Tag: Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2013

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Festivals, Performances, Whats On

REVIEW: Geraldine Quinn is STRANGER

Powerhouse voice and delightfully mysterious comedy

By Bradley Storer

A dark-clad figure silently glided into the room, gazing entranced at the audience before taking a seat beside the people in the second row. A powerful voice emerged from beneath the veils, serenading us with how fascinating we humans are. This mysterious and alluring image drew us into the world of Geraldine Quinn’s wonderful Melbourne International Comedy Festival show Stranger from the very start, Quinn keeping the moment from becoming too self-indulgent with some well-timed silliness.

Geraldine Quinn

The veils soon came off to reveal some amazing Bowie-influenced spandex along with the true nature of the show. Quinn’s character, an enigmatic but bright-eyed outsider from worlds unknown, regales us with her captivation with human beings and the myriad ways they relate and interact with each other.

Songs range from an amusing look at the ambiguous joys of family, how to be a half-assed ‘best friend’ and the similarities of love to an immuno-virus. Quinn combines abundant song-writing talent with a stunning voice, her commanding vocals embracing a spectrum ranging from rock goddess to a light-opera diva.

My one criticism would be that the beginning of the show left me a little confused about who Quinn’s character actually was (and perhaps this aspect needs some strengthening), but this became clearer as the show went on. The audience is treated (along with Quinn’s signature intense eye contact and hilariously forceful choreography) to this strange figure’s journey from an outsider observing the foibles of humanity to a willing actor in the drama of the human condition.

A sequence in which the ‘stranger’ unknowingly opened herself up to all of humanity’s inner voices combined heart-breaking confusion with wide-eyed wonder in a way that was simultaneously poignant and beautiful. An engaging hour of comedy/cabaret that both amuses and stimulates the mind!

DATES: 28th March – 21 April

TIME: 8:15 (7:15 Sun)

VENUE: Trades Hall, Cnr of Lygon & Victoria St, Carlton

TICKETS: $22, Conc $18, Group (8+) $18, Laugh Pack $18, Tightarse Tuesday $15

BOOKING: www.ticketmaster.com.au 1300 660 013, www.comedyfestival.com.au , Melbourne Town Hall Box Office or Trades Hall Box Office.

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

Review: SAM SIMMONS’ Shitty Trivia

Fast and furious fun

By Christine Moffat

If Sam Simmons ever considers a career outside of comedy, it should stunt driving.  This fast-paced show for MICF, written and performed by Simmons, is a wonderful headlong comedy attack on the audience.

Sam Simmons

Simmons took to the stage armed only with hilariously shitty trivia questions (it’s not just a clever title), mismatched shoes and bizarre anecdotes – oh, and a full wheelie bin too of course.

The pace of the show is driven by Simmons’ rapid fire ‘trivia question’ jokes, most of which are outrageous, unfathomable; or both.  The beauty of this system is that the jokes are not really the jokes; they are the set-up.  The real punch-lines come after each ‘joke’ when Simmons responds to the audience’s reaction.

It was especially entertaining when we (the audience) had been laughing our heads off and he responded to an imaginary, disapproving audience.  This format created a semblance of chaos that this reviewer suspects hid the workings of an amazingly well-structured show.

The ‘mysterious shoe’ plotline adds another layer.  A couple of unexpected elements that also work very well are the heavy use of multimedia (including Simmons’ own strange drawings), and a little something he likes to call ‘audience humiliation’.

These ingredients combine to make a very successful one-man sitcom.  Throughout, your mind marvels at the madness, while the rest of you shakes with laughter for 60 minutes.  There is no downtime in this show, but the surreal jumps between different formats create new ways for you to keep laughing.

Simmons engages the audience through headlong speed, fearlessness in his choice of subject matter and costumes (who likes short shorts?), and a freewheeling disregard for reality.  It’s time for a Fast and the Furious comedy spin-off, and I think Simmons is the man to make it happen!

Dates & Times:

3–7 April Tue–Sat 7pm, Sun 6pm

10–21 April Tue–Sat 9.45pm, Sun 8.45pm

Venue: The Hi-Fi

Price: $24-$34

Bookings: www.comedy-festival.com.au/2013/season/shows/shitty-trivia-sam-simmons

Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 / At the door

Events, Festivals, Music, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: CHOIR GIRL for MICF

Choir politics prove to be worth singing about

By Myron My

A young girl sits on stage with her back to us. Her name is Susan (Sarah Collins) and she is desperate to join a choir. Again. This is the dark comedic story of a choir’s most dedicated member and the politics of community choral singing. This is Choir Girl presented by Attic Erratic and marks its return performance for this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Sarah Collins

What sets this comedy show apart from anything else you might see this festival is that Collins is accompanied by a 13-member all-girl choir live on stage. Dressed in very conservative outfits and with their hair tied back in tight buns it’s quite hilarious to see them launching into songs like “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” and the vocal highlight of the show “Hit Me Baby One More Time” when they get all sultry and as sexy as can be in their demure dresses. It’s a great comedic and narrative device using the choir as Greek chorus to help convey and commentate on Susan’s inner thoughts.

The narrative could have been quite confusing had it not been for the techniques and the skills Collins possesses for storytelling. It also says something about Collins’ wonderful stage presence that she can perform in front of 250 people on opening night and have everyone’s attention and yet be able to create a sense of intimacy in the large venue she’s performing in.

Some great lighting design is apparent throughout Choir Girl, including warming reds to show Susan’s “passionate” moments and the delicate use of the lonely spotlight at the end to impart a sense of vulnerability and humanity to her.

My only issue with the performance was that it did feel like it dragged just a little bit, where even shaving five minutes of the running time would have made a world of difference for pace and comic timing. However, Choir Girl is still a thoroughly entertaining show and it’s a nice change from the usual stand-up formula and familiar comedy shows on display this festival.

Venue: The Supper Room, Melbourne Town Hall. Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne

Season: Until 15 April | Monday 7:00pm

Tickets: $23 Full | $20 Concession

Bookings: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au,http://www.comedyfestival.com.au, 1300 660 013 or at the door

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

REVIEW: Thomas Jaspers in NO PLACE LIKE HOMO

Sensational MICF debut

By Bradley Storer

The evening began with a visit from comedian Thomas Jaspers’ close friend ‘Rhonda Butchmore’, who sauntered onstage, all long legs and six-pack in one hand, to warm up the crowd with a few dropped names and withering witticisms about the likes of Chrissie Swan and Patti Newton. This delightful opening segued into a soap opera-styled look at Jaspers’ hometown of Aspendale, dubbed ‘Downtown Assy’, before Jaspers himself emerged (still half dressed as his drag alter-ego) to begin the show.

Thomas Jaspers

No Place Like Homo, Jaspers’ debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, documents the comedian’s journey from a flamboyant, Priscilla-loving child through adolescence and his break-up with a certain well-known Australian comedian and its aftermath.  The major theme of the show is family, with the members of Jaspers’ own family (all played by Jaspers himself) made present throughout the evening via a series of projections that, in a very inventive stroke of media, interject and interweave through all of the material. All of these characters provide hilarious and heart-warming moments, Jaspers’ delightfully dirty grandmother in particular, and in their portraiture you can sense great love and affection.

Despite this being his first appearance at the Comedy Festival, Jaspers already shows great comedic skill and ability in his story-telling. On this night the performer showed some signs of nerves (probably not helped by the presence of his actual family in the audience) but there was no need for worry – Jaspers has crafted a fantastic, hysterical yet touching debut, which we can only hope for more of in the future.

VENUE: The Horse Bazaar, 397 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

TIME: 8:00 (7:00 Sun)

TICKETS: Full $20, Conc $18, Tightarse Tuesday $16, Group (10+) $18, Laugh Park $18.

BOOKING: www.ticketmaster.com.au Ph: 1300 660 013, www.comedyfestival.com.au, at venue.

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: ANNE EDMONDS with The Quarter Cabbage

Comedy with a side of veggies

By Myron My

For three years now local comedy favourite Anne Edmonds has performed stand-up at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This year, she has gone for a character-driven piece with The Quarter Cabbage where she presents a one-woman play about four strangers who are connected by a single cabbage.

We are in a fruit shop – not a room at the comedy festival – and Tony the unseen owner, is visited by four distinct characters; old and slightly senile John Watts, new-age organic-obsessed Justice, ‘Mental Health’ personified, and Rebecca, a young woman with dream of being on X-Factor. Each purchases a quarter cabbage and as they do, we are given an insight into their varied lives as they talk to Tony.

Anne Edmonds

Whilst Edmonds is backstage getting changed into the next character, we hear a variety of comic phone conversations John makes to various customer service companies with hilarious complaints and ludicrous demands, such as threatening to switch from Yarra Trams to their rival – trains. These calls had everyone in stitches and kept the energy of the show going without Edmonds’ physical presence.

There were some nerves the night I attended early in the season, and a few things not going to plan – like a banjo not tuned – but Edmonds allowed these things to come into the show, acknowledged them, fixed them and moved on quite calmly.

Edmonds has done a great job in creating strongly fleshed-out characters within a very short time frame. The nuances and mannerisms of these characters are well thought-out and the fifteen minutes per character go by so quickly that you are left wanting more. My only problem was the inclusion of Mental Health – even though it was still funny, I feel with this persona we lost the appealing normality and mundaneness of the stories from the other three characters.

Edmonds’ MICF show The Quarter Cabbage is full of laughs and fun that will leave you wondering where the other ¾ of your own cabbage is going. I warmly recommend it, and give it 4 and ¼ cabbages.

Venue: The Lunch Room, Melbourne Town Hall. Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne

Season: Until 21 April | Tues-Sat 8:30pm, Sun 7:30pm

Tickets: $26 Full | $24 Concession

Bookings: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au, http://www.comedyfestival.com.au, 1300 660 013 or at the door

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

REVIEW: Jenny Eclair is ECLAIRIOUS

British TV star surprises on stage

By Christine Moffat

UK comedienne Jenny Éclair is not everyone’s cup of tea.  That’s mainly because everyone’s cup of tea isn’t an Earl Grey Jaeger-bomb!  Éclair epitomises that very English, delicious combination of nasty and nice, and possesses the kind of comedy pedigree that practically guarantees an audience a good laugh throughout, and a happy buzz when exiting – and that’s what happened last night.

Jenny Eclair

If you only know her from the television show Grumpy Old Women, you’re in for a surprise, as comediennes need to be a bit tamer on TV then they are on stage.  Most of the material in Eclairious for MICF is a bit too rude to repeat, and definitely too funny to spoil by revealing it in this review.  But as a teaser, Éclair does a little reminiscing (about fellatio and hand jobs), and some great bits about lost youth, menopause and teenage ‘children’.

Unfortunately at times Éclair’s material excluded men and women under 40, as it was phrased in the “am I right girls?” style.  That being said, the show still went from big laughs, to giggles, to big laughs regularly, as Éclair knows how to work an audience.

If you feel like a hilarious chat, albeit a (mainly) one-way and slightly confronting one, get there early and sit up the front.  Don’t be afraid to adjust yourself to get more comfortable, just get it out of the way before she gets going as she “hates fiddlers”.  So have a nice chardonnay or three, and then pop along for a good old laugh.

Dates: April 2-7

Times: Tue-Sat 8.15pm, Sun 7.15pm

Where:  Melb Town Hall – Supper Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts

PRICES: $25 – $36

Bookings:

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/eclairious-jenny-eclair

Ticketmaster 1300 660 013

At the door

Circus, Events, Festivals, Review, Whats On

Review: MOOKY CORNISH in Glories of Gloria Revue

Clowning around here is quietly amusing

By Myron My

Mooky Cornish takes to the stage in Glories of Gloria Revue for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival playing Gloria Rivard, a darling of the stage who is showcasing her amazing array of talents in her one-woman show.

Cornish is charming and comical with her mannerisms and facial expressions, and the show is entertaining for the most part, but on a whole, the content itself is just not very funny which is surprising seeing as Cornish is the lead clown and creator in Cirque du Soleil.

Mooky Cornish

The highlights of this show are when Gloria finds volunteers to help her perform scenes: Cornish is fantastic at being gentle with her audience and keeping them safe and happy at all times. One particular moment has Gloria acting out a romance scene with a member of the audience where his lines are stuck all over her costume and body. Fortunately, our particular audience member went along for the ride and had the whole audience in stitches. Also, the last Broadway number is not to be missed with its ‘all for one, and one for all’ mentality.

The costume changes – ten in all, and remember this is a 60 minute show – are elaborate and you can only wonder how Cornish is managing to execute them so quickly. A lot of time and effort has been put into the outfits and props in this show and Cornish ensures they are used to their full extent, including her use of the amazing sock puppets in ‘The Lonely Goatherd’.

However, the short segments of “ancestral film footage” we are shown whilst Gloria changes costume do lower the energy and audience engagement somewhat and made me feel like I was watching a commercial break as I wait for my TV show to resume.

Mooky Cornish’s Glories of Gloria Revue combines performance, music, dance and sketches: the description seems like a sure-fire comedy win but things are only gently lukewarm in this show.

Venue: Powder Room, Melbourne Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts. Melbourne

Season: Until 21 April | Tues-Sat 5:55pm, Sun 4:55pm

Tickets: $21 Full | $17 Concession

Bookings: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au, 1300 660 013 or at the door