Category: Performances

Cabaret, Festivals, Performances

Melbourne Fringe 2016: TERROR AUSTRALIS

Be fabulously afraid

By Myron My

Admittedly, I did walk in to Terror Australis not knowing what to expect at all, and I am so glad I did, because the delights it unearthed are so much richer if you have no idea what’s to come (so go see it now, or read on at your peril). Through a clever mix of cabaret, burlesque, live art, dance and comedy, the show looks at the dark culture of Australia with gobsmacking flair.

terror-australis-photographer-stillsbyhill

The set design is true Australiana with a hills-hoist used for makeshift pole-dancing, resulting in some pretty slick and sexy routines. Added set pieces such as goon bags, knives and dingo masks further enhance the strong feelings of ambiguous national pride, and while these items are enough to infer what performer Leah Shelton may be referencing, watching as these allusions come to life take them to a magnificent other level.

Shelton pays homage to various Australian songs, films – including classics such as Picnic At Hanging Rock and Mad Max – and significant moments of history, such as that incident with the dingo… Projections are played out on the various sheets that hang from the hills-hoist while it spins around, creating jarring and distorted images of the selected movie scenes and visuals, adding to the macabre and twisted atmosphere being created.

Shelton is sensational as she brings her various characters to life and plays up to the archetypes of these films and cultural references brilliantly. The costuming is literally the perfect example of when less is more and her comic timing is impeccable and has the entire room in stitches.

No Aussie icon is sacred as Shelton tears through Australia with some unforgettable acts in Terror Australis. It is a brave production that relies on the audience to let themselves be taken on a incredible journey through the deep dark psyche of this country, and this is what you must now go and do to fully appreciate how truly clever and outstanding this show is.

Venue: Fringe Hub – Arts House, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne, 3051
Season: until 1 October | 9:15pm
Length: 45 minutes
Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Conc
Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Image by Stillsby Hill

Festivals, Performances, Whats On

Melbourne Fringe 2016: 2.0 / CONTACT

A touch – of artistry

By Myron My

Presented as part of this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Human Project’s 2.0 | Contact, is an exploration on what touch can be and mean to humans, and how life could be without it. A highly physical experimental piece, it incorporates martial arts, dancing and some wrestling moments as an “outsider” dissects and analyses the state of physical touching.

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With injury befalling one of the performers, the show has had to be restructured to work around the three remaining cast (Rosie Osmond, Ashton Sly and Joseph Lai), but had you not known,  you wouldn’t be able to tell, as the performance is seamless and feels like it has been just the three of them rehearsing all this time. This is a highly demanding show – both physically and mentally – but the training and effort the three have put in in getting this piece together is profoundly evident. With its minimalist set, staging, and costumes there is nothing for the performers to hide behind, and their every move or word is what has all of our attention.

Throughout the show, there are “outsider” descriptions of various forms of human contact that the incomers have witnessed, which are then being played out for us on the stage. While these appear exaggerated and feel unnatural to watch, we are later informed that what we have witnessed is a common act such as kissing or shaking hands, adroitly illustrating the idea that a simple act of contact can generate multiple interpretations.

An interesting theme that runs throughout 2.0 | Contact regarding touch and physicality is that love and violence – affection and aggression – are closely related, and can transform from one into the other quite suddenly. There are powerful scenes of gentle caresses or kissing that are contrasted with the aggressive punching choreography, or bodies running into each other and being flipped onto gym mats.

2.0 | Contact is a strong production by The Human Project, a young promising company only formed in 2015. This is very much a reflective and evocative piece that has you questioning how we use touch in our own lives and how these meanings can differ from each person – and being – we come into contact with.

Venue: Sokol Melbourne, 497 Queensberry St, North Melbourne 

Season: Until 30 September | 8.30pm 

Length: 60 minutes 

Tickets: $25 Full | $16 Conc 

Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Festivals, Performances, Whats On

Melbourne Fringe 2016: NOTHING SPECIAL

Absurdist satire on our yearning for individuality

By Myron My

We all want to be something special. As children we are often led to believe we can be by our parents and teachers, and while it can be a positive thing, it can also be quite detrimental. Presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Hotel Now’s Nothing Special looks at what happens when people live their lives based on the belief that they are extraordinary, and more talented and important than the average man.

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We follow a young girl, Chlorine (Simone French), literally from from the moment she is born. Her mother informs us that she was not supposed to live beyond the age of five, but that’s a defeatist attitude so she was forbidden to die. Chlorine’s dreams to be different and unique and to leave her mark on the world as an innovator in the arts are explored through various periods of her life, but when this seems unlikely, it is the harsh realities that Chlorine must then contend with.

Chlorine’s vulnerability and fragile ego is captured well by French and she plays well with the tragedy that feels certain to befall her. Likewise, Tom Halls‘ character work is a definite highlight of this show. From Chlorine’s “dance mum” persona to Othella, the Dean of the academy for gifted children that Chlorine attends, his movements, facial expressions and speech are dedicated and consistent.

The show explores the lengths to which people will go in order to feel successful and be revered. It is an all-consuming goal where even – as the two characters are having a (melodramatic) breakdown – they position themselves to still be under the right frame and lighting.

Nothing Special is an eccentric and absurd look at our obsession to be special and to matter. It’s a great concept that is executed well by Halls and French. With so many “talent”-focused reality TV shows screening at the moment, Nothing Special is a great reality check for those with mistakenly big dreams.

Venue: Sokol Melbourne, 497 Queensberry St, North Melbourne 

Season: Until 30 September | 7pm 

Length: 60 minutes

Tickets: $25 Full | $16 Conc

Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Performances, Review

Melbourne Fringe 2016: FALLING APPLES

Powerful concept as lives traverse

By Leeor Adar

The concept of Lene Therese Teigan’s Falling Apples is vast and intimate – a Chekhovian-inspired world where the characters’ lives collide in uncertain times.

Falling Apples.jpg

As a fan of Chekhov’s work and Peta Hanrahan’s wonderful direction of A Room of One’s Own earlier this year, I had high hopes for this production presented by La Mama and Verve studios as part of the 2016 Melbourne Fringe Festival, but it was ultimately a cacophony of words, ideas and vibrations.

The Kensington Town Hall is undoubtedly a beautiful place to perform a production. The echo within the large chamber provided a beautiful and haunting introduction as the voices of the performers hummed a suitably melancholy sound – this is Chekhovian terrain after all.

The echo, however, did not bode well for the performers and their interactions. Unless the audience was seated directly opposite the vignette, much of the dialogue was lost within the space. Due to the length of the performance space, the audience was seated along some distance, exacerbating this issue. This had the unfortunate affect of alienating the stories before us. I expect a better choice of space or seating arrangement would have prevented this.

I appreciated the concept of the characters constantly moving within the space as one scene was explored. Undoubtedly the message is clear – we cross paths with other histories every day, and occasionally collide. On this occasion it was further distracting from the already difficult-to-follow dialogue of the active scene within the work.

There were silver linings of strong performances from some members of the cast, particularly Elizabeth Huey-Williams as the troubled sister, and Marissa O’Reilly as the foreign lover. Huey-Williams and O’Reilly gave a lovely depth to their performances that managed to pierce through the chaos surrounding them. Unfortunately, some of the performances were unconvincing and I do not doubt that staging issues contributed.

Ultimately this premiere work was conceptually strong, but weak in execution.

You can catch Falling Apples from Tuesday-Saturday until October 8, Kensington Town Hall: http://lamama.com.au/2016-winter-program/falling-apples

Image by Tommy Holt of T6 Photography

Cabaret, Festivals, Performances

Melbourne Fringe 2016: AWESOME OCEAN PARTY

Quaint, quirky and awash with gentle charm

By Myron My

We’ve all been invited to a party – an ocean party for our half-human half-octopus friend. Created and performed by Giema Contini, Awesome Ocean Party is a 60-minute cabaret-comedy-performance piece that explores loneliness and acceptance through the eyes (and three hearts) of this hybrid creature.

Awesome Ocean Party.jpg

Contini has great physicality on stage and fully conveys the awkwardness of her character that later reveals to us that it is her birthday whereupon the human side to her begins to surface. Her interactions with the audience are sweet and genuine and convey her longing to belong and be accepted.

While the original performance of the show was staged in an empty swimming pool, for this remount Contini has chosen to perform in The Butterfly Club. With its own quirky feel and some specific set pieces, you willingly believe that you are in some underwater/beach environment. The fish tank in the centre of the stage is a constant reminder of where she has come from and the seashell sandpit is utilised well as a place for her to feel safe and happy.

The highlight of Awesome Ocean Party is the biographical picture-story book Contini reads to the audience, from her birth to the death of her parents and then finding hope and strength. It’s a touching story and the illustrations in the book and the descriptive passages create some stunning visuals for us. The music composed by Nathan Stoneham and played by Ned Dixon support the story – and the performance as a whole – in creating a feeling of belonging and being connected.

Contini has a great voice and the timing and pacing of her songs is well structured to keep the momentum (and a bit of awkwardness) going. Songs like “Under The Sea” from The Little Mermaid and Andrew Gold’s “Thank You For Being A Friend” (which most people would recognise as The Golden Girls theme) express her sea-dwelling and land-dwelling aspirations and desires while also exploring the differences of her life.

There is a whimsical aspect to Awesome Ocean Party that makes you warm to Contini and the show almost immediately. It is uplifting and entertaining while encouraging you to remain true to yourself and your convictions, and believe that everything will turn out the way it should.

Awesome Ocean Party was performed as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival from 20 – 25 September, 2016.

Circus, Performances, Whats On

Melbourne Fringe 2016: 4+4=4

Power, poignance and peril when you’re at the end of your rope

By Myron My

Presented by The Flying Xamels as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, 4 + 4 = 4 is a surrealist circus experience looking at four different lives, how they co-exist together and individually, and are finding their way around. Four circus artists with four ropes perform as individuals and as an ensemble as a poignant metaphor for trying to fit in with life and following the right path.

4+4=4.jpg

There is much to take in and analyse in 4 + 4 = 4, as the way these themes are explored could take on different and personal meanings for everyone in the audience. Fortunately the cast are all too aware of this and ensure that the tricks we see on stage are performed in a meditative and dream-like state. When you consider the technical aspects to some of the tricks, being able to appear that calm actually requires great skill and confidence, which these artists possess to a high degree.

But it is not just the performers who keep us entertained or transfixed on stage. Included in the mix in the back right corner is an artist drawing on pieces of paper on an easel and a camel that is perched atop the performance space and dropping paper flowers down below. At numerous times, one of the circus performers jumps down from the railings and bounds head first through the artist’s drawing, destroying the creation and disappearing into the darkness. The drawings all seem quite pleasant with their cartoon -tyle presentation, but the images themselves evoke a feeling of manipulation and being overpowered. In one way, smashing through the drawing shows the quartet’s defiance at this and their efforts at remaining true to themselves and living their lives their own way.

Similarly, the action all taking place under the watchful gaze of the camel – representing focus, determination and travelling – is another symbolic example of the characters staying on task and on track while undertaking their own personal journeying.

4 + 4 = 4 is circus that makes you question the way you live your life, and consider your place in the world in relation to those around you. Some mesmerizing and captivating tricks – with a well-matched soundtrack and lighting design – ensure you’ll be contemplating this show for some time to come.

Venue: Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne
Season: until 25 September | Sat 8pm, Sun 7pm
Length: 60 minutes
Tickets: $28 Full | $23 Conc
Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

Melbourne Fringe 2016: THE MAZE

A powerfully disturbing and impressively affecting experience

By Myron My

As a young white man, I have never had to worry about walking home alone at night. In fact, I have done it often, in the early hours of the morning, and sometimes after a few too many drinks. Unlike most women, I’ve never had to worry if someone is following me, if someone has looked at me for a moment too long, or about being careful how I react when a stranger approaches me to tell me I am beautiful. Made for one audience member at a time, the immersive theatre piece presented by The Honeytrap for this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Maze, allows me to experience this for the first time through the thoughts of a woman walking alone – and it left me significantly troubled and concerned.

The Maze.png

The show begins with writer/director Kasey Gambling meeting with me to go through a checklist to make sure I am fit to walk alone. My neckline is high, I am wearing flat shoes – but I must be cautious of my hair as it is long enough for a man to use to grab me. I also do not have my nail-polish that detects date-rape drugs that may be dropped into my drink, nor am I carrying an anti-rape condom. Despite these issues, I am deemed fit to walk home – but should  proceed carefully.

I don a pair of headphones and stand a few metres from a lone girl, Libby (Libby Brockman) at the tram stop. Through the headphones, I hear her thoughts, conversations, and texts that she sends. As she begins her walk, I witness first hand the harassment and objectification the character receives from strangers. The Maze runs to a strict time schedule and all the actors (including Stephen Whiley, Jez Hunghanfoo and Travis Pemberton) ensure that this is achieved.

I am also very conscious of the fact that I am following this woman and while she does not acknowledge me, I can’t help but wonder what a creep I must look to anyone watching me watching her. As an audience member and reviewer I am intently viewing the performance; to an outsider, I am some weirdo leering at a woman.

Gambling explores the issues around violence against women in an intelligent and honest way. There are numerous times throughout as I am following Libby that the audio (by sound designer Gavin Ingham) tellingly cuts to “commercials” advertising women’s safety products or to factual pieces of news, such as when Det. Insp Mick Hughes stated women were not safe alone in parks after the killing of Melbourne schoolgirl Masa Vukotic.

Gambling also builds skillfully on the suspense of the narrative, gradually dropping hints throughout the walk that have you thinking this story had begun well before you joined it, but you don’t realise what you are being led to is until it actually happens – and it almost stops you in your tracks.

I’ve been very fortunate that each of the immersive theatre events I have attended so far for Melbourne Fringe Festival have been unique, and each with a clear objective in mind -and The Maze is another great example. This site-specific performance explores the threats and dangers a woman faces just for being a woman and as the show concludes, I am let out into the night, alone and unsettled, and must begin to process what I have just seen.

Venue: Joe Taylor (meet at front) 7 Errol St, North Melbourne, 3051
Season: until 2 October | Tues – Sun 6.30pm, 7.30pm, 8.30pm, 9.30pm
Length: 40 minutes
Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Conc
Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival

Festivals, Performances, Whats On

Melbourne Fringe 2016: LOVE LETTERS TO FUCKBOIS

An act of reading, resistance, rebellion and resolution

By Caitlin McGrane

It’s a fair guess that most women who date men will have at some point come across a man who enjoys the company, time and emotional labour of women without investing any of his own energies in them and generally being an entitled fuck. These men are known in African American Vernacular English as ‘fuckbois’; and I’m pleased to report that although the title of this show made me uneasy about the potential for cultural appropriation, the performers of Love Letters to Fuckbois and Other Woes of Wayward Women, Melina Wightman and Lia Stark, acknowledged the origins of the term and their place within its increased colloquial use by white people.

Fuckbois.jpg

The show does exactly what it says in the title – it’s a show written by two young feminist women about their sexual and emotional experiences dealing with ‘fuckbois’, slut-shaming, and navigating and carving out their own sexual identities. Like it or not, sex is a huge part of the lives of young people and has been since time immemorial (even my nan said it was a good idea to ‘try before you buy’, a statement I have never been able to unhear). The beauty of this show is it sets the ground-rules from the beginning, explicitly stating from the outset that this will not be a place for discrimination or shame, and in my opinion there’s just not enough of those spaces for young people of any gender identification.

The show entails the two women reading and responding to letters they have written to people in their lives, including but not limited to ‘fuckbois’, mothers, aunties, ex-boyfriends, and then finally a beautiful, raw and searing heartfelt letter to themselves. I was impressed with how expressive and honest the two performers were, and how they confidently and bravely took ownership of the show, the space and the subject matter. The way they have structured the show means each night will be subtly different depending on the letters they choose at random from a fishbowl.

For me the only thing that let the show down was that title; as much as I appreciate that ‘fuckboi’ succinctly conveys the type of person they’re speaking about, it would have been better if they had chosen a different word that didn’t immediately evoke such problematic appropriation. As far as I know the word ‘fuckhead’ is still up for grabs and is basically the Australian equivalent. But I’m also super aware of my own place in this debate, as a white woman trying to write a review about a show written and performed by two other white women that includes a potentially problematic word in the title, maybe this isn’t my debate to even enter into, but I still think it’s worth mentioning.

Love Letters to Fuckbois helped to remind me that being single as fuck in your 20s is a rite of passage, and feeling rejected and unlovable is common as people attempt to navigate choppy emotional waters. That’s not an excuse however for treating women like sex vending machines where if you put enough kindness coins in they eventually dish out blow jobs. I’m glad Mel and Lia have written and performed this show because too often women get shamed for having a) sex, and b) emotions. Standing up to say ‘This is not ok’ sends a powerful cultural message, and for my money its one that is definitely worth repeating.

Love Letters to Fuckbois and Other Woes of Wayward Women is now playing at Wick Studios in Brunswick until Tuesday 20 September at least twice a day; I strongly recommend you see it. For more information, visit: https://melbournefringe.com.au/program?event/love-letters-to-fuckbois/ee98be93-bbda-4fe4-ac04-210d90324304

Festivals, Performances, Whats On

Melbourne Fringe 2016: DION

Compelling ‘drive-by’ theatre

By Myron My

Dion. Oh Dion. Why’d you go and break my heart? That’s what writer/director Davina Wright explores in the new immersive piece by Gold Satino for Melbourne Fringe Festival, aptly titled Dion. It’s business as usual here, as three audience members jump in the back of the Honda Jazz and are driven around the outskirts of North Melbourne in what can be called an epic “fuck off” homage to exes.

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What I really enjoyed throughout Dion is the juxtaposition of being connected with the show yet witnessing distant and detached vignettes. The performers (Tamiah Bantum, Ross de Winter, Lachlan McColl, Cazz Bainbridge, Xavier O’Shanessy and Wright) all exude this feeling that they are living in their own world and generally void of any emotion but the connectivity felt with the subject and the scenes that play out paint a completely different picture. The exploration of first kisses, last kisses, fleeting moments, broken hearts and heartache; they are all experiences we’ve had and something we can all relate to.

The beauty of Gold Satino productions is that all scenes are open to interpretation: you give meaning and value to what you are seeing. Who these people are, where they have come from, where will they go? – it all depends on what you want to happen and how you choose to seen it.

As you keep an eye out for what is part of the show, you begin to notice a lot more people out in the streets that could easily be in the world of Dion. One particular example in last night’s drive is the elderly couple out walking their two dogs, which formed a comforting contrast to the sadness Dion is exploring.

The show runs on a very tight schedule, timed to the second no doubt, and from an audience perspective, there is not a single glitch. Speculating on the logistics of how the performers manage to get around so quickly and be in the scene before the Jazz even approaches is like guessing how David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

The sound design by Tom Davies is a balanced mix of love anthems such as Billy Ocean’s “Love Really Hurts Without You”, and a poignant soundscape that captures the moods of scenes perfectly, such as the ocean sounds we hear as we witness one performer crying alone in their car.

It’s a shame that the opportunity of seeing Dion is limited to three people per show (and is now a sold-out season at that) as Gold Satino is a company producing performance works that more people should be seeing. But perhaps that’s part of the plan. If everyone got to see what happens behind the closed doors or in the dark alleys, would the emotive and evocative insight that Dion offers be as effective?

SOLD OUT SEASON
Venue: Fringe Hub steps – Arts House, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne, 3051
Season: Until 1 October | Tues – Sat 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10pm
Length: 60 minutes
Tickets: $31 Full | $25 Conc | $21 Cheap Tuesday
Bookings: MelbourneFringe Festival

Cabaret, Circus, Festivals, Performances, Whats On

Melbourne Fringe 2016: NOTORIOUS STRUMPET AND DANGEROUS GIRL

Addiction and art, sisterhood and circus

By Myron My

Greeted with offerings of tea and coffee, we are welcomed into our Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. We all have stories we want to share in this meeting (whether we know it or not), but before we begin, Jess Love has something she would like to share, and that is how performance piece Notorious Strumpet and Dangerous Girl begins.

Notorious Strumpet.jpg

Throughout this deeply personal show, Love explores her struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, and the effects it has had on her personal life and the disconnect she feels with her family. With a Christmas family photo projected on the screen – one that does not include Love – she informs us that while she is a self-confessed queer carnie who drinks too much, the rest of her family are involved in the teaching profession and have also been Christian missionaries.

There is one family member that Love shares a bond with however: the “notorious strumpet and dangerous girl” herself, Love’s great, great, great, great grandmother Julia Mullins. Mullins was sent to Australia as a convict in 1826 for prostitution where she led a life of drunkenness, theft and other crimes. Despite the centuries between between them, there is a connection that Love feels with Mullins as they both deal with their addictions. One of the most striking visuals of the evening occurs when Love dresses up to resemble what Mullins might have worn back in her time, and presents a cheeky but touching homage to her distant relative.

The self-destructiveness of Love’s addictions are executed brilliantly in her ‘drunken’ circus performances. Her intoxication is highly convincing and the sense of danger is heightened during these routines, even when it is a standard hula hoop routine. The use of circus, performance and spoken word to share her stories and express her thoughts and feelings is well thought-out, with great pacing and momentum that never lags.

Love knows how to get the audience onside and even when the alcohol gets the better of her character and her behavior turns chaotic and crass, it is done in a way where we want to reach out and help her. The final moments of Notorious Strumpet and Dangerous Girl offers hope and calm for Love, and for anyone who may be experiencing difficulties in their life. While Love’s life has not always been pretty, she has managed to create something beautiful and meaningful with this show.

Venue: Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne
Season: until 2 October | Tues – Sat 8pm, Sun 7pm
Length: 50 minutes
Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Conc / Cheap Tuesday
Bookings: Melbourne Fringe Festival