Fringe Feature - 2016 by The Adelaide Review

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Anya Anastasia

Annabel Crabb

Beowulf: The Blockbuster

Heather Croall

The Bunker Trilogy

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SONGS OF CAKE AND DEATH FOR YEARS, ANYA ANASTASIA HAS BEEN A STAPLE OF THE ADELAIDE FRINGE. IN FACT, IT’S WHERE SHE GOT HER START AS A SOLO PERFORMER.

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BY –––JAMES MCCANN

My first show at the Fringe in 2010, and we unexpectedly had an amazing season, selling out all nine nights at Nexus Cabaret,” Anastasia says. From there, she’s travelled all over the country, and abroad to Prague and New Zealand, aboard the non-stop global festival circuit caravan. Anastasia relocated to Melbourne last October but she is hesitant to say she has moved away from Adelaide. Rather, she just “needed a room to keep her things in” while she pursued new show business connections and opportunities. “I wanted to be a small fish in a big pond.” Anastasia mentions that she counts her Adelaide roots as an artistic asset. “Because of the geography and the nature of the Adelaide arts scene,” she says, “artists get the chance to evolve really separately from immediate

artistic community influence. They develop individual styles.” ‘Individual’ is a word which aptly describes Anastasia’s work. Equipped with an extraordinary voice, and costumed opulently, she brings a series of weird and wonderful characters to life in her new show, the rather macabrely titled Torte e Mort: Songs of Cake and Death. “I was always thought of as a goth growing up because of my morbid sense of humour,” she says, “but I think I’m quite positive!” Given the title, those unacquainted with Anastasia’s previous shows might anticipate something rather bleak rather than the raucous reality. Indeed, when one thinks of light hearted musical comedy, the first theme which jumps to mind is seldom ‘the crushing certainty of death’.

“This show follows the journey of my really contemporary and slightly mad version, of Marie Antoinette. She appears as a ghost and relives parts of her indulgent and exciting life.” The title of the show is inspired by the French queen. “’Let them eat cake’ is the line that everybody recognises, even though she never said it, but it’s the essence of the show. Antoinette is such a rich character. Not just in the history of who she was – her fashion statements, her outrageous behaviour – but also the way she’s been interpreted, and become an icon of excess and indulgence.” Decadent pre-revolutionary France is, for Anastasia, a means to talk about contemporary western society. “I want to talk about our obsession with celebrities who are badly behaved and,” she laughs, “doing the things we want to be doing!” Torte e Mort follows Antoinette’s ghost through her post-mortem adventures, and introduces other characters to the narrative as well. The story, according to Anastasia, “follows her journey into the underworld and beyond, where we meet my version of the devil and the grim reaper”.

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THIS SHOW FOLLOWS THE JOURNEY OF MY REALLY CONTEMPORARY AND SLIGHTLY MAD VERSION, OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. SHE APPEARS AS A GHOST AND RELIVES PARTS OF HER INDULGENT AND EXCITING LIFE.”

It was then brought to another director, Sue Broadway, who helped with the staging and physicality of it. “By the time we got to Melbourne it was really polished but, at the same time, the show really only gets its life once it started being in front of people, especially cabaret which feeds so much off the energy in the room and interaction with the audience.” Anastasia says the run in Melbourne was a dream, over all too soon, and she’s terribly excited to mount the performance again back in Adelaide.

Torte e Mort: Songs of Cake and Death has undergone years of preparation. “I wrote the show, and then I met with director Sarah Ward. She smashed the show apart and then we pieced it back together. It was brilliant and devastating all at once.

TORTE E MORT: SONGS OF CAKE AND DEATH ROYAL CROQUET CLUB FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 TO SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 ANYAANASTASIA.COM

presents

LINEUP INCLUDES -–-–-–-–-–-–• Angélique Kidjo & the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra • Calexico • The Cat Empire

BENIN/AUSTRALIA USA AUSTRALIA • Cedric Burnside Project All Our Exes Live in Texas AUSTRALIA USA • DakhaBrakha UKRAINE • Debashish Bhattacharya INDIA • Diego el Cigala SPAIN • Ester Rada ETHIOPIA/ISRAEL • Hazmat Modine USA • Husky AUSTRALIA • Ibeyi FRANCE/CUBA • John Grant USA • Ladysmith Black Mambazo SOUTH AFRICA • Marlon Williams & the Yarra Benders NEW ZEALAND/AUSTRALIA • The Once CANADA • Orange Blossom FRANCE • Osunlade (DJ) USA • Radical Son AUSTRALIA • Ripley AUSTRALIA • Sampa the Great ZAMBIA/AUSTRALIA • Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 NIGERIA • Violent Femmes USA and many more! PLUS: Taste the World, The Planet Talks, a Global Village, KidZone, visual arts, street theatre and much more.

11-14 MARCH 2016 W BOTANIC PARK W ADELAIDE WOMADELAIDE.COM.AU

Canada’s Cirque Alfonse

Electro Trad Cabaret By Thomas Monckton & Circo Aereo

“ Deliciously bizarre… BARBU is the most fun you'll have in a tent this year” Edinburgh 24/7

“It’s just all a bit crazy. Deliciously so… where the absurd is the norm, and the inexplicable should be expected” Dione Joseph, Theatreview

13 Feb – 5 Mar 2016

12 Feb – 14 Mar 2016

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Royal Croquet Club, Victoria Square

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POLITICAL GASTRONOMY POLITICAL JOURNALIST AND CULINARY ENTHUSIAST ANNABEL CRABB WILL TAKE OVER THE FESTIVAL THEATRE’S STAGE FOR AN EVENING WITH SOME OF AUSTRALIA’S MOST DYNAMIC PERSONALITIES AS PART OF THE ADELAIDE FRINGE.

BY –––DASHA ROMANOWSKI

he charismatic Crabb will be returning to Adelaide from Sydney for the onenight-only performance, An Evening With Annabel Crabb, which will mark her first stint onstage as a live host.

“Fringe is such an amazing time to be [in Adelaide] and if exposing myself to potential ridicule in front of 2,000 people is part of it, then I’ll cop it,” Crabb tells The Adelaide Review. “My favourite thing in the world is to cook and talk to people, so that’s what I’ll be doing onstage. It’s going to be a mixture of people that I know, and people that I’ve always admired and who I think are really interesting.” Crabb has so far confirmed that at least two guests will be joining her on the night, with the first being fellow political journalist, author and close friend, Leigh Sales. Crabb and Sales

do a podcast together called Chat 10 Looks 3. “I know her pretty well – I suspect if I hadn’t asked her formally to be a part of [the Fringe show], she would’ve turned up and heckled anyway, so she’s locked in,” Crabb says. “She also has a number of unsuspected skills, Sales does. She constantly surprises and one of the things that I love about her is that she is virtually unembarrassable [sic], so you could pretty much say, ‘Would you wear a funny hat and play the piano?’ and she’s like, ‘Sure!’ The second guest that Crabb discloses to The Adelaide Review is Adam Liaw, Australian lawyer and winner of the second series of MasterChef Australia. Like Crabb, Liaw hails from Adelaide and is renowned for his SBS cooking show, Destination Flavour. “I am a huge fan of his, but I only really know him through social media where he’s incredibly funny, and has the gift of photography and cookery and he’s constantly making great food and taking fabulous pictures and making everybody hungry. But he’s also just hilarious and I’ve always wanted to meet him. “In some ways, this evening is some giant overcooked excuse to meet Adam Liaw, but I’m happy about that and he seemed quite into it as well. I thought it would be good to include someone who is legitimately a great cook too.” Crabb’s love of cooking developed from a young age, when she learned the basics from her mother. She is even making pasties during this interview at 8.30 on a Tuesday morning. “I’ve always really enjoyed cooking and I do it to relax. Lots of people don’t feel that way about cooking. I suppose it’s a matter of taste. I always say to people, you need cooks and you need eaters in the world, and some people who are alarmed by the thought of cooking, I think, should choose to be an eater ‘cause every hyper-productive cook like me needs someone to load things onto. “I like the idea of working hard at something and having something right there at the end, you know, the results of your labours – it’s exactly the opposite of parenting where you don’t find out whether you’ve messed it up until 20 years later. With the pasties, you don’t really have that problem!’ Crabb began her journalism career as an Advertiser cadet before moving to The Age a

few years later where she made her name as political correspondent and columnist. She established her iconic status in Australia’s political scene through appearances on various panel shows, books such as The Wife Drought and the ABC show Kitchen Cabinet, where she combines her areas of expertise in journalism and cooking by preparing a meal and dining with Australian politicians in their homes. Featured guests have included Christopher Pyne, Penny Wong, Joe Hockey, Malcolm Turnbull, Clive Palmer and Julie Bishop. “If you get people to do something else with their hands and put them in a different context to microphones and studio equipment, they often feel free to tell you different things or talk about things differently or be a bit more

approachable about different areas of their lives,” she says of Kitchen Cabinet. “It’s what my program is all about. I am really passionate about the view that food serves a really important social function. “And I mean, if you have a look at great rapprochements of history, and enemies have got together and made friends or found a way to work together, often those things happen over dinner.”

AN EVENING WITH ANNABEL CRABB FESTIVAL THEATRE SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14

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to connect with his son, so he tells the classic Beowulf as a final bedtime story. The show’s exploration of familial relations and the power of storytelling is what provides relatable and universal aspects to audiences across the world.

HOW TO TELL A TALE THIS YEAR MARKS THE CENTENARY OF THE 1916 EASTER RISING IN IRELAND, AN EVENT THAT SHAPED THE TRAJECTORY OF THE NATION’S HISTORY IN INNUMERABLE WAYS. THREE PRODUCTIONS WILL BE TOURING TO ADELAIDE THIS FRINGE AS A PART OF THE IRISH THEATRE SHOWCASE TO COMMEMORATE THE EVENT THAT CHANGED IRELAND FOREVER.

BY –––DASHA ROMANOWSKI

ryan Burroughs will be bringing his one-man show Beowulf: The Blockbuster, presented by Pat Moylan, is part of the Irish Theatre Showcase. It was the only production out of more than 3,000 shows to receive six five-star reviews at the Edinburgh

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“What [audiences] can definitely connect to is that passion of storytelling. That, inside the theatrical piece, there’s a great yarn, a great story being told in a very traditional sense. A father [is] in his son’s bedroom and it’s his last bedtime story to his son, so he’s really going to tell it, he’s going to go all out to tell the story.” Fringe Festival in 2014, and has garnered excellent reviews from critics at The Irish Times and The New York Times. The Irish Theatre Showcase comprises two other productions alongside Beowulf, Underneath by Pat Kinevane and Little Thing, Big Thing by Donal O’Kelly, each celebrating the cultural traditions of Irish storytelling in masterful and unique ways told through theatre. All plays originated from the Irish Fishamble Theatre Company, with Burroughs’s show being brought to life by Fishamble arts initiative Show in a Bag in 2013. “I’m a massive fan of all the actors coming over, like Pat Kinevane, who’s doing Underneath, is a phenomenal performer, someone I really aspired to and looked up to a lot when I was studying and learning my craft,” Burroughs says. “So, to be getting to travel with him and perform with him

is a massive privilege for me. Donal O’Kelly and Sorcha Fox are a fantastic double act, they’re such phenomenal performers, so their show by all accounts is fantastic.” Burroughs is eager to bring Beowulf: The Blockbuster to Australia, and states that while he acknowledges the historical significance of the Easter Rising’s centenary, the production uses Irish storytelling conventions to portray a universal experience that every audience can relate to. “As much as I’m aware of the celebrations over here in Ireland, it’s more, I suppose, a tale that we hoped [would be] universally engaging in any kind of place because it’s fundamentally about a father/son relationship that can be connected to mother/daughter relationships, or mother/son or father/daughter.”

Burroughs’s personal highlight of performing the production took place in a theatre in his hometown shortly before Christmas last year. He states that despite the “epic” size of the venue, the audience engaged in such a way as to make the space feel smaller, transforming the performance into a highly personal experience. “The play became really, really intimate, really small and I thought, ‘Wow! That’s fascinating.’ So that made me feel very connected to the traditional Irish tale of telling the story around the campfire.”

BEOWULF: THE BLOCKBUSTER THE GERMAN CLUB TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 TO SUNDAY, MARCH 13

Beowulf is about a dying father’s last chance

BEOWULFTHEBLOCKBUSTER.COM

THE

MAGIC FLUTE Mozart. EVOLVED. 18, 19, 22, 23, 24 February 7.30pm 20 February 3.00pm Freemasons Great Hall, North Terrace

Production Sponsor

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3 ILLUSTRATORS LINDA CATCHLOVE, SALLY HEINRICH AND ZINIA KING Hahndorf Academy 68 Main Street, Hahndorf February 12 to March 13 hahndorfacademy.org.au

Linda, Sally and Zinia have come together to show the process of illustrating from the start of the project to the finished work. This is about the journey, and each artist has their own style. Linda paints botanic themed works with insects and whimsical faery folk, Sally is inspired by environmental themes as an illustrator, printmaker and author and Zinia uses Australian animals in Victorian costume to comment on the livelihood of native animals in colonisation.

Zinia King, Emu.

Hazel Harding, Coots.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: A VISUAL CELEBRATION OF OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS Pepper Street Arts Centre, 558 Magill Road, Magill Opens: February 14, 2 pm. Normal hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm-5 pm pepperstreetartscentre.com.au

BARBU: ELECTRO TRAD CABARET CIRQUE ALFONSE

Royal Croquet Club (The Panama Club) Victoria Square February 12 to March 14

Canada’s Cirque Alfonse plays dangerously with the borders of modern circus. Strong bearded men in briefs skid around on roller skates and stunning burlesque girls are driven into frenzy by the turbulent sounds of the alluring but alarming live electro-trad band. Cirque Alfonse has the ability to conjure strange, wonderful worlds that straddle old fashions with a keen modern edge, daring to stray dangerously close to the precipice; Barbu is a mad circus fusing the traditional and the contemporary with joyous exuberance.

Birds of a Feather is a bright and quirky mixed media exhibition celebrating the exquisite beauty, colour and grace of birds. There will be a wide variety of work on display including photo-realistic drawings and paintings by wildlife artists. Featuring more than 30 artists, this exhibition offers a diverse visual feast of works that capture the spirit of our feathered friends. Artist demonstrations: February 20 and 27 and March 5 (2pm-4pm).

TED EGAN with ME ‘N ME MATES

HANNAH GADSBY Garden of Unearthly Delights (The Factory) February 23 to February 28 comedy.com.au

Hannah Gadsby is one of Australia’s most distinctive comic performers with a joke rate that most dads at a family BBQ would envy. Her droll delivery, delightful wordplay and heart-breakingly funny, self-deprecating stories have delighted audiences all over the world, drawn critical acclaim and a swag of awards. In her new show Dogmatic, Hannah will attempt to explain the thought processes and woeful life choices that have led her to where she is today. You will laugh. She will remain baffled.

A Small Art Factory, Flower Landscape metal garden wall art.

AUSTRALIAN SONGS & YARNS ADELAIDE FRINGE 3 SHOWS ONLY GOODWOOD INSTITUTE THEATRE 166 Goodwood Rd, opp Capri Cinema Fri Mar 4, 3pm; Sat Mar 5, 7pm; Sun Mar 6, 5pm 2 hour show G rated full bar facilities available enquiries 0413 533118 Tix $30 adults, $26 concessions “superb Australiana” www.menmemates.com

DOGMATIC

THE BOUNTIFUL GARDEN ANNA SMALL AND WARREN PICKERING

Hahndorf Academy 68 Main Street, Hahndorf February 12 to March 13 Opening night: February 12, 5.30pm hahndorfacademy.org.au

Anna and Warren take their inspiration from the intricacies and bounties of their garden; interpreting the animal and insect inhabitants, the resplendent plants, the food it produces and the human activity it fosters. Working together, their sketching designs are transformed into digital format then laser cut and hand finished in their garden and workshop into their trademark steel sculptures and wall pieces.

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JOHN HINTON AND JO EAGLE Holden Street Theatres, 34 Holden Street, Hindmarsh February 11 to March 12 holdenstreettheatres.com

Marie Curie lived an extraordinary life and made incredible scientific discoveries in the face of unbelievable odds. This is her story, replete with breathtaking breakthroughs and seriously silly songs. Tangram’s internationally acclaimed peer-reviewed musical comedies about Darwin and Einstein have delighted Edinburgh audiences. This brand new show completes their awardwinning Scientrilogy.

Vox Balaenae, Minke Whale.

HIDDEN SOUNDS FROM THE Z WARD

KALEIDOSCOPE RECYCLED

CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS (SOUND ARTIST), GABRIELLA SMART (PIANO), AMANDA GRIGG, ANDREW PENROSE AND SAMI BUTLER (PERCUSSION)

Red Poles, 190 McMurtrie Road, McLaren Vale February 13 to April 3 redpoles.com.au

Z Ward, Rear of 63 Conyngham St, Glenside March 9, 7pm-9pm

Ambassadors Hotel, 107 King William Street February 12 to February 29 (Saturday-Sunday lunch, 12.30pm for 1pm start, Tuesday-Sunday dinner 6.30pm for 7pm start) torquaysuitetheatre.com/tickets_aus.html

Basil, Sybil and Manuel return to Adelaide Fringe for four full weeks at the start of a year that sees yet another worldwide tour. As these three infamous hoteliers serve a three-course meal along with their trademark Faulty service, expect a good dollop of mayhem and gags galore. With two-thirds of the show improvised, no two performances are the same, so you can go again and again and never see the same thing twice.

FRINGE ON TOUR Flinders Plaza, Flinders University, Bedford Park March 4 and March 5 50.flinders.edu.au/events/fringe-on-tour/

RED POLES licensed cafe-gallery-b&b Red Poles Fringe exhibition

Kaleidoscope Recycled All the fun, frivolity and spectacle of the Adelaide Fringe comes to Flinders in a big way! With plenty of food and drink available on campus, you can grab a tasty bite to eat in a relaxed picnic style atmosphere as you sit back and enjoy the show. Looking for something to do with the kids on Saturday, March 5? The Fringe caravan is bursting with family friendly performers and the Plaza will be full of things for the kids to see and do. Loaded up with artists, the Fringe Caravan is fun, family entertainment on wheels — and it’s free!

15 mixed media artists present an eclectic mix of art

February 13 to April 3 Oh Holy Grapes, Caitlin Whitehouse, 2016

FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE

For one night only, step into the Hidden Sounds of the Z Ward and find yourself immersed in a unique sensory exploration. Once home to the criminally insane, the now empty cells will vibrate to the Hidden Sounds created by a unique selection of musicians by Helpmann Award-winning Gabriella Smart. Don’t miss five unique performances including music for toy piano in the garden at sunset and a commissioned piece for Rod McRae’s After-Life exhibition on display during Fringe.

For this exhibition, artists were asked to work on a concept embracing ideas that relate to a scene, a situation or an experience that keeps changing and has many different aspects – a constantly changing set of colours. Works reflect an ever-changing space of colour and light, thus showcasing works from a cross section of mediums and cross-disciplinary platforms, and promoting and encouraging experimentation – tracing connections and experimenting with pattern, repetition, light, colour, movement, space and various optical and kinetic effects. Some component in all works must also have a recycled element. Artists were free to create any art form out of any object or material that was available to them.

Enjoy lunch in the gardens or on the shady verandahs, or taste some Brick Kiln wines or a tasting paddle of craft beers from Vale Brewing at our cellar door Dance, Peter Sinclair (detail)

THE ELEMENT IN THE ROOM

190 McMurtrie Road, McLaren Vale SA 5171. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm and public holidays Live Music Sundays 08 8323 8994 redpoles@redpoles.com.au www.redpoles.com.au

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2 0 1 6 LITTLE THING, BIG THING DONAL O’KELLY The German Club, 223 Flinders St February 23 to March 13, 7.30pm-9pm

An ex-con and a nun are pursued across Ireland holding a little piece of information that could trigger a big business crisis. Little Thing, Big Thing is a high-octane jump into the brutal world of international energy skullduggery, passionate awakenings enthralled with desires. This finely executed piece of political theatre has the brisk tempo of an old-fashioned caper, but the sting and bite of a contemporary production.

LABELS BY JOE SELLMAN-LEAVA Holden Street Theatres, 34 Holden Street, Hindmarsh February 9 to March 13 holdenstreettheatres.com

Joe’s intimately honest and brave human story about today’s multicultural world,

drawn from a rich life of mixed heritage and racism, is an award-winning journey through language, curiosity and anti-immigration rhetoric. From Enoch Powell to Katie Hopkins, Joe lets the audience conclude how far we have progressed. Is it ignorance, fear or self-preservation that compels us to label everyone? Played with humour and honesty Labels is a poignant night of theatre not to be missed. Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Award winner alongside Gambler’s Guide to Dying by Gary McNair.

AdelaIdE FringE 12 FebruArY -

2016

Niki Sperou

THE MAGIC FLUTE

MATRIX

STATE OPERA OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

NIKI SPEROU

Freemasons Great Hall, North Terrace February 18 to February 24 saopera.sa.gov.au/flute

Gallery 1855, 2 Haines Road Tea Tree Gully February 10 to March 19 Exhibition opening: February 7, 2pm. teatreegully.sa.gov.au/gallery1855

Mozart’s classic Masonic story is brought to life in a new production created especially for staging in the Freemasons Great Hall. As the Earth falls beneath the shadow of a total solar eclipse, Tamino finds himself in a mysterious new world where surreal is his new reality. Pushed and pulled by opposing forces, he encounters strange creatures, true love and a series of epic, transformative trials. Sung in English by a strong South Australian cast and supported by the excellent Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, this production is focussed through a 1950s lens of vintage fantasy and will truly transport you to another era.

Niki Sperou explores the body as scaffold for the methods and metaphors of science. Artworks encompass salt crystal encrusted bodily forms, textile memory quilt, photography, 2D mixed media. Currently artist in residence in the Department of Medical Biotechnology, Flinders University, Niki has tutored in art theory at UniSA and has conducted bio art workshops in Australia, Europe and Canada. She writes articles about art and science, exhibits and attends conferences with renown bio artists such as American Joe Davis. Artist talk: March 4, 1.30pm.

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P R O M O T I O N OUT OF THE BOX RSASA Gallery, Level 1, Institute Building, corner North Tce & Kintore Ave February 14 to March 13 rsasarts.com.au

Nicolas Uhlman, Return Voyager.

2016 HEYSEN SCULPTURE BIENNIAL The Cedars, Heysen Road, Hahndorf February 21 to May 1 (closed Mondays) heysensculpturebiennial.com.au

2016 PALMER SCULPTURE BIENNIAL (3.5km down Davenport Rd, which starts opposite the Hotel at Palmer on the way to Mannum) Opens at 1pm on March 5, and then open weekends (11am to 6pm) and Wednesdays (2pm to 5.30pm) until April 3. palmersculpturebiennial.org

The Hills are alive with outdoor sculpture during the Adelaide Fringe in two dramatically different exhibitions: the 2016 Heysen Sculpture Biennial and the 2016 Palmer Sculpture Biennial. Visitors will see a wide range of works by local and interstate artists. The eighth Heysen Biennial is held in the eucalyptus-lined grounds of the Cedars, home and studio of Sir Hans Heysen. The Seventh Palmer Sculpture Biennial is set in sculptor Greg Johns’ 400-acre property with its regenerating landscape, rolling hills and a rocky escarpment. On opening day, the Palmer Sculpture Biennial also features an exciting music event.

Out of the Box and onto paper, canvas, or, from the eye of the camera, are contemporary artworks by RSASA Members for their Fringe exhibition. There will be a colourful and creative exhibition of artworks in all dimensions from members (emerging and professional) in the RSASA Gallery. Mediums include painting, mixed media, photography, printmaking, sculpture and textiles.

Showing at Holden Street Theatres A Gambler’s Guide to Dying 9 Feb – 13 Mar “A tour de force and a must-see” The Stage

Labels By Joe Sellman -Leava 9 Feb – 13 Mar

Heather Clegg, Bark sphere.

“Joe Sellman-Leava is simply magnificent’’ Ed Fringe Review

Echoes by Henry Naylor

10 Feb – 13 Mar

SONG THE STORY OF A GIRL, A BIRD AND A TEAPOT THE PIANIST THOMAS MONCKTON & CIRCO AEREO Royal Croquet Club (The Panama Club) Victoria Square February 13 to March 5 (6pm-7pm)

Evoking the work of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Marcel Marceau, Thomas Monckton’s The Pianist is a riotous solo contemporary circus that is imaginative, inventive and immaculately executed. Monckton plays the concert pianist whose recital is from the beginning an absolute catastrophe. A man so focused on impressing everyone that before he realises it, his show has morphed from highbrow concert into absolute bedlam. The hapless pianist is left to juggle, shuffle and lurch from one incident to the next striving for perfection, yet every attempt to make beautiful music becomes comically absurd.

“Beautifully nuanced…. Hugely impressive” The Guardian

(A SPIRIT FESTIVAL SHOW) WAIATA TELFER Tandanya Theatre, 253 Grenfell Street February 16, 7pm and February 17, 11am and 7pm thespiritfestival.com

Matrix

the body as scaffold for the methodologies and metaphors of science

Niki Sperou

SONG the story of a girl, a bird and a teapot is one woman’s story about family, identity and the courage to make change. Writer and performer Waiata Telfer draws on her experience as a Narrunga-Kaurna woman of Burmese-British ancestry from South Australia, to create the story of a girl who dares to challenge tradition and community in the search for her own song. This is gutsy and entertaining theatre, full of grit, blackfella humour and a unique poetic style incorporating music, movement and the Kaurna language. Audience members are asked to bring a small stone to the performance. Warning: this production contains coarse language.

Exhibition launch: 2pm, Sunday 7 February Opening speaker: Brian Oldman Director South Australian Museum Gallery 1855

2 Haines Road, Tea Tree Gully

Associated event: Bio art and artist talk

1:30pm, Friday 4 March (allow approx. 1.5hours)

The Element in the Room...

11 Feb – 12 Mar “Indescribably Brilliant” Broadway Baby

Exhibition concludes 19 March 2016

Bookings through Holden Street Theatres 8225 8888 Gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12-5pm www.teatreegully.sa.gov.au/gallery1855 Image: Niki Sperou, Matrix (detail), 2015, pipe cleaners, crystallised salts. Dimensions variable Photo: Courtesy of the artist

www.holdenstreettheatres.com facebook.com/holdenstreettheatres FringeTIX 1300 621 255 www.adelaidefringe.com.au

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SWING - THE BEAT THAT SHOOK THE WORLD BRENDAN FITZGERALD JAZZ ENSEMBLE FEATURING CHARMAINE JONES Brighton Theatre at Brighton School Performing Arts Centre, February 10 & 13 and March  12; Arkaba Hotel Top Room, February 14, March 6 & 10; Salisbury Institute, 17 - 19 Wiltshire Street, Salisbury, February 21 7.30pm all shows brendanfitzgerald.com/swing/

Brendan Fitzgerald Jazz Ensemble trumpets a jumpin’ jive journey through the smashing years of swing in a sophisticated cabaret presented by some of Adelaide’s best jazz artists. In 1929, the Roaring Twenties crashed as the Great Depression ravaged the globe. A flamboyant world of excess gave way to a decade of austerity and rumblings of war. The crisis bred a culture of escapism via big band exuberance and the euphoria of swing dance music. This riveting story is channeled by New York music critic of the time, George Simon, who, with visual flashbacks, gives voice to the rivalries and personalities of SWING.

TED EGAN WITH ME ‘N ME MATES Goodwood Institute Theatre, 166 Goodwood Rd March 4, 3pm, March 5, 7pm and March 6, 5pm menmemates.com

UNDERNEATH PAT KINEVANE

Ted Egan will join forces with South Australian trio Me ‘n Me Mates for three shows during the Adelaide Fringe at the Goodwood Institute Theatre, from March 4 to 6. Aussie legend Ted Egan is one of the National Trust’s Living National Treasures and winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 Tamworth Country Music Awards. His career as an entertainer spans nearly 50 years during which time he has written books, released albums and made TV programs. The performances with Me ‘n Me Mates feature a feast of Australian humorous songs and stories celebrating Australian humour and language.

The German Club, 223 Flinders St Adelaide February 23 to March 13, 7.30pm-9pm

Sticks and stones didn’t break her bones, but words and pointing crushed her. In this extraordinary piece of one-man theatre, celebrated Irish writer and actor Pat Kinevane delves deeper into the question of beauty – underneath the skin, underneath society, underneath our perceptions. Kinevane asks the penetrating questions: is beauty really only skin-deep? Can we trust it? Does ugliness hide somewhere deeper?

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A NEW ERA ADELAIDE FRINGE BOSS HEATHER CROALL RETURNED TO ADELAIDE AFTER TRANSFORMING SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST IN THE UK FROM A SMALL LOCAL FILM FESTIVAL INTO THE “PREMIER LEAGUE OF INTERNATIONAL DOC EVENTS” (VARIETY). BY –––DAVID KNIGHT

s boss of Sheffield Doc/Fest, Croall increased attendance numbers 10fold by securing big names such as Louis Theroux, David Attenborough and Michael Palin. Along with increasing the audience, Croall significantly built Sheffield Doc/Fest’s industry side, something she plans to do with Fringe. “I wanted to get back to a multiple art-form festival,” Croall says. “My experience with running the festival in Sheffield; I dramatically grew the industry side of that festival, which was learning how to make the business opportunities for the artists or filmmakers significant on a world platform. That experience is something I will be bringing to the Adelaide Fringe over the next few years. “There’s a lot of initiatives that I introduced in Sheffield that are about teaching artists how to pitch their work,” she says. “How to make a successful pitch to a funder or a touring booker or distributor. And that’s something that we can really develop a lot here in the Fringe. For me, it’s like my work for the last 15 years has been all about creating opportunities for artists, whether that’s filmmakers, or digital media artists. Now, it’s across multiple artforms.”

The Whyalla-raised Croall worked for the Fringe for a decade, running the Super-8 festival strand Shoot the Fringe as well as Shooting from the Hip. Croall also programmed the outdoor cinema on Rundle Street as part of the Fringe. She calls her current role one of the best jobs in South Australia and one of the best jobs in the arts in the country. Croall wants to deliver Fringe back to its roots and transform the city. “We’re responsible for the vibrancy around town in-between the shows, sort of like the Fringe glue between the venues,” she says. “Having a festival vibe in the city, transforming the city and permeating every corner of the city, that’s our job. We can’t expect artists and venues to liven up the bits between their venues. They do their venue and they do their shows and we can light up everything else and get everything else feeling really vibrant. For example, the Parade is a big focus for us as a kick-off on the opening weekend. That’s something that really sets the tone of the Fringe. “Take a walk outside the normal and go see something in a venue that you haven’t been to before. That’s the tone we want to set from the night of the Parade on the opening weekend.”

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THE ADELAIDE REVIEW FEBRUARY 2016

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FRINGE HUBS FROM OPEN-AIR SPACES TO THEATRES AND BARS MAKING EVERY AVAILABLE ROOM A PERFORMANCE SPACE, THERE ARE MANY HUBS ACROSS ADELAIDE TO CATCH FRINGE PERFORMANCES, AS WELL AS TO ENJOY A FEW QUIET DRINKS BEFORE AND AFTER SHOWS.

BAKEHOUSE THEATRE This Fringe season, the Angas Street theatre destination presents 24 productions across its two rooms (the 87-person capacity Main Stage and the smaller Studio). Highlights include Guy Masterson’s Bill Clinton Hercules, The Immigration Lottery, No Strings Attached’s Of Two Minds and Spring and Wanderlust’s The Umbrella Plays.

13 venues with 31 free events (including Indigenous showcase The Garden Sessions and BankSA Free Concert Series). Adelaide’s biggest Fringe hub once again mixes big name Aussie comedians (Peter Helliar, Dave Hughes, Wil Anderson) with crowd-pleasing middle-of-the-road music acts (Colin Hay, Kate Miller-Heidke, Kate Ceberano) and dazzling circus/cabaret (Velvet, Jaded Vanities, Knee Deep).

Bakehouse Theatre 255 Angas St bakehousetheatre.com

The Garden of Unearthly Delights Rundle Park gardenofunearthlydelights.com.au

THE GARDEN OF UNEARTHLY DELIGHTS

GLUTTONY

Back for its 14th Fringe season, the Garden is presenting more than 100 shows across

After its biggest season ever last year, the locally run Fringe hub returns with seven venues and around 100 acts for this year’s

TROUBADOUR MUSIC, IRISH ECHO, TASTE IRELAND & IRISH AROUND OZ Present

MARY BLACK THE

“ o n e o f t h e b e st i nt e r p r e t i v e s i n g e r s a ro u n d ”

LAST CALL AUSTRALIA

– T h e Sa n F r a n c i s c o C h ro n ic l e

“ s e r e n e a n d a c h i n g ly b e a u t i f u l ” – THE TELEGRAPH UK

WITH SPECIAL GUEST RÓISÍN O

WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH 2016 8PM at The

CAPRI THEATRE 141 Goodwood Road Goodwood Tickets at TryBooking.com or troubadour-music.com

N e w a l bu m & b io g r a p h y ‘ D ow n The C ro o k e d Roa d ’ o ut now trinitysessions.org

run in the beautiful surrounds of Rymill Park. Highlights include award-winning Adelaide illusionist Matt Tarrant, who presents his own show Honestly Dishonest as well as Deception, Isaac Lomman plus Gluttony have a big-ticket headliner in Canadian comedian Tom Green. Gluttony Rymill Park gluttony.net.au

HOLDEN STREET THEATRES Just six minutes from the city, the inner west theatre hub once again presents a diverse and thought-provoking program for this year’s Fringe season and it is the best spot for theatre lovers to escape the CBD during the Fringe. Highlights include Holden Street’s Edinburgh Fringe Award winner A Gambler’s Guide to Dying and other critically acclaimed UK productions The Element in the Room, Echoes and Labels. Holden Street Theatres 34 Holden St, Hindmarsh holdenstreettheatres.com

LA BOHÈME

La Bohème celebrates its 10th birthday as well as a decade as an Adelaide Fringe venue. Over those years it has become the hub of all that is cabaret all year, being recognised as one of the premier cabaret venues in Australia. This year, La Bohème hosts 27 shows on two stages (this amounts to over a quarter of all cabaret in the Fringe, definitely making it the place to be to see cabaret from around Adelaide, Australia and the world). The outdoor foyer area is also being transformed into the Fringe Quarter for the festival, a take on the French Quarter in New Orleans with its own stage for free entertainment while you enjoy pre- or postdrinks and food. La Boheme 36 Grote St labohemebar.com.au

NEXUS During Fringe, Nexus will become the place to catch music in the West End as Nexus presents 11 shows including the Frenchthemed A Night in Paris by local singer Louis Blackwell, Declan Zapala’s acclaimed Guitar Multiverse and then there is the Nexus Gala, which allows punters to get a taste of this year’s Nexus Fringe program. Nexus Lion Arts Centre, Corner North Tce and Morphett St nexusarts.org.au

PALACE NOVA CINEMAS Hosting Fringe shows since 1998, Rundle St’s Palace Nova Cinemas is an EastEnd Fringe institution for artists and festivalgoers alike. 2016 sees touring acts from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival; two new film events Iboga Nights and Ka-Ching!; the Adelaide Academy of Interactive Entertainment installation Walk into the Wild; Fringe projections above the balcony; and, returning late on the last Saturday of each month, the worst film of all time, the cult favourite The Room. Palace Nova Cinemas Rundle St palacecinemas.com.au/cinemas/eastend

THE PRODUCERS The Grenfell Street live music pub is emerging as a major Fringe hub with more than 50 shows across its four venues (Cranny, Garden, Nook and Warehouse) with comedy including Fringe award-winner Granny Flaps’ Granny’s Gala, Gordon Southern and local Michael Bowley. The Producers 235 Grenfell St producershotel.com.au

ROYAL CROQUET CLUB About to have a presence in every mainland capital, Royal Croquet Club returns to its Adelaide home with 60 shows across six performance spaces. Highlights include Adelaide multi-instrumentalist Adam Page, the epic circus production Barbu and Torte E Mort from Adelaide cabaret performer Anya Anastasia. Royal Croquet Club Victoria Square (Tarntanyangga) royalcroquetclub.com.au/adelaide

TUXEDO CAT The fringe of the Fringe, Tuxedo Cat is now entrenched in Hyde St after being a pop-up venue for so many years. Tuxedo Cat will host 50 shows including Alexis Dubus Verses the World as well as Duncan Graham’s (Cut) theatre double-hander Red Ink and Ollie and the Minotaur. Tuxedo Cat 54 Hyde St tuxedocat.com.au

ADELAIDEREVIEW.COM.AU

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BUNKER DOWN THEATRE WUNDERKIND JETHRO COMPTON AND HIS TROUPE RETURN TO ADELAIDE WITH THEIR ACCLAIMED THEATRE PRODUCTION THE BUNKER TRILOGY.

BY –––DAVID KNIGHT

ompton’s Bunker Trilogy was staged locally in 2014 to ecstatic reviews. Compton’s crew took over an abandoned building in the city’s west and turned the space (including the performance space and the foyer) into a dug out for the WWI setting of Macbeth, Morgana and Agamemnon. This time around, they will transform part of the Botanic Gardens. “We’ve got an incredible location [Noel Lothian Hall] right in the heart of the Botanic Gardens – it’s such a gorgeous setting,” Compton says. “Just as 2014, we have the space to ourselves to transform into the First World War dugout that is such a huge feature of the production.”

The Bunker Trilogy is just one of many productions from the writer and director’s theatre group Jethro Compton Productions. Recently, they have staged two other trilogies (The Frontier Trilogy and The Capone Trilogy) as well as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Sirenia. Why did they decide to return with Bunker...? “There were two factors that really swayed our decision; the first is that we are a group of young British boys and girls, and performing stories internationally makes more sense if those stories are British stories, or stories told from a British perspective. The Bunker Trilogy is the only British project we’re currently performing so that limited our choices. The second factor is that, despite the fact Bunker... had a really successful run in 2014, it was only later in the festival that audiences really heard about us. Once word of mouth had spread, we found we were often sold out and a lot of audience members were unable to see all three parts of the trilogy. Hopefully returning this year will give everyone a chance to see all three and give us a chance to engage with a bigger audience than in 2014.”

Compton beleives that each of the The Bunker Trilogy stories connect with war in a “unique and personal way”. “Morgana deals with the innocence of the young troops, Agamemnon considers those who are left behind at home, Macbeth confronts the mental and psychological horrors of war. When an audience sees all three, it’s such a journey for them, and for the cast to perform, and it really gives us a chance to look at a really dark period of history without limiting ourselves to one particular perspective.” Compton’s productions have a cinematic edge, with the writer and director saying the company sets a lot of pieces during times such as war, the wild west and Capone-era Chicago because these are eras that audiences “know and can relate to”. “I always think it’s great to take stories and reimagine them in different settings, different time periods, and by doing so, we create an entire new story and find a new perspective on something well known – it’s really what all storytellers are doing, simply finding a new way to tell an old story. The imagery of these settings is so vivid and they are aesthetics that our designers and production team can spend a huge amount of time creating, offering the audience a chance to be truly transported into these environments.”

THE BUNKER TRILOGY (AGAMEMNON, MACBETH AND MORGANA) NOEL LOTHIAN HALL (BOTANIC GARDEN) FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 TO MONDAY, MARCH 14 JETHROCOMPTONLTD.CO.UK

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