★★
Adelaide Fringe. Slingsby. The Hall of Possibility. 26 Feb 2022
This work has been written and performed by Slingsby's Flying Squad and its intentions are excellent. It seeks to show the role that trees play in life on earth and in the lives of the cast of its creatives in particular. It uses all sorts of theatrical techniques: miniatures, shadow play, mime, monologues, and song. It delivers stories growing from the creation story, First Nation history, white grandma’s garden, Greek immigrant domestica, Islander in Islander language, and how trees can give knowledge in books and create musical instruments.
Various trees are depicted: the macadamia for its native bounty, the olive for its immigrant bounty, the mango for its islander bounty, and even tall trees for ocean-explorer bounty.
Different performers deliver their narratives in different styles, the common characteristic leaning into didactic earnestness. The cast members are very likeable and they move beautifully but perchance they could abridge and spark up their reflections. Even the songs feel dirge-like.
It would help to re-block the lighting so the performers look brighter and stage spotlights are not so often directed right into the eyes of audience members.
The show is rich with skill and good will and it clearly has masses of promise.
Samela Harris
When: 5 Mar
Where: The Hall of Possibility
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★1/2
Fringe Festival. Visual Art: Simon Kither. Music: B.S. Roberts. West Village. 24 Feb 2022
Like artists the world over, Ben Roberts and his band, the Ukulele Death Squad, found themselves in 2020 without a gig, without an audience, without a plan. Months of domestic and overseas gigs, just gone.
So in July of that year, Ben packed up his uke and took off along the Heysen Trail with Simon Kither, to film and record a musical journey far away from the madding crowd.
To be fair, they only got about 17 kilometres (of about 1200) in, but it was enough to record an album’s worth of songs and to document some of the stunning countryside that so inspired the painter Hans Heysen.
The end result is projected onto three screens, with Roberts taking the lead on solo ukulele and vocal, accompanied by Alice and Matt Barker (aka Roger the Albatross). The LED screens cover about 50 square metres, along the length of the walls on three sides, and it takes a bit of rubbernecking to catch everything that’s going on. Once the music settles in though, so does the audience, and rather than looking at the scenery, it becomes part of the immersive experience. Simon Kither’s visuals can be quite mesmerising, and some of the ground level shots are just stunning.
The six-song EP, Live on the Heysen reflects different locations along the trail, and Roberts explains these as we go along. The songs don’t necessarily reference bucolic vistas - Southern State finds Roberts reflecting on his youth and his decision to leave home state Tasmania – and additional songs such as Compressed expresses the feelings and frustrations of living through the COVID-19 experience.
Alice and Matt Barker, providing backing vocals, are an integral part of this performance. With just one ukulele the sound can be a little sparse. This is not to say that it gets lost; Roberts uses his instrument brilliantly, is a great picker and has developed some really interesting arrangements. But it is when the Barkers add their soaring harmonies that the songs really come to life. Many build up to anthemic choruses, bringing a forceful character to some otherwise quite pensive songs. And for my money, Spiders took best in show.
For anyone who thinks that embarrassingly poor renditions of April Sun in Cuba is indicative of what you can do with a ukulele, enlighten yourself. Ben Roberts aka Ukulele Death Squad, will show you the way.
Arna Eyers-White
Where: The Lab, West Village
When: Thursday 10 March
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Pietagogetter. The Garden of Unearthly Delights - Babylon. 25 Feb 2022
You haven’t really Fringed if you haven’t exposed yourself to Reuben Kaye. I lapped up his show last year and he’s returned with Reuben Kaye - The Bitch Is Back. But wait, there’s more! He also hosts The Kaye Hole… variety show at 11 pm on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the Fringe. When too much Fringe fun is barely enough, this is the place for indecent excess.
There is no question who is riding whom tonight; a hands-up poll reveals heterosexuals are in the minority, a revelation accompanied with squeals of delight. Dressing down in a tatty and tight black dress, Reuben resembles a disrobing porcupine due to spiky accoutrement, and he further accessorises with a microphone sprouting horsehair. Ships could navigate on his personal magnetism. Sporting a short drop fade crewcut and chiseled good looks, he is in perpetual motion. He sings with incredible power and you soar with him. Reuben et al are ably supported by musical director Shanon Whitlock on keys, Jarrad Payne playing drums, Dylan Marshall on guitar and Alana Dawes tickling the bass. But, as Reuben says, with watchability comes responsibility. He calls out social injustice and bad government with genuine concern and to much applause.
Bettie Bombshell is the first other to explore the stage. Wearing a teeny-weeny bit of black gothic, Betty tumbles and twists and the tassels go twirling to menacing music. Betty’s best assets are readily bankable. She menaces the audience with lascivious prowling. Burlesque at its best.
Dale Woodridgebrown is the sort of colourful cowboy you could easily saddle up to. Miming a gay fav, his virtuosity with rope wouldn’t earn first prize at the rodeo. But he can crack whip a rose bush into a bouquet, even using his butt as a vase.
Elke’s lithe frame belies the incredible strength required to throw oneself about on the trapeze and make it eye candy. Emily Chilvers follows another Reuben song with some deft rope work while elegantly stripping down to the sexy essentials.
Tina (the ex-diva) Del Twist hobbles on stage with a broken heel and an enormous bowl of wine. Appearing inebriated beyond redemption, she slays the audience with some un-operatic behaviour. The few voice samplers she manages to emit only teases us with anticipation of full throttle which was reached crooning the iconic White Rabbit with band.
Warning: Do not leave early! There’s more! I wish I could tell you what Tara Boom wore, and what she did, but this was the most audacious and surreal act of the night, and it’s best enjoyed with complete surprise. She brought down the house.
Subsequently, Reuben announced the show was over and it ended like a car accident. He attempted to reverse the screeching halt, but there needs to be a better plan.
The Kaye Hole… is 90 minutes of unrelenting, lewd and loudly extroverted entertainment hugely loved by those attending. Bravo!
There is every chance your show might have different guests performers depending on availability.
David Grybowski
When: 18 Feb to 19 Mar
Where: The Garden of Unearthly Delights - Babylon
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Pietagogetter. Gluttony – Rymill Park – The Bally. 25 Feb 2022
Josh Glanc, the vendor at the game, calls out chips, potato cakes, dim sim, sausage rolls – he discovers the rhythm and turns it into a song. This is how the hour goes; the ordinary is topsy-turvied into the funny. Finally on stage, he sets up his table of prop curiosities and works his way through a comic agenda. Glanc’s a quadruple threat – actor, singer, dancer (well, he moves the hips pretty well), and plays guitar. And you are caught in his magnetic field watching with anticipation how he will transform the mundane into mirth.
His humour is zany, droll and absurd. It’s situational comedy, Glanc isn’t a gag artist or raconteur. Whether he takes on the personae of a truck driver or a woman or child, he performs who he is being, and can change that in a blink. You have to be different to win two Best Comedy weekly awards in former fringes.
Glanc finishes off with his most complete song and one everybody relates to – searching for the lost file on the computer. The frustration grows with each step in the process, the steam rises from the collar and the eyes widen with rage. A great ending to a great show! Bravo!
PS Bare hairy chest and Harley not included.
PPS This is his last weekend and the Bally is tiny. My Friday night show was a sell-out. Book ASAP.
David Grybowski
When: 18 to 27 Feb 2022
Where: Gluttony – Rymill Park – The Bally
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★
Artbeat Cabaret. Diverse-City. 24 Feb 2022
Diverse-City is a wonderful all-gender-types-welcome cabaret venue with homemade meals, rainbow library and a teacup collection. Sarah and Sue are wonderful hosts absolutely dedicated to making this former union hall heritage building the best place to meet in the city. Many of their shows have dinner options, all through the year.
Songsmiths and guitar players Paul Roberts, Alan Hartley and Keith Preston are as rusted on to Adelaide as the Royal Show and have got the band together again to entertain in their easy-going style as in previous Fringes. Their songs both laud and lament our 3rd most livable city in the world. And this time, they are pretty disappointed by the way the city is changing – Trouble in Paradise – with a nostalgic focus on the way things were.
The three amigos are accompanied by percussionist Satomi Ohnishi, bass and accordion player Peter Franche, and keyboard player and sole female vocalist who we could hear a lot more of, Jamie Webster. Except for Jamie, they are all wearing vests, which takes you back. The folksy, ballady and rockabilly styles are played ordinarily well. Most songs have catchy choruses that are repeated so many times I was nearly singing along to songs I never heard before, which is a good feeling.
It's helpful to be of a similar age to the trio to appreciate the forensic dissection in their lengthy introductions and lyrics about things like John Bannon’s failed Bank SA and the closure of Holden which “felt the heat of the Rising Sun.” The parochial importance Adelaideans put on private schools (isn’t every city like that?) gets a good satirical serve. Paul Roberts sung us his whacky song of goldfish going out for a night, probably to do the Hindley Street Waltz he sung earlier.
The song that resonated most for me was Keith Preston’s observations of the destruction of Adelaide since John Rau gave the developers a free rein which is now official in the new planning code. “Last time I drove here, it was a heritage street. Now it’s a tower of glass and concrete” and “It’s become like the others, a city of towers.” Hear! Hear! Preston’s song of what you would see in a tour of Adelaide’s nationally listed parklands – hospital, hotel, sports stadium racetrack, private school sports facilities - was deliciously tongue-in-cheek. Indeed, we are at the crossroads as Alan Hartley observed in his closing song of turning our arts and heritage city into bland blocks of bad taste. Another Preston gem was “Colonel Light, he got it right” – a whimsy on our foundational urban design.
Adelaide began under the control of the South Australian Company and the songwriters offer that their progeny, some ironically named “Guardians,” are the movers and shakers behind the scenes, compelling us to ever-expanding growth at the expense of our livability. If so, they certainly have both sides of politics in their pocket because growth at all costs is government policy no matter who is in power.
While the concern and passion are palpable, the whole shebang lacks energy. The new songs sound like the old songs. The rambling, long and frequent introductions that are tag-teamed and read off cheat sheets are informative but prevent any sort of momentum occurring. It’s definitely thought-provoking but not terribly exciting.
David Grybowski
When: 24 Feb to 6 March
Where: Diverse-City
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au