Tag Archives: sydney fringe 2013

The Catastrophists (The Basement Productions)

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catastrophists1Venue: Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre (Sydney NSW), Sep 17 – 21, 2013
Playwright: Jordan King-Lacroix
Director: Jordan King-Lacroix
Choreographer: Naomi Hibberd
Actors: Jordan King-Lacroix, Eleanor Ryan, Edward Ransom
Dancers: Naomi Hibberd, Ken Ishii

Theatre review
The Catastrophists is about very dramatic characters in three separate stories with slightly different styles of comedy. The three stories are linked with modern dance sequences, but are not obviously connected in any other way.

Eleanor Ryan’s playful performance as Desiree stands out as the most memorable. Her Bronx/Brooklyn accent tickles many funny bones, and the campiness of her character is a perfect fit for the high octane style of the show. Her other character Rachel is equally entertaining but less compelling, due to the complexity of the story that introduces a few too many surprising plot twists. Edward Ransom plays Jack, an awkwardly endearing I.T. professional. There is a lot of quirkiness in his portrayal, which gives his character a complexity and believability that could easily have been overly simple and undimensioned.

Naomi Hibberd’s choreography is charming and has many beautiful touches, but it struggles to find its place amongst the big comedic performances. Bryce Halliday’s music on the other hand, adds to the comedy, and his presence is incorporated well into the production’s staging. One can expect Fringe festivals to deliver the weird and the wonderful, and depending on your personal tastes and disposition, this could be just the production that gets you into fits of laughter.

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Past Tense (Awkward Duck Theatre)

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pasttense1Venue: Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre (Sydney NSW), Sep 17 – 21, 2013
Playwright: Kara Eva Schlegl
Director: Kara Eva Schlegl
Actors: Joshua McInnes, Liz Jameson, Hanni Trewin, David Reynolds

Theatre review
There are two interesting throughlines in Past Tense. It is mainly concerned with Terry’s predicament as a young woman stuck in a rut, but it is also about her relationship with the narrator of her life story. The play therefore consists of a real life dimension as well as a metaphysical realm, but they are not kept distinct. The Narrator is allowed to interact with Terry and her friends, and through this anomaly, a lot of colour is added to the simple story. The show also attempts to introduce a sense of Brechtian distanciation with the idea of a materialised Narrator, although it is unclear whether creating that effect serves much purpose in this instance.

The players are encouraged to perform their comedy broadly, and their approach comes across more akin to the work of comedians rather than actors. Their main intention for the audience is one of effect, rather than empathy or affiliation. This means that the production is able to deliver lots of laughs, but we are unable to connect with the story’s central character satisfactorily. The biggest laughs are for David Reynolds who plays Rich. He has a keen sense of timing, and attacks his funny moments with gusto and conviction. He is there to deliver hilarity, and he is single-minded about it. Joshua McInnes as the Narrator is a good fit. The young actor has an innate sense of formality that is perfectly utilised. He portrays a character that is somberly rigid yet agile, and the show relies on his focus to keep the plot on track.

Along with the Narrator, a musician is on stage through the duration. Mark Conroy underscores the action and provides a few delightful incidental songs, which add to the joviality of the proceedings. Past Tense has a story to tell, and that story is used as a vehicle for entertainment and laughter. The show’s reverberations fade quickly after the performers have taken their bows, but it is great fun while it lasts.

www.pasttensefringe.com

5 Questions with Andrew Finegan

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andrewfineganWhat is your favourite swear word?
I’ve always really liked “Berk” – it’s innocuous to the unenlightened, but the rest of us know that’s it’s an abbreviation of “Berkshire Hunt”, which is rhyming slang for… well, you know!

What are you wearing?
I’ve just had my morning coffee up on High Street in Northcote (yes, I’m from Melbourne), so I’m still in my finest op-shop garments so that I can blend in with the hipsters. I still need to work on my beard, though.

What is love?
Baby don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me no more. Some say love – it is a river that drowns the tender reed. All you need is love. Love changes everything. But love, love will tear us apart, again.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
I’ve just returned from working in PNG for about 3 and a half months, and was fortunate enough to attend the National Mask Festival. The highlight was the Bainings Fire Dancers, who wear these huge masks and dance in the fires, kicking up huge plumes of fire and sparks. Often into the audience. It was amazing – and probably impossible to put on in Australia due to public liability issues. Five stars.

Is your new show going to be any good?
Yes! It received favourable reviews when I first performed it in Adelaide this year, and since then I’ve tightened it up, cut some boring bits, and added a K-pop inspired number. I’m also performing it a few times in Melbourne this month before coming to Sydney, so it should be well and truly awesome by then. Plus it has dinosaurs and zombies in it – which pretty much makes everything more awesomer. It’ll be the best cabaret show about the apocalypse in the Sydney Fringe, I guarantee it.

Andrew Finegan is star of Songs From The End Of The World, part of Sydney Fringe 2013.
Show dates: 27 Sep and 3 Oct, 2013
Show venue: The Switchbox

5 Questions with N. Gregory Finger

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nathanfingerWhat is your favourite swear word?
I never use it myself, but I’ve always been fond of my grandmother’s favourite, ‘Jam and Butter it’.

What are you wearing?
As I sit and write now I am wearing trackpants and a jumper… classiest guy in town.

What is love?
A two way street, but usually there’s road work and detours.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
Belvoir’s production of Miss Julie, 3.5 out of 5

Is your new show going to be any good?
The show is very good: it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, it’ll change your life. Read Suzy’s review here.

N. Gregory Finger is writer and director of Narrow As The Line, part of Sydney Fringe 2013.
Show dates: 24 – 29 Sep, 2013
Show venue: King Street Theatre

5 Questions with Matty Grey

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mattygreyWhat is your favourite swear word?
Well, when you perform for kids you have to be a bit careful what you choose for preferred profanities. My favourite at the moment is probably Patootie. It’s not a swear word, but it sounds kind of like it should be.

What are you wearing?
A lion onesie. Anyone got a problem with that?

What is love?
Love is finding the perfect person to watch your back for Creepers while you’re mining ore. If you understand that come to the show. If you don’t, ask a kid and bring them to the show.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
Slava’s Snow Show, there aren’t enough stars in the sky to rate it.

Is your new show going to be any good?
Oh our new show is going to be bloody brilliant, absolutely awesome and talked about for years to come. Unfortunately this is an encore run of our old show, which is still good but you did ask about the new one.

Matty Grey is writer and performer of 2 shows in the Sydney Fringe 2013.

Matty Grey’s Grossed Out Game Show
Show dates: 21 – 24 Sep, 2013
Show venue: Seymour Centre

Age-less 2: Game On
Show dates: 26 – 27 Sep, 2013
Show venue: King Street Theatre

Image by Jeremy Belifante

5 Questions with Caitlin West

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caitlinwest2What is your favourite swear word?
Cagadaputamierda. It’s Spanish for crapwhoreshit. My grandma made it up and uses it when she has roadrage.

What are you wearing?
My grandma’s shirt (just flagging it: i have a very cool granny) jeans and no shoes because they broke.

What is love?
Your mum.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
A production of August: osage County at the Cellar Theatre at sydney uni. Five stars. I bawled throughout and left the theatre feeling a little more whole.

Is your new show going to be any good?
Well yes. Read Suzy’s review here.

Caitlin West is performing in Skazka: Told By Night, part of Sydney Fringe 2013.
Show dates: 18 – 28 Sep, 2013
Show venue: New Theatre

The Slow Days: Distilled (King Street Theatre)

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The Slow DaysVenue: King Street Theatre (Newtown NSW), Sep 12 – 14, 2013
Clare Heuston: keys, ukulele, vocals
Tess Aboud: ukulele, vocals
Dan OpdeVeigh: guitars, percussion, vocals

Show review
The Slow Days is a band that writes and performs songs that can be described as modern folk music. Although occasionally melancholic, their sound is characteristically light and spiritual. No religious affiliation is immediately evident, but this trio’s performance is certainly the opposite of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

Distilled is a 50-minute set that features original tunes from each of the musicians, and it must be said that the show is tightly rehearsed. The set list is carefully planned, and the audience is taken on a very pleasant journey with each song bearing an individuality that keeps the show fresh and surprising.

While each member of the band retains their own personality, the group maintains a comfortable and warm cohesion. It is however, notable that Clare Heuston’s voice is particularly mesmerising. The range of tones she is able to produce, most memorably in her song Pearl, and the ease with which she reaches every note, high or low, makes for a very special and exhilarating afternoon of alternative music.

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Oh! My Shattered Illusions (Seymour Centre)

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Kelly Young New CabaretVenue: Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre (Sydney NSW), Sep 12 – 14, 2013
Writer: Kelly Young
Director: Chris Rutherford
Musical Director: Peter McDonald
Performer: Kelly Young

Theatre review
The show starts with a song about taboos. Indeed the cabaret is the perfect space for the exploration of the subversive, antithetical, and rude. Fortunately, even though Kelly Young’s material is frequently bawdy and coarse, her most memorable features are her warm sincerity and open-hearted joy. Without the slightest hint of menace or cattiness, any joke she makes no matter how extreme, is met with gleeful and knowing laughter.

Young’s material is full of thoughtful wit that delivers a wonderful sense of playfulness. Along with musical director Peter McDonald, Young performs her songs beautifully, and every line is allowed to resonate with meaning and emotion. Her voice is perfectly suited to the style of cabaret she and director Chris Rutherford have created, and one gets a sense of a performer finding the ideal niche for her talents in this production.

The show talks about Young’s “shattered illusions” in terms of a woman growing into her own, and discovering that the wonder of life lies not in myths and promises. Her existence is a blissful one, and her performance, uplifting and infectious. This is a night of song and comedy that comes from a place of enlightenment, and what we witness is a labour of, and about, love.

www.facebook.com/KellyYoungNewCabaret
www.seymourcentre.com

Bushpig (Bagabus Inc.)

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rsz_bushpig_seymour_event_build_hero_imageVenue: Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre (Sydney NSW), Sep 10 – 13, 2013
Playwright: Hannah Malarski
Director: Jack Richardson
Actor: Hannah Malarski

Theatre review
This is a one-woman show featuring a young actor who looks like she is having the time of her life, and that there is no other place she would rather be. Hannah Malarski plays Bushpig, an Australian girl who leaves the countryside for “the big smokes”. It is not clear if the story is auto-biographical in any way, but it is evident that both Malarski and Bushpig are destined to be great storytellers.

The play takes on a simple structure, with Malarski portraying the lead character, as well as multiple incidental characters who come into Bushpig’s story. There is a lot of mimicry and playful appropriation of voices and accents, which the audience thoroughly enjoys. Malarski excels at a comedy which is about characterisation, and thrills with every transformation and with every introduction of a new persona. She is an accomplished comedic actor, and one longs to see her in a bigger production, interacting with other performers.

Plot-wise, Bushpig does not offer very much. There are no big dramatic moments, or great spiritual messages, but it defiantly tells the story of an independent female from childhood to adulthood, without mention of romance, marriage or motherhood. Bushpig sprouts from a simple country town, but she stands gallantly on her own two feet.

bagabusinc.tumblr.com
www.seymourcentre.com

5 Questions with Steve Corner

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stevecornerWhat is your favourite swear word?
Australia … by Baz Lurham. Don’t believe it’s a swear word? Try saying you liked it in public and see how many people get offended.

Otherwise, ‘fuckshit’. It’s a portmanteau profanity which I think was coined in that superb Giant Crocodile meets Betty White vehicle Lake Placid. Use it like this: ‘You Fuckshit’ or ‘Over here Fuckshit’ or ‘Put her down Fuckshit.’

What are you wearing?
This season Mr. Corner can be seen sporting heart sized sleeves.

What is love?
Yes, Suzy, I can play Jeopardy: all of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen live.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem at the New Theatre – supremely well executed. I prefer the star systems observed by Galileo, Newton and Einstein, not Pomeranz, Stratton and Wilkins.

Is your new show going to be any good?
No – it already IS good. To make it even better it only runs for 10 minutes (with an interval of 2 hours). Read Suzy’s review here.

Steve Corner is appearing in Sure Thing, part of Sydney Fringe 2013.
Show dates: 11 – 29 Sep, 2013
Show venue: TAP Gallery