Mark Holden has circus in his blood.
He is, he reveals, descended from a one-legged trapeze artist called Adolphus Holden.
Adolphus created and starred in the Holden Family Circus which travelled the land in covered wagons, from Bellarine near Geelong, all the way to Ceduna and back in the 1890s.
“Unbelievable,” marvels Holden.
“Adolphus had lost his leg in a railroad accident as a teenager.
“The brothers were farmers as well as musicians. They had big families, up to 10 children. One created the circus but they all played in it; music, monkeys and clowns, songs of the day.
“They even played in the Tivoli in the 1880s.”
In spirit, the wild Holden Family Circus comes back to town, not to the Tiv but to the Playhouse wherein Mark Holden will revive their history in song and scene. He has been working for years now on this marvellous piece of family history and has stories and images to share.
Thanks to Mervyn Ashton, son of the renowned Phyllis Ashton of Ashton’s Circus, he has old never-before-shown footage of his entertaining rellies from the 1950s.
Then there’s a photo from the Tivoli time when they played with a comedian called Will Robie.
Holden marvels at him.
“He looks for all the world like Will Anderson circa 1880s,” he exclaims.
Holden’s Cabaret Festival show brings together the threads of the zany old colonial family circus entertainers and ties them up with Mark Holden’s correlation of his own showbiz life as a circus.
His career has been nothing less than an “amazing circus” in its own right, he declares.
He cites some of the wild acts which have been part of his life "There was Countdown,” he says.
"It was one circus.
"Then there was Baywatch.
“Baywatch was the biggest circus of all time.
“It trooped up and down the coast of California. It was a rockstar circus. It made camp, huge camps, just like a circus. With trailers, just like the circus, the gypsy part of the circus.
“Then there was the Sydney Olympics. That was a global circus which went out to the world.
"There was Australian Idol - that’s when I was pushed off the trapeze and crashed down. That’s when I was fired.
“Then there was Dancing with the Stars when I was the clown. What an enormous controversy that was. Remember BoBo the clown? That was my take, my demented version, like BoBo on acid…”
Indeed, social media went to town on Holden for that performance.
Indeed, the Logie-winner’s career has been as colourful and varied as a circus, albeit that on the side he long ago resumed the law course he abandoned in the 70s when his rock career took off and, since the 90s, has been practising as a barrister in Melbourne.
He is very excited about his new show. He has performed it only four times “off Broadway” to get it up and running but, as he emphasises, there are years of research behind it and now a great team making it happen, plus a live band.
It comes fresh to Adelaide, his home town where his son Craig lives and works and also his brother Mike.
“It is all about family and history, it’s funny, there are songs people will know.”
It is full of names: David Hasselhoff, The Temptations, and Vanessa Amorosi among them.
It resonates with a life lived in the US as a producer and songwriter as well as in Australia as a star of blockbuster musicals as well as TV and rock.
After the Cabaret Festival it will surge off to the glorious Theatre Royal in Hobart wherein the old Holden Family Circus players performed in the 1880s and 1920s.
Thereafter, in September it will go on regional tour of South Australia as part of the Cabaret Festival roadshow - Port Pirie, Renmark, Mount Gambier, Noarlunga, and others.
This will be under the Rotary umbrella of ROMAC, the Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children, a cause for which Holden is highly supportive. ROMAC, he says, is celebrating 30 years of raising money to bring children to Australia for treatment and the count is up to 500 children so far helped. He hopes to be part of bringing a number of children to South Australia.
So, his pleasure at the impending show is stimulated from all directions.
He hopes to be doing a jam with his brother at the Cab Fest and he is doing a Saturday talk about circus with Steve Vizard as the moderator.
There is a Holden Brothers Travelling Circus exhibition which is on in Hamer Hall in Melbourne and he hopes to get that brought to Adelaide in the future.
Meanwhile, his Cab Fest performances are on June 13 and 14 in the Dunstan Playhouse.
Book at BASS or adelaidecabaretfrestival.com.au
Samela Harris
When: 13 to 14 Jun
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: bass.net.au
Ali McGregor has stolen our hearts - and we, it seems, have stolen hers.
The Cabaret Festival Artistic Director says it all started in 2009 when, partying with David and Lisa Campbell at 3 am on the last night of that year’s festival, she announced to one and all that she had found her “spiritual home” - and it was the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
“Adelaide Cabaret Festival has been a massive part of my life ever since,” she says.
She did not then know that she one day would be running the thing, juggling myriad balls of complex logistics.
“This is the hardest and most rewarding job I have ever done and I have both worked in hospitality and am a mother so that is saying something", she declares.
Adelaide was to become base for the Melbourne-born soprano and her domestic life as mother of two and wife of comedian Adam Hills was to become a travelling show in its own right. At present, with Hills hosting a live TV show in London and McGregor running the CabFest in Adelaide, it is all about international commuting.
But, as she sits in yet another airport departure lounge, she waxes lyrical about how Adelaide has become a beloved place for her.
“Adelaide is like a secret club that no one really knows about until they have been ‘accepted’ into the fold,’ she says.
“It has taken me years to realise how wonderful this entire state is. You all keep the fact that you are the most progressive, culturally exciting, artistic, jazz-laden state in Australia very much to yourselves.”
She enthuses forth.
“Built by liberal-thinking reformists and buoyed by generations of people who class the arts as something important to society, Adelaide now has an audience that is thirsty for good art and loyal to those that can see its beauty. Long may this attitude reign. It’s paying off in massive cultural dividends.”
She loves Adelaide for its food and wine and vintage shops, too, she adds. As well as for its loyalty and diversity.
But there is just one thing…
“Fruchocs! Seriously, what even is that? I am so confused.”
As the 2018 CabFest approaches, McGregor groans at the omnipresent question as to which is the pick of her lineup.
“Stop asking me to pick just one,” she begs. “Patti Lupone, John Cameron Mitchell, Queen Kong, Yma Sumac, Joey Arias, Amber Martin, Antoinette Halloran… Glorious Misfits, Tom Waits for no Man…..I love all the shows. This isn’t fair”.
While this is McGregor’s last CabFest as artistic director, she has a bit of insider gen on the next festival - and is giving nothing away except a sense of excitement.
It has been massive learning curve for her above and beyond her years of accomplishment as an opera singer, actress and cabaret performer.
"It is all very well having ideas but getting all the pieces to fall into place at exactly the right time for exactly the right price is unbelievably difficult,” she reflects. "Our programming team are beyond amazing to actually pull this festival together.”
McGregor is one of the country’s most beloved cabaret performers and has heard enough, through the years, on the debates about just what constitutes cabaret - the assorted stances about what is the difference between cabaret and concert, burlesque and variety...
It is quite clear to her.
"If you want to be specific about it cabaret is a venue not a genre”, she says. "It is a way of presenting work, not a theatrical definition.
“To me ‘Cabaret’ is a term for shows that fall between the cracks of the high arts. Shows that don’t fit neatly into the main categories like Theatre, Live Music, Dance, Comedy but rather have elements of some or even all of these.
"Cabaret is intimate and it is visceral and when it is done well, it connects to an audience like no other art form.”
Her own first love in cabaret is big, classy variety nights a little like the one in which she recently appeared in Adelaide - the closing of Her Maj Benefit.
"My first introduction to the genre was in the Famous Spiegeltent and the OG variety show La Clique,” she recalls.
"I quite literally ran away from the opera and joined that circus and never looked back.”
"This year at the Cabaret Festival I am celebrating this love with my curated show ‘Glorious Misfits’ that showcases some of my all-time favourite acts.”
McGregor favours festivals with a theme.
Each year of her Adelaide sojourn there has been some sort of theme or backstory to the Festival.
This year it is “Eyes Open”.
“Find me in the bar one night during the festival and I will bore you senseless with my long winded explanation of societal, cultural and architectural narrative!” she threatens.
While you’re at it, she is keen to glean as much feedback as she can, and a sense of what people may yearn for in future CabFests.
“Come to all of the shows,” she urges.
“Say hello to me if you see me swanning around the venue - I love hearing what shows you’ve liked, and all of your feedback. It is that kind of festival. You are family now…"
Samela Harris
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival plays from the 8th to the 23rd of June in and around the Adelaide Festival Centre.
When: 8 to 23 Jun
Where: Adelaide Festival Centre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Side Show. The Hills Musical Company. The Stirling Theatre. 15 Apr 2018
Side Show the musical is a story based on the early years of real life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton. The twins were born in Sussex, England in 1908 and spent their childhood being exhibited around Europe before being taken to America where they would become an act in a travelling sideshow.
The musical –by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger – opens with the twins performing for one such Side Show under the care of their master known as ‘Sir’, and meeting an out-of-luck promotor in Terry Connor. Terry convinces them that they have more potential than they realise and encourages them to leave with him and travel to the Orpheum circuit where he can get them booked as performers in vaudeville.
Taking on the mammoth task of playing the Hilton sisters are two of Adelaide theatre’s most well-known and respected performers, Rebecca Raymond, as Violet, and Fiona DeLaine, as Daisy. Both Raymond and DeLaine admit to having fallen in love with the music, and that it played a large part in their decision to audition. “Years ago my husband put the song, I Will Never Leave You on a mix tape for me and I fell in love with the show then. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of this production,” DeLaine recalls.
Raymond and DeLaine agree that taking on the roles of real life people adds an extra level of complexity to their performance.
“When you are playing someone who really existed there can be a bit more pressure, as you want to represent them in the best way possible” Raymond says. “There are quite a few articles and even videos or films of the girls… so I have read or watched these [as well as] articles about the time.”
DeLaine has tried not to get too caught up in becoming “the real-life version of Daisy”. Her focus has been around working with what the writers of the musical presented in their work. “I have taken inspiration from the book and score and from Bec Raymond’s version of sister Violet to create an authentic relationship,” she says.
As the show progresses and the twins decide to take a punt on Terry and his friend Buddy, they quickly realise that they have been emotionally dependent on both each other, and their fellow freaks. This is where the core themes of the show are explored.
“The show is about belonging, acceptance and staying true to yourself,” says DeLaine. “The Hilton twins go on a journey of self-discovery… searching for a way to be loved [and] eventually finding out how to love themselves.”
Raymond adds that Love is at the core of her character’s arc. “Violet wants to be like everyone else, fall in love, get married and have a family,” she says. Daisy on the other hand couldn’t be more different. Despite being identical twins and joined at the hip their dreams and desires are polar opposites. “Daisy is driven by her need to be validated [and] noticed as an individual in her own right. She tries to gain strength through external things and people which has its complications,” DeLaine concludes.
Ultimately the show is about finding one’s place in the world, and for these girls, not being seen as “freaks” anymore. It is a story of acceptance that is universal. Everyone is searching for their own way of fitting in. Side Show highlights that through the eyes of people we can only empathise with given their circumstances.
Performing the whole show literally joined at the hip has also had its challenges, Raymond and DeLaine note. “Being attached to someone else is rather interesting!” Raymond laughs. “You do have to learn to walk together, to still act natural with your arms, and to do everything with someone very much in your personal space.”
And if walking wasn’t complicated enough, this is a musical, so it wouldn’t be complete without a bit of choreography. “Dancing is difficult enough on your own but picking up choreography while attached to another person has been tricky” DeLaine adds.
The production team bringing Side Show to Adelaide theatres is not a new combination. Director, Amanda Rowe, musical director, Mark DeLaine, and choreographer Kerry-Lynne Hauber, produced the award winning production Big Fish back in 2016.
“This team has had a very clear vision for this show from the start, and have been dedicated in their pursuit to bring it to life with integrity and authenticity,” DeLaine says. “The Cast have been fantastic,” adds Raymond, “this is a different show and we have had many rehearsals with cast members missing because of the Adelaide Fringe season but everyone gets on really well and has been working so hard.”
Raymond was in Big Fish and couldn’t wait to work with the production team again. “They are very dedicated and, on top of that, wonderful to work with” she says.
“They are also very supportive and understanding people which [makes for] a safe place to learn and create” DeLaine concludes.
Side Show is playing at the Stirling Theatre, just 10 minutes up the freeway, from the 20th of April until the 5th of May. The quaint theatre holds only 200 patrons per show, so don’t hesitate to book your tickets early to avoid disappointment.
“If you loved The Greatest Showman you’ll relate to this”, says DeLaine in her closing remark.
Be sure not to miss it!
Paul Rodda
When: 20 Apr to 5 May
Where: Stirling Community Theatre
Bookings: hillsmusical.org.au/tickets
Editor’s Note: Paul Rodda, who compiled this interview is also a member of the cast of The Hills Musical Company’s Side Show and plays the role of Terry Connor.
Funny little Grug, who grew from fallen a bit of an Aussie Baobab tree, has risen into an international star.
It is not going too far to say the little beastie has just had a hit tour wooing audiences in China and the US.
In celebration, he is turning on a new season for his home fans
Director Sam Haren suspects that the secret to Grug’s universal appeal lies in his resourceful independent character.
He’s a loner and, says Haren, children around the world can see in his individualism something of themselves or one of their family members.
Grug is a children’s picture book character created by Ted Prior. The small-format, inexpensive books are highly collectible among little ones and an immense drawcard for bookshop visits.
There have been assorted attempts to bring the character to life since he appeared upon the cultural scene but Adelaide’s Windmill Theatre Company is the one which captured the essence of the character and delivered him on stage in a form which connected with children.
Windmill has been on the go since 2002 and now has 56 shows under its belt and estimates it has performed to 650,000 young people in 193 cities across 27 countries.
Its productions span the age groups from tot to teen.
For many children, Grug will be a first theatrical experience and hopefully, the foundation for a future in which the performing arts will always have an important place in their lives.
Windmill has devised two stage productions from the 30 existing Grug books, the first of which was published in 1979.
Grug & the Rainbow is one of the favourite books and its production follows Windmill’s first show, simply Grug.
No less than 100,000 people now have seen Grug on tour.
“This is amazing considering it is a relatively intimate show for about 200 max per performance,” explains Haren.
As a solitary creature who sprang from a native plant and who lives underground in a landscape sparsely populated by native animals, Grug is as quintessentially Australian as Blinky Bill. His stories are all quite simple and invariably involve him seeking to better his world or work out puzzling common phenomena.
Critics have applauded the haystack-like puppet as enthusiastically as have the children.
He’s “like Elmo Downunder”, raved the New York Times.
Haren thinks that his character's qualities translate their way through many cultures quite perfectly, albeit, when Grug & the Rainbow was performed in China, they provided a translator who, rather than interpreting from the sidelines, was incorporated into the show’s action, a strategy which worked like a charm.
Not that there is a lot of dialogue to be translated. There is a simple, clean narrative and a highly visual interplay with the puppet Grug, the actor handlers and the wonderful Jonathon Oxlade set.
Two Grug shows in the Windmill repertoire is probably enough, Haren believes.
Several story lines are wrapped into each show and one of the big secrets to the show’s stage endurance is the magic of audience turnover. New audiences in the 1-5 year-old world are developing all the time. As one batch of children grows out of Grug, a new one is discovering him.
“Every few years we have a whole new audience,” he laughs.
There’s also generations of parents now who have Grug affectionately tucked away as a part of their own childhoods.
Haren is among them.
“I’ve just turned 40,” he says. “Grug was one of my favourites growing up."
The Grug puppet itself has proved also to have qualities of endurance.
Created by Tamara Rewse, it is strong and earthy, just like Grug.
“He is an earthy, organic creation and he has been made of earthy, organic materials,” explains Haren.
“We wondered what the rest of the world would make of Grug and they totally get him.”
And thus it comes to pass that our funny little Grug’s stage shows have legs - albeit, adds, Haren, “those stumpy ones”.
Samela Harris
When: 10 to 21 Apr
Where: Space Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
A Glyndebourne Festival Opera Production. Festival Theatre. Adelaide Festival 2018.
It is healthy and quaintly traditional that Adelaide Festivals should open with a thrill of dissent.
In the 2018 Adelaide Festival, it is the operatic centrepiece, Hamlet, which sets the proverbial cat among the pigeons.
It’s a love-it-or-hate it phenomenon.
Audiences have been emerging from the Festival Theatre roiling with indignation at the corruption of a favourite Shakespeare play.
Critics have been emerging to pen paeans of praise for the bold re-telling of a classic.
The one thing about which everyone seems to share enthusiasm is the staging which is big, bright, elegant and extravagant.
The main Ralph Myers set is like a grand period seaside hotel ballroom with French doors of impossible height. The Royal court and all the dignitaries sit about wining and dining therein. Glamour, glamour.
Then there is the fabulous drop-set, a whole new stage lowered from the fly to reveal the grave digger scene. Breath taking.
Extraordinary production values. Classy.
Then there is the Brett Dean music and the voices and performances from the assembled opera singers.
Everyone had their favourite star. Ophelia scored the most rousing applause followed by Gertrude and Hamlet himself.
This critic was captivated by the grace and nuance of the King.
There was quite a bit of debate about Rozencrantz and Guildenstern performed by twinned counter tenors. They are Tweedledum and Tweedledee, light relief in all the sturm und drang of Elsinore. Then they are murdered in their nice, matching grey suits.
There are many things not quite recognisable if one is expecting to see Hamlet in Hamlet.
For instance, Shakespearean English is right out the door.
Well, one gets a snippet of the famous Hamlet dialogue right at the very beginning of the production. Right there in the very opening scene one can recognise a sort-of iteration of “to be or not to be”.
Yep. The play’s opener. There it is. Just part of that greatest of all actor’s Shakespearean speeches as a scene-setter. Just a snippety ’to be or not to” bit.
It jars and perplexes and generated instant alienation for a large part of the audience.
Yes, there are many interpretations of Shakespeare through the theatrical world and the Adelaide Festival has seen many of them, even in exotic languages.
But, even then, usually Shakespeare’s words and, indeed, narrative chronology, is pretty much identifiable.
In this, our Festival co-director Neil Armfield’s acclaimed version, there is a sweeping newness of music and text.
The things traditionalists love and expect are gone.
There are no flowers in Ophelia’s mad world, no nightie, not even “rosemary for remembrance”. She’s all mud-smeared bare legs and her dad’s tail coat.
Hamlet, also, is un-Hamlety. He’s rotund, bearded and somewhat scruffy. Lovely singer, though.
The things upon which audiences agree are that there's fine sound from the ASO and there’s a mighty rich ring from the huge choir.
There are wonderful soloist voices on a wonderful stage.
There is spectacle, wild Glyndebourne-style extravagance on the operatic scale.
These are the things we love for a Festival of Arts headline show.
And, of course, the other thing we love is a good debate about whether or not we love it.
So, whichever way you look at it, Hamlet is a winner.
Samela Harris