Holden Street Theatre's Edinburgh Award 2015 in Association with Show and Tell & Gary McNair. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. 10 Feb 2016
He takes up but a corner of the stage with his old carpet, his lamps and cardboard boxes but Gary McNair fills the theatre with a very big tale.
He tells of the grandfather who lived his life on the promise of betting tickets. The thrill of the possibility and the waiting expectations of a win were more valuable to him than the win itself. The old Scotsman had always been poor. Then again, he had won a fortune on the 1966 football World Cup and had stories and stories to tell of his win, of the reactions of the football fans of the Gorbals. His grandson listened avidly to his stories and, when old enough, was taught the very simple betting system and the joy of living between bet and result.
The boy was keen to believe the old man's many tales and loved his granddad dearly, but there was sometimes a thread of doubt about the tall stories and how much money he actually had.
The old man, he understands later, was addicted to gambling.
And so it comes to pass that, given a month to live with cancer, the old man started betting on beating the odds. He set a target of living to see the year 2000.
McNair swings between the character of the old man and the boy. He tells the story with a passion of ownership but it is never clear if it is his own family or a story told - just that it is a true story.
The old man garnered media attention with his bold bid on his own life.
With his strong Glaswegian accent, McNair takes the audience on a potent and intimate journey. His conviction and his emotion are theirs. His hopes and doubts are theirs.
It is an agonisingly tender tale and, at the same time, a rugged male tale, a fool's tale, an eccentric's tale...
It is also a tour de force and another must-see at Holden Street.
Samela Harris
When: 12 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: The Studio, Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Matt Byrne Media. Maxim's Wine Bar. 11 Feb 2016
Castaway your mind back to the 1980s when the American TV series, The Love Boat, ruled the air waves. Or perhaps you recall the trio of similarly titled made-for-TV movies. Doesn't matter if the grey cells aren't finding the memory, because show-writer Matt Byrne and his crew will deck you out in a lei, pipe you aboard his world premiere, and sail you in love boat fashion through an archipelago of nearly forgotten television island series. C'mon, you can think of some of them - my favourite has the initials GI.
The vaudeville format that Byrne developed back in 2002 with his Barrackers show is still going full steam ahead. Utilising two guys, two girls, plenty of real life characters, a few songs, a pirated soundtrack, and a bombardment of jokes, puns and insights that provides far more hits than misses. I loved the phantom pirates haunting the rear of the ship, the washed up rock stars, and the oldies. Karaoke is a cruise favourite and we are introduced to a word for the wrong lyrics to a song - please see the show and remind me what it was. The cast, in a line, and taking turns, give plenty of examples, and more than ten pirate jokes, when probably three good ones Arrrrrrrh! enough.
Matthew Byrne scrubs up well as the ship's captain, and his gummy old man and Yorkshire tourist were treats. As director. Byrne found strong points in Stefanie Rossi's vocal talents, Kim York's dramatic capacities and Marc Clement's physical comedy.
The two hour cruise was too much of a good thing, and there is a hearty and satisfying one-hour show stowing away below decks. Cutting is such sweet sorrow. Even so, I think I know people until I'm reminded by Matt's Fringe shows that he is the keenest observer of the average punter that I know, and the best person to find the funny side, and actually write a show about it, every year. How could you miss this Adelaide favourite about us?
David Grybowski
When: 10 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: Maxim's Wine Bar
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
The Arch, Holden Street Theatres. 10 Feb 2016
Two women live strangely parallel lives 175 years apart.
It is a brave comparison by playwright Henry Naylor of a British woman of the colonial Fishing Fleet, one of those who have sailed to the east in search of a husband, alongside the modern British Muslim woman who has flown to Afghanistan as a soldier bride.
The Victorian woman is in crisp white crinolines; the modern jihadi is in black chador and hijab.
Black and white and past and present converge very neatly as this exquisitely-written work develops.
Dark complexioned and fair, both women are very modestly attired. Both seek and find war-waging husbands. Both are shocked by the reality of those men and the conflicts to which they are committed.
Both are victims of a patriarchal society and both have cause to wonder that from the tiny seeds of males they can produce males and be destroyed by males.
So it goes, the ultimate equaliser against the sands of time and culture.
Naylor's script is utterly elegant both in his turns of phrase and the sophistication of his thoughts.
He writes of women "sharpening each other’s indignation", the "sieve of static" on the long-distance phone, the "grunting and truffling in the marital bedroom"...
The young English actresses Felicity Houlbrook and Filipa Braganca are absolutely up to the mark in delivering the language, both with beautifully modulated voices and exquisite enunciation. They work side-by-side on the stage, their streams of dialogue intersecting as their stories are explored. Each compels with a gamut of emotions.
Theirs are wonderful performances of a wonderful play.
It is enlightening, frank, balanced, and terrifyingly relevant. It is a five-star must-see of Fringe 2016.
Samela Harris
When: 11 Feb to 13 Mar
Where: The Arch, Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Zest Theatre Group. Victor Harbor Town Hall. 30 Jan 2015
The good track record of rounding up new talent and putting on big shows continues for the Fleurieu's Zest Theatre Group.
This production's great strength lies in its ensemble work. Grease, the spirited Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey romantic musical which is set in a tough American high school and became a hit movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, involves a huge cast with lots of song and dance in colourful 50s costumes. Here, through choreographer Sally Grooby's collaborative techniques, a mass of young people, some with little or no stage experience, make up big numbers with the panache and perfect timing of pros. It is a strong foundation for the show.
This incarnation of Grease is produced and directed by South Coast stalwart Terry Mountstephen with co-director Peta Bowey and Dylan Rufus as musical director. Tech guru Greg Rossiter adds the sophisticated sound and lighting. The latter had a few hiccups on opening night but the spirit of the show and the well-rehearsed dedication of the cast overrode everything.
Daniel Maley rightly steals the show as the romantic lead, Danny. Maley is an outstanding song-and-dance performer and experienced enough to umbrella the shyness of schoolgirl novice Shannen Becket who is playing opposite him as Sandy. She might need a few years to be fully-fledged for such a role.
Around them, Zest has assembled a terrific core of performers as the school pack of pals. Good, characterful performances emerge from Jack Doherty as Sonny, Moni Knolder as Patty, Jemmah Sims as Jan, Byron Godwin-Knott as Kenickie, Rhys Mason as Roger, Scott Murton as Doody and Tom Richardson as comical Eugene. Distinguished among the pack are Karma Duffield as Frenchy, Georgia Broadbent as Rizzo and Emily McEvoy as Marty - performers with wonderful stage presence and definitely a future in showbiz.
Montana Cross also livened the stage as Cha Cha and there were solid added appearances by Isobel Pitt, Dan Pitt, Michael Harris and Jodie Marks, albeit she was the only member of the cast struggling with an American accent. Indeed, a big tick is in order for Zest's accent coach, and another big tick for the dancers, Katie Bell, Montana Cross, Kaylee Hirons, and Eloise Morriss who added a slick, professional edge to the show.
This production of Grease makes for a high-spirited, fun night out for anyone enjoying the pleasures of the South Coast.
Samela Harris
When: 5 and 6 Feb
Where: Victor Harbor Town Hall
Bookings: Tickets at the door
B&H Theatre Co. The Bakehouse Theatre. 27 Jan 2016
Bent, manic, mash up, mania perfectly describes Matthew Briggs and Josh Heaysman’s musical The Angel of Death.
What’s in the mix? Gilbert and Sullivan, Cabaret, Faustus, The Pirates of Penzance and the medieval morality play obviously, given it gave the world the grim reaper, as we know it. Hints of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Jim Carrey’s movie Dumb and Dumber also come to mind. B&H Theatre Co take extreme liberal license with the era of Elizabeth I in which the work is set, by throwing in the black plague alongside the battle of the Spanish Armada, or their alternative version of it.
This over abundance of influences, obvious or inferred, is meant to successfully support a flash comic book style tale of a 16th Century ordinary man, mercilessly assassinated (seemingly for no reason), who is transformed into the Angel of Death by Nicholas Miotti’s dippy-hippy, light-hearted ‘God’ and Sophie Atkinson’s sexy down-and-dirty in tight black dress ‘Devil’. Theodore Girgolas as the reaper, is their plaything, their morality test gone too far with a liking for power and selfish desire to protect his wife and daughter from his assassin.
An overabundance of promise is not the same as a well trimmed, clear structure to the narrative, no matter how over or under abundant that content may be. Not to mention the execution of it onstage as guided by the work’s musical construct, scene to scene, context to context.
While Heaysman and Briggs are capable of coming up with some great lyrics, which neatly tie in with occasional scenes and characters, it’s unfortunate that musically and lyrically overall, The Angel of Death is two toned and flat even despite the icing of competent choreographic sets by Ashlee Skinner.
The duet Sêorita in Act Two is of note however, for its writing and performance by Lindsay Nash as Alonso Perez de Guzman and Carolina Fioravanti as Michelle.
There is so much promise in this work, drowned out by a desire to pump the production with too much, and reaching for a level of execution in performance the cast are not uniformly up for.
B&H Theatre Co want to be creators of new musical works they can license, and clearly have modelled themselves more on Gilbert and Sullivan than Rogers and Hammerstein (on the basis of this production).
The Angel of Death should serve as a learning, in which Heaysman and Briggs should see themselves striving towards their peak, having learned anew from each mishap as they head towards sharper, better work.
David O’Brien
When: 27 to 30 Jan
Where: The Bakehouse Theatre Main Stage
Bookings: trybooking.com