Circus, Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Cirque Du Soleil’s OVO

An exotic and mesmerising world of wonder and whimsy

By Tania Herbert

As a cheesy American accented voiceover runs through the sponsors, I begin to wonder whether my Cirque du Soleil experience will be all it’s cracked up to be. But I have little to fear. As the lights go down we get a strobe flash of a giant globe of light and impossibly iridescent costumed inserts perched in impossible positions around and above us, and then the show begins.

Photo by OSA Images

To describe Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo is a little like trying to describe a particularly gravity-defying dream. In some ways, Ovo is classic circus. The colourful ringmaster guides us through acts of clowning, acrobatics, tumbling, aerials and jugglers. However, with Cirque du Soleil, everything is turned on its head – often literally. Not only is there juggling, but its foot juggling (while balanced on someone else’s feet). The tight rope is, instead, a slack rope- on which the performer rides a unicycle, on his face (yes, his face).

However there is so much more to the story. The enigmatic “Ovo”, or egg in Portuguese, is the centerpiece of the insect world we are invited into, linking the performances and performers in both overt and subtle ways.  The Brazillian-themed piece weaves in multiple elements- the samba and bossa nova-inspired soundtrack (by composer and musical director Berna Ceppas) is played live on stage by cockroach-costumed performers (the beautiful Marie-Claude Marchand a particular highlight) with lyrics in Portuguese and insect-inspired sound effects. The insects chatter to us and each other throughout, with the lack of words adding to the sense of mystique. The rich three-dimensional sets and phenomenal costuming (by costume designer Liz Vandal) finish off this psychedelic Alice-in-Wonderland-type dreamscape.

And then there are the performances. The aerial silk is a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, the comical worker ants juggle giant pieces of fruit, and the spider contortionist leaves us really wondering how many legs she actually has. The mastery of their art in effortless acrobats and gymnastics are thrown at the audience without breaking pace, and the show moves flawlessly from act to act, with even set changes being integrated into the performance and beautiful to watch. The finale is the definite highlight, where we see crickets and spiders leaping and crawling up an eight-metre rock wall while giant mechanical flowers and showers of petals appear magically from the roof.

There were some small opening night “jitterbugs” – a dropped diabolo cup, a missed rope – and the premiere atmosphere was lacking by the relatively small number of children in the audience for whom some of the slapstick clowning was clearly targeted.

However, the circus magic was in full force, and it wasn’t only the kids who were literally screaming with excitement. Gluttony for the imagination, Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo is the absolute elite of international performing.

Venue: “The Grand Chapiteau” and Cirque du Soleil’s mobile village in New Quay, Docklands

Season: Jan 17th – March 24th

Tickets: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ovo/tickets/melbourne.aspx

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: LITTLE ONES THEATRE PRESENTS Psycho Beach Party

60s spoof cinema becomes Midsumma highlight

By Myron My

Psycho Beach Party is a glorious camp dive into the 60s surf as we follow Chicklet’s (Ash Flanders) journey to becoming a female surfer. Along the way we learn of a psycho who likes to shave women’s hair from top to bottom, witness some “unexpected” love, and meet an overbearing mother with a secret or two of her own.

Filmed as the 2000 queer cult classic of the same name, Little Ones Theatre have brought all the joy and hilarity of Charles Busch’s spoof horror beach flick script back to the stage where it all began.

Psycho Beach Party

The play’s set is adorned with leopard prints as far as the eye can see: umbrella, beach chairs, sand, backdrop and even the majority of the costumes are all decked in various shades and patterns of black and yellow. Despite scene changes, the set never altered and perhaps allowing the audience to cast their eyes on something different would have better distinguished between different locales. The gloriously campy musical numbers – and quirky choreography – were a joy to watch and I did wish there had been a few more of these.

All the performers did extremely well with their characters and they were clearly having fun playing these absurd beach-loving stereotypes. The standouts for me would have to be Flanders, Genevieve Giuffre as Berdine and Zoe Boesen as Marvel Ann. Despite having quite a few different stories with not much narrative direction, the various erratic plots do all get wrapped up quite nicely by the end of the show.

But you are not watching Psycho Beach Party for its storyline or the depth of its characters. It is – dare I say it – like a 60s beach version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Friday the 13th Psycho Beach Party cranks it up to 11 with its over-the-top persona, some sharp (and sexually punning) dialogue and a few fabulous music interludes for good measure.

Playing as part of Midsumma Festival, Psycho Beach Party is as camp as the proverbial row of tents but this is definitely one beach where you’ll want to pitch yours (yes, I went there).

Venue: Theatreworks, 14 Acland St, St Kilda.

Season: Until 19 January | 7:30pm

Tickets: $32 Full | $22 Concession

Bookings:  9534 3388 or http://www.theatreworks.org.au

Events, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Yve Blake in AM I GOOD FRIEND?

A truly delightful performer and a wonderful show

By Bradley Storer

Am I Good Friend? is a show which mines, with hilarious results, the gap between our perception and the reality of how we relate to other people. Compiling graphs, pie charts of ambiguous flavour and anecdotal evidence on how to be a good friend, performer Yve Blake embarks on a pseudo-scientific and fantastical quest for what she calls the ‘golden egg of truth’.

Yve Blake

Greeted at the entrance of The Butterfly Club by Blake’s ‘stage manager’, who hands out iced Vovos whilst dressed in a stylish garbage-bag garment, we are handed small cards and invited to answer a personal question or two to aid Blake’s ‘research’. One quick costume change later and Blake herself appears in a make-shift lab coat and begins to ingratiate herself with the audience.

Over the next hour we are taken on a journey through Blake’s history of spotty behaviour as a friend, relayed through multimedia presentations, lip-synched re-enactments of embarrassing conversations and Skype-d testimonials from her closest friends. Given Blake’s sunny and adorable stage presence, this is actually almost too hard to believe!

Blake is a hurricane of delightful comic energy, bouncing off the walls with bright eyes and a wide sincere smile. Along with her goofy and enthusiastic nature, she is also unafraid to shamelessly plug her awkwardness and short-comings for laughs – her comedic commitment to her own humiliation is hysterically funny. Although her approach to her material is high-octane the show never seems rushed or garbled, her remarkable diction worthy of note considering the speed at which she speaks! Blake has a fantastic gift for interacting with and including her audience, finding many clever (and at one point, truly touching) ways to bring audience members into the show.

The hour-long show flies past, and the conclusion is a communal acknowledgement of all our faults and mistakes as friends to others, Blake ultimately managing to find both pathos and humour in the universal experience of loneliness and being an outsider. Ultimately this is an outstanding show which, much like Blake herself, hides a surprising depth beneath its sunny exterior.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank St, South Melbourne VIC

Date: Tues 18th to Sunday 23rd Dec

Time: Tues, Weds and Sun at 8pm – Thurs, Fri, Sat at 9pm

Tickets: $23 / $20 Conc / $18 Group (8+) / $15 Tues

Online: www.thebutterflyclub.com

Phone: 9690 2000

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: NOA at La Mama

Interesting possibilities end up all at sea

By Myron My

I love it when there is something unique or different about a performance and when we were asked which way we would like to enter the stage, I thought that NOA would be one of those experiences. We could enter the conventional way or go up some stairs, down a ladder and be led to our seats in the dark.

There was much anticipation about what was about to transpire as everyone got seated and the performance began. Unfortunately, for the next 45 minutes I sat there often confused, sometimes uninterested and ultimately left wondering about too many things.

NOA

NOA attempted to look at themes of loss, friendship and survival, yet I struggled to find any definitive moments where any of these were explored. Excluding the last few minutes of the show, we were witness to two siblings (Karen Sibbing and Joshua Ferenbach) playing different characters in short skit-like scenes, including Mike the Magician and his “amazing” 3 cans/2 coins trick but nothing particular came from any of this.

The flimsy plot revolves around Noa and his sister – who live inside a bunker built by Noa and are honing their survival skills for their own experiences. The character development was minimal at best and just when I thought we were going to get some idea as to why these characters were doing what they were doing it went back to the surreal character dress-ups. However I must say the commitment which the performers played their troubled characters was a highlight of NOA.

Eugyeene Teh’s set design was the other highlight. Much time and effort had gone into replicating a bunker and encapsulating its claustrophobic and tight environment. Lighting designer Amelia Lever-Davidson further amplified this sensation with her atmospheric changes from darkness through dullness to dazzling brightness.

Overall and unfortunately, NOA felt contrived and had a level of pretentiousness to it that prevented me from connecting with the piece. I appreciate that theatre should investigate unknown areas and be innovative and explorative but unlike Noah’s Ark, this ship sank very quickly for me.

Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday Street St, Carlton

Season: Until 21 December | Tues, Wed, Sun 6:30pm. Thu-Sat 7:30pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $15 Concession

Bookings: http://lamama.com.au

Events, Music, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Albert Salt and Wintercoats

An exceptional double act wow the crowd

By Myron My

Performing as a double set at Chapel Off Chapel and presented by Fly-On-The-Wall Theatre were two extremely talented Melbourne musicians, Albert Salt and Wintercoats. Despite their two unique and different sounds, the evening still proved to be very successful, if the warm response from the audience is anything to go by.

Albert Salt

Taking the stage first was Albert Salt who entertained the audience with his combination of alternative rock, electronica and jazz music. Salt was supported by Noah Harris and Lachie Bubb, and the latter who was particularly great to watch on the drums. There was much ease and grace in the way he played, despite the obvious level of skill and concentration needed.

The set list played was a great example of the varying skill that Salt has as a singer and musician with the standout tracks being Fear & Loathing and Salt’s closing track This Is Her. The foot-tapping amongst the audience was evident and at times I wished that Salt were simply performing at a pub so that I could get up and dance! There is definitely a bright future for this Triple J Unearthed finalist from 2011.

The second half of the evening was quite a contrast to Salt, where we were treated to a great set by Wintercoats aka James Wallace. Wintercoats took to the stage with nothing but a violin and created a beautiful experience for the audience to take part in.

Wintercoats

Finding every conceivable way to produce sound from a violin, Wallace uses the bow, strums the instrument like a guitar, strikes it with his hands and even blows into it. Wintercoats created a complex experience of overlapping music and sound that had everyone on their own personal journey throughout it.

The backdrop for Wintercoats’ gig was a visual stream of nature imagery, including fires, water, skies and epic landscapes that were filmed in Ireland, Scotland and Iceland. This blended in magically with Wintercoats’ nostalgic and whimsical music.

As we approached his last song, Wintercoats admitted he had never played it before and it could end up sounding like cats meowing, but the risk paid off as we ended a great night on the highest note possible.

The evening was another reminder of the talent that resides throughout Australia and Fly-On-The-Wall Theatre provided these remarkable artists the opportunity to play for audiences who might not have necessarily headed down to a pub to see a local live music gig. Hopefully there’ll be more performances like this coming soon.

Venue: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran

Season: Until 15 December | 8:00pm

Tickets: $15 Full

Bookings: www.chapeloffchapel.com.au

Cabaret, Editorial, Opportunities, Whats On

Move It Or Lose It: The Fight to Save THE BUTTERFLY CLUB

The fate of an amazing Melbourne performance venue is in our hands…

By Myron My

I have been going to the Butterfly Club for a few years now and have had the opportunity to watch some amazing and varied shows there: ones that otherwise would not have seen the light of day had it not been for this curated venue. The Butterfly Club has given emerging and established performers the opportunity to create new works and have them watched by a welcoming and open-minded audience.

Since 1999, The Butterfly Club has presented more than 1300 new Australian works. It has given immensely to the theatre community in discovering and nurturing performers and now it needs our help. The Butterfly Club must relocate from South Melbourne to 256 Collins Street in the city centre in February 2013. Director Mr Simone Pulga said the move was due to the unbearable costs of operating in the current premises. “If we increased the cost of drinks to match the rise in rent, we’d have to charge $12.50 for a stubby. We must move The Butterfly Club to a better location.”

The Butterfly Club 1

“Paradoxically, inner-city Melbourne has provided us with an affordable, long-term opportunity to create a new theatre space in an exciting unused building. The show room will be larger with more comfortable seating but the venue will remain just as intimate and quirky with the much-loved decor and regular shows moving with the venue,” he said.

The Butterfly Club has a sustainable arts model which doesn’t rely on any government subsidies and even though this model will be replicated in the new location it first needs funds specifically for the relocation and – when housing Australia’s largest collection of kitsch art – this is not going to be easy!

A community fundraising campaign is currently underway using the popular crowd-funding website Pozible. The campaign is embracing the ‘Buy A Brick’ phenomena, aptly designated ‘Cash For Kitsch’. Supporters will be able to adopt a piece of The Butterfly Club history from among its wondrous collection of miscellany, and ensure it has a home at the new venue.

The artist community including Tim Minchin, Eddie Perfect, Marieke Hardy, Dan Ilik, Tripod and many more have rallied behind the campaign, donating exclusive rewards and experiences. $130,000 is needed for the relocation, and it is hoped at least $20,000 of this can be raised via the crowd-funding campaign, which closes on 16 January.

The Butterfly Club is a Melbourne icon in the theatre, comedy and cabaret world and something we all need to band together over to ensure that it can continue to showcase our home-grown talent. To donate and get some seriously good rewards – not including the tingly feeling of doing something awesome – click http://pozible.com/thebutterflyclub for more information.

Circus, Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Daniel Oldaker is DANDYMAN

Fine physical comedy from humble beginnings

By Myron My

Daniel Oldaker is physical theatre. Having seen him perform previously, I was quite excited to see what his new comedy show Dandyman would entail.

Dandyman

After what was probably the most captivating and engaging entrance for a show I have seen in a while, Oldaker takes to the stage in his bright blue and pink suit and accessories. The very loose story revolves around Dandyman waiting at the airport to board his flight and having to combat the boredom of plane delays and a very stubborn suitcase.

There is a simplicity in Dandyman that takes you back to being a child and that ability we once had to create so much out of nothing. Oldaker whips out two pages from a newspaper and ten bright pink straws and begins to dazzle us with all of his creations.

From paper babies, to flying birds of various sizes to up-close and personal facial features, Oldaker covers pretty much everything.

There is a touch of Dr. Brown’s mannerisms and character in Oldaker’s comedy but it is far less confronting and so allows the audience to be more at ease with what he is doing and to just enjoy it.

The disappointing thing about the show would have to be the length. At 35 minutes I did not feel like I had been on a full journey with the character. As much as I enjoyed the straw and paper moments and the bit of juggling, knowing what Oldaker is capable of I did not leave feeling fulfilled by what I had seen.

Oldaker informed us at the end of the show that this was the beginning of Dandyman and that it would eventually turn into a “totally different beast” than what we saw. There is great potential to develop this character and that is something to look forward to.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank Street, South Melbourne

Season: Until 9 December | 9:00pm, Sun 8:00pm

Tickets: $23 Full | $15 Concession

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com

Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: GAUGE at Arts House

Talking about the weather has never been so fascinating

By Kate Boston Smith

Having initially misread the blurb about Gauge (created by five artists – Madeleine Flynn, Tim Humphrey, Graeme Leak, Rosemary Joy and Cameron Robbins, and two scientists: Dr Michael Roderick and Dr Adrian Pearce) as a more conventional theatre performance, I entered the ghostly Meat Market with expectations that were quickly shattered.  Eerily quiet, except for a strange knocking of wood blocks, I teetered across the Victorian cobblestone floor, following the sound and dim light to the far end of the historic market stall.

Gauge

What I walked into were two performers drumming beats from a mysterious score that made little melodic sense.  It was mesmerizing to watch and to try and work out what was happening. One performer beat with his hands a large wooden “draw”, while the other held a tiny wooden vessel beating it with a small wooden block.  Once the piece was over it was explained that the larger wooden “draw” represented Melbourne’s water storage capacity, and smaller vessel London’s.  The score they followed was reading of rainfall in each city and was fascinating to look at once the performance had finished.

Around the mobile audience was an array of beautiful sculpture pieces that exuded an aura of a post-apocalyptic scientific dream space. The other pieces in the space included a baby grand piano stripped of its lid.  There was an air of abandonment to the decrepit instrument that now stood left to decay under a dripping roof.  Fat water drops would periodical strike a note adding surprise moments to the soundtrack of this collaborative art piece.

Notable also was the blowup pool that had a simulated weather system created by dry ice and huge vacuum like funnel hanging above it.  A flutist, with a long pipe attached to the end of his flute, circled the pool playing a piece of music that could send shivers down your spine.  To the delight of all, his breath and movement encouraged the beginnings of a small tornado in the centre of the pool that was swept up through the funnel.

It is a wonderful thing when art and science come together.  Both worlds, and their practitioners, are filled with passion and the desire to explore, inquire and unveil.   All the pieces in the exhibition were based around water and weather.  There was a tactility nature to each piece and playing with the pieces was encouraged.  Once the formal performances had finished it was exciting to watch the audience take the place of the performers and recreate the sounds and the mini-storms themselves.

Though I walked in expecting something else I thoroughly enjoyed the strange world of the visual and performance art installation I was transported into.  I would’ve loved more details of the science behind each piece, but it was also interesting to put my imagination to the test to analyze and wonder.

The world premiere of Gauge took place at the Arts House Meat Market Nov 15-21, 2012

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Festivals, Performances, Whats On

REVIEW: Short+Sweet Cabaret 2012

Variety was never so sweet!

By Myron My

Short+Sweet is the biggest little arts festival in the world that celebrates ten-minute performances in theatre, cabaret and dance. Crammed into 19 days, there are roughly 100 original works performed. As with any variety show though, there are going to be some performances that are significantly stronger than others.

Short+Sweet Cabaret

My top choice of the Group A performances for the Short+Sweet Cabaret Festival would therefore be Good Grief performed by Sarah Gaul and Sophie Wright. There was obvious rapport between the two as they played thespian ‘frenemies‘ who are looking at building on their repertoire of tragedy to become better actors. Both women have great voices and songs that had the audience in stitches with laughter.

Another highlight was Amanda Buckley in Haley Burton: Ready to Role: her charming nature made the crowd warm to her immediately in this semi-improvised cabaret of a high-achieving understudy.

Quite possibly one of the last things I expected to ever see in cabaret would be a show about Oprah Winfrey but it happened at Short+Sweet with Oprahfication…the ULTIMATE interview. As Opraaaaaaaaah! Rachel Dunham’s resemblance was uncanny and her portrayal throughout of this talk show queen was spot on.

Each ten-minute cabaret also had some very talented musicians, be it pianists, drummers or guitarists. There were a few that stayed in my mind after the shows were completed so my mentions would have to go A Very Kitty Christmas’ Barnaby Reither, A Little bit of Little Pattie’s Cameron Thomas and Oprahfication…’s Shanon Whitelock.

The mind boggles in choosing what to see and that’s the great thing about Short+Sweet, having such a diverse range of ideas and concepts. There are many different stories to be told and all are created with passion and dedication.

Venue: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel Street  Prahran

Season: Until 8 December | various times

Tickets: From $25

Bookings: http://www.shortandsweet.org

Events, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Theatre, Whats On

Review: DEATH OF A COMEDIAN at La Mama Courthouse

Getting behind the scenes of the comedy circuit

By Myron My

Death of a Comedian by Fred Rowan is a privileged view into the  green room of a local comedy club as a group of comedians warm up for their show, but it might as well be a group of patients in the waiting room of a medical centre awaiting test results. As the performers wait backstage we witness their tension and anxieties, and as they return from the stage we wait with dread to see if they “killed it or were killed”.

Death of a Comedian

The whole amusing performance takes place over the course of this one night in the green room. The set design was very realistic in depicting what the back room of a pub looks like, and some great stage lighting involved having the comedian who was giving their set take centre stage while the rest of the cast remained in the background of the green room, thus allowing the two worlds to combine yet remaining visually separate.

Jeremy Kewley was brilliant as Graham Dempster, the organizer of the event raising funds for a hospital. His energy and endearingly annoying character were well received by the audience. Kevin Summers as a comedian desperate for a comeback, Johnny Mazing, was reminiscent of the fear we all have of not wanting to be forgotten and trying to hold onto our past. Although it took him a while to settle into his character, the audience was firmly on his side by the end. Believing in a few of the other performers was sometimes a struggle however: it felt like I was watching comedians acting and not actors being comedians.

There was some sharp dialogue and at times this reminded me of the backstage shenanigans that go on during something like Noises Off! which allowed Death of a Comedian to bring home the laughs. I think cutting ten minutes from the show would have created a much cleaner show and the ending, whilst trying to bring in some poignancy, needed editing too as it seemed to go on that little bit too long.

Death of a Comedian is, self-consciously, a drama about comedy. But there are more than enough laughs in this production to make you think otherwise.

Venue: La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond St, Carlton

Season: Until 9 December | Wed, Sun 6:30pm. Thu-Sat 7:30pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $15 Concession

Bookings: http://lamama.com.au