★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Karul Projects. Ngunyawayiti Space (Tandanya Theatre). 5 Mar 2020
Let’s begin this slowly… four dancers are onstage for this exploration of what it means to be Aboriginal in the present day. The man enters first, tribal, dappled light, back to the audience, and gets dressed. The women join in, one by one. T-shirts and stretch wear is the dress code. The audience, very modest in size, are lightly framed by the haze of the smoke machine and are silenced by the music; rich and textured and tonal.
Composition and choreography is by Thomas E.S. Kelly, who is also a dancer. This is, in a very real way, his story and his performance. As the dance unfolds, singular expression coalesces into ensemble work, then slides back to the individual form. The four move together, and against each other, waves of motion which beguile, occasionally set against each other in the tidal movement of the piece.
This is dance work of the highest quality; the narrative is clear and yet the simple components of the piece require some teasing out. We can follow the story without understanding each and every motion. If a rigid forefinger and cocked thumb indicate a pistol, then this becomes a dance of incursion and violence.
The music pulsates with the energy of the dancers’ physicality, sometimes too much so. This is hybrid dance, neither tribal nor western. Brolga dance steps are incorporated into a more contemporary hip-hop motif, effortlessly. It is not flawless, far from it, but it is the most assured and beautifully realised piece of contemporary dance I have seen in many years.
Kelly has cut his designs in the dance as if with a knife, paring away superfluous movement almost completely. This is assured choreography, the result reinforces the narrative, the school scene is easily deciphered. For me the signature moment came with a harsh light bisecting the stage diagonally, silhouetting three sets of bare feet, perfectly poised for a brief second or two. It made me think of footsteps being laid down upon the land for the first time.
(Mis)Conceive is simply magnificent.
Alex Wheaton
When: 5 to 14 Mar
Where: Ngunyawayiti Space (Tandanya Theatre)
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Ben Volchok. Holden Street Theatres. 4 Mar 2020
There has been a contagion of end-of-the-world reflection in the Adelaide Fringe and Festival. The Festival’s opera was a requiem for the planet, and “me” was included in the grief. There was a lot of discussion about the social damage from fascism and neoliberal economics at Writer’s Week by authors from around the world. And that’s just the arts. The real world was abuzz with unprecedented bush fires, incompetent leadership, coronavirus panic, unsustainable financial rescue packages, and tanking share markets taking people’s pensions south.
Welcome to Victor Bravo’s broadcasting studio. A lone character is surviving in a post-apocalyptic world by pretending his onions-in-a-blender drink is a banana milkshake while he reaches out via what he suspects is the last radio station in the world. You will hear echoes of Good Morning, Vietnam – a past-apocalypse.
Comedy writer Ben Volchok cut his teeth at the Melbourne University Comedy Review Board and finally comes to Adelaide with his absolutely stunning one-man play. In a cluttered and claustrophobic homemade radio studio, he brews his off-beat sense of humour with climate change anxiety to create his VB – Victor Bravo.
The play’s construct is beautifully simple and brilliant. There is a world outside the door upstage that we can only guess at with increasing anxiety while VB drip feeds us the details. He collects onions, reads notes from listeners and takes their phone calls. Everything is happening in the present as opposed to many one-person play concepts where the past is recounted, or the character needs to tell us what he/she is doing. VB is actually doing it, every minute. He uses a broadcaster’s microphone ensuring a fair hearing for the audience. It’s a shining gem of real time action.
The opening commences with a sound track of ambient noises in the dark. I forgot how powerful this stage technique is in setting mood and mystery. Indeed, the control of disturbing ambient sound overriding an eerie silence is a powerful component of the production, which unfortunately was compromised during a key moment by the tumult from a coeval show in an adjacent space. This was a disturbing intrusion that I hope the theatre management will address.
The uncertainty and loneliness of post-apocalyptic existence permeates the action, but it is foiled by admiration for VB’s resilience obtained through humour and memorabilia. The moment I finally comprehended VB’s real situation, I was overcome with empathetic sadness. Upon meeting Volchok whilst existing the theatre, I was still so choked with emotion I could barely utter my thanks for his marvelous and powerful creation. Double Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 3 to 15 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Smokescreen Productions. The Garage International @ Adelaide Town Hall. 4 Mar 2020.
There are many individuals from WWII who are reviled, but perhaps none more so than Dr Josef Mengele, a Nazi SS officer and physician who was also known as the Angel of Death. He is remembered for the monstrous and barbaric experiments he performed on prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp that inevitably led to horrific deaths or permanent maiming. In 1949 he fled to Argentina, and then to Paraguay and finally to Brazil. Despite international efforts, he evaded capture for thirty years. He died in 1979 after drowning after suffering a stroke while swimming at a beach. He was buried under a false name but his remains were forensically examined in 1985 and positively identified.
Mengele is set on a beach in Brazil, presumably the one at which Mengele actually died. The lights gradually come up on a figure of a man who has dragged himself from the waves. He is choking and spluttering and he notices the figure of a young woman whom he believes has rescued him. She deflects his thanks and his efforts to find out more about her. Instead, she skilfully probes him with questions and inveigles him to reveal both his identity and the vile philosophies he espouses.
He is Mengele, and she, as we subsequently learn, is Azra'il, the Jewish Angel of Death. He is erratic in responding to her questioning: he is outraged with any suggestion that what he did at Auschwitz was anything but him lawfully following orders that were ultimately for the benefit of humanity. He rationalises, justifies, and quotes philosophers that are clearly supportive of the decisions he took.
Tim Marriott plays Mengele, and he does so with unrelenting passion. He is exhausting to watch and it is emotionally draining to consider and process the text that he delivers almost with righteousness. His performance is underscored by archival footage, taken during WWII at Auschwitz, projected onto a screen at the rear of the stage.
Stefanie Rossi plays Azra'il with the requisite mystery, detachment and simmering dominance. At the climax of the play, when Azra'il well and truly has the upper hand, she uses her other worldly powers to cause Mengele to contort and scream in pain, as if she is scourging him. It is vivid and audience members grimace in sync. Marriott and Rossi combine beautifully with choreographed precision to pull this off.
This is not an easy play to watch. At times it feels as if it is overwritten and strays towards becoming ‘preachy’. Although Mengele is historical, it is also a lesson about the present and the future. If left unchecked, will those with ultra-extreme views wreak havoc with the moral fibre of societies? Of course they can, if they are allowed to, and therein lies the real message: humanity needs to remain ever vigilant, and must never forget what has happened in the past. But should we forgive?
Kym Clayton
When: 4 Mar to 13 Mar
Where: The Garage International @ Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Presented by Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Adelaide Fringe Festival. Le Cascadeur at The Garden of Unearthly Delights. 4 Mar 2020.
Fudnut: Glasgow slang, meaning a person who portrays themselves as being intelligent, but thick as shit. (Urban dictionary.)
Larry Dean is no ‘fudnut’. If anything, he is the polar opposite: he regales us with eye wateringly funny stories of wholly stupid things that he has done in his quest for his ideal man (yes, he’s gay), but he does this in a entirely calculated way that just stops short of provoking ‘unhelpful’ feedback from his audience. To be sure, Dean covers some very earthy material that is sure to make some wince, but if you check your moral superiority and sensitivities at the door, you find that it’s really all good fun and just a racy exposé of someone’s reality, not just Dean’s.
Dean’s material focusses on men he has known – as lovers and boyfriends (he hates the word ‘partner’) – and why they eventually broke up. After an hour we feel we have a glimpse into why. We come to know a little more about Dean: his vulnerabilities, his inclination towards being childlike at times, and his loyalty to those whom he loves (whether they be dead or alive!). Throughout, Dean is self-deprecating and he plays it as an art-form. He almost runs the risk of depressing the audience, but just in the nick of time he re-sets and does something outrageously funny with his body and his face in time to an up tempo backing song. Classy stuff.
There is of course an extended piece about accents. Dean is of course Scottish and he can be as broad as he likes, and does. But he makes fun of the Irish, and the English, and… Aussies of course. And of course Aussies enjoy laughing at themselves but not nearly as much as at those from the former ‘motherland’!
Dean’s show is over in a blink. There’s the usual crowd interaction, but not too much (one feels safe!). There is a little bit of politics, and only a smidgen of social comment, but most of it is just plain funny storytelling, about his self and others who are significant in his life. It feels authentic, and it leaves you feeling good after it is over.
Highly recommended.
Kym Clayton
When: 4 Mar to 15 Mar
Where: Le Cascadeur at The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Grace Emily Hotel . 3 Mar 2020
Opening his show in the small performance space of the Grace Emily, Benjamin Roberts notes that his band Ukulele Death Squad didn’t exactly get death threats when they performed their Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds tribute show last year, but it came close. Fortunately, the ground has already been well trodden with Springsteen and ukulele covers (eg ‘Born To Uke’ – Various Artists, 2019), so he’s a bit safer this time.
He does however, acknowledge that with more than 300 songs to choose from, chances are you aren’t going to hear some of your favourites. “Born In The USA!” shouts someone from the crowd – I’m thinking that’s not going to get an airing tonight.
From Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978), Roberts opens with The Factory, followed by Atlantic City and Nebraska (Nebraska 1982). His playing here is beautifully sparse, leaving the pregnant spaces that is such a signature of early Springsteen. Dancing In The Dark with a beautifully turned riff and Streets Of Philadelphia bring the appropriate crowd response as loved and well played songs, and it is in I’m On Fire when Roberts brings out the percussive finger beats on the face of the uke, and really shows his mastery of the instrument.
The ukulele, despite the George Formby and Tiny Tim memes, can be an awesome instrument, and in Roberts’ hands it is plucked, picked and strummed, tapped, rapped and beaten. His homage to Springsteen and the song choices reminds us that Bruce is a storyteller first and foremost, and when the music is stripped back, the stories matter, and the words resonate.
Vocally Roberts falters in places, but it’s of little import in the overall scheme of things. He throws in an original song for good measure (he’s a working stiff after all) and closes with Wrecking Ball, which he notes was firmly at the bottom of someone’s interweb List of 300 Springsteen Songs. I wouldn’t have put it that far down, but hey, it’s all subjective. By my reckoning, adding in last year’s album Western Stars, there’s about 315 songs left to for future shows – he could do this for years!
Uke Springsteen is Benjamin Roberts’ first solo outing and, initial jitters aside, he’s pulled this off. And no, he didn’t play Born In The USA. Well done.
Arna Eyers-White
When: 3 to 10 Mar
Where: Grace Emily Hotel
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au