affable as the grandmother/grandson duo, and both serve up top-notch, uncheesy American accents. There’s no question their on-stage relationship is convincing and, like the script for 4000 Miles overall, it contains a heap of nuance.
Aileen Hunter as Amanda, Leo’s flamboyant one-night-stand and Eloise Snape as Leo’s ex-girlfriend Rebecca, are engaging and both have a fiery chemistry with Multari. Their presence on stage even when their character was not called for was somewhat baffling, but thankfully not to the point of complete distraction.
Overall, 4000 Miles is an intelligent play that can best be described as unyieldingly real. It is an eloquent portrayal of the power of sanctuary for those overwhelmed with what life has thrown at them. If this is a taste of things to come for the next generation of playwrights, bring it on.
Deborah Hawke
When: 11 to 13 Feb
Where: The Q Theatre
Bookings: Closed
The Un-Rest Cure. Written by Ben Brooker. The Tuxedo Cat – Cusack Theatre. 13 Feb 2016
Adelaide local and emerging playwright Ben Brooker has written three short plays that propose a broken future; one where our obsessions and indulgences have spiralled out of control and now determine our way of life.
They are set 15 minutes into the future. That is, 15 minutes into an imagined alternative reality where the bastardisation of technology, democracy, and human relationships has altered our existence.
Each play is a vignette, lifted from a broader theme and thrust upon us. Tension, inherited from the imagined future circumstances, is fuelled by our lack of context and inevitable confusion. It is absurdism – or is one just absurdist in exploration of its meaning?
It is tough going and hard work to watch. One listens intently for little hints and clues that might unlock the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. When they come, they are rewarding. But there are few ‘Ah-ha’ moments there in the theatre; one is required to do more research to understand what it is all about.
The Cusack theatre of the Tuxedo Cat is a hot-box on arrival. Fans have been dutifully laid out for patrons to cool themselves throughout. When the lights come up we find Patrick Klavins, representative to the government - and perhaps all that is left of it - agitated and fidgeting. Idealistic young Rachel Burke has just arrived. A sense of excitement, yet trepidation is on her. She has been looking for this place for a long time. She is heavily prejudiced. One senses she has navigated some form of post-apocalyptic world to get here. Brooker describes it as a “city overrun by corporations”. But Klavins does not have what she is looking for. He does not hold the answers, but rather waits, nay yearns, to meet his maker. This is Small Government.
The second vignette sees Tamara Lee and Michael Allen sitting side by side on illuminated boxes. Allen is on a drip; liver disease perhaps? A recovering alcoholic? He doesn’t look yellow… The couple are waiting, we aren’t told what for – Brooker writes it is a “life-saving delivery”. Relationships are suffering as individuals become more reliant on technological innovation and less on personal interaction. She is his enabler, but there is a twist in store. Point/Click looks at human relationships from a place of disconnection; where humanity has grown numb.
Finally we witness a grieving father at the funeral of his deceased child. Only three in attendance – or is that two and one spirit… Where are the people who loved him? An adolescent of only 14 years, mistakenly killed in a drone war; perceived as a threat on his way to buy lunch. Nothing now remains but the reminder of a few dirty coins fused to the pavement. The grief is too much to bear for a mother. This is an exploration of autonomous weapons in Dead Birds.
The acting is brilliant and helps you to engage with the complex stories. Brooker and his cast appear to have developed a deep understanding of the text and execute with equanimity. Their composure in the heat is particularly spectacular.
The plays themselves show great promise. But at times they are altogether too abstract to really enjoy upon first hearing. One would love to see some investigation of the themes within an expanded context. There are some very interesting concepts here that deserve to be properly explored.
Brooker is undoubtedly one of Adelaide’s most exciting emerging playwrights. Bravo.
Paul Rodda
When: 12 to 16 Feb
Where: The Tuxedo Cat - Cusack Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au