★★★★★
World Première. Adelaide Fringe Festival. Black Box Theatre, Adelaide Botanic Garden. 21 Feb 2021
The Reichstag is Burning is stunning - it elevates Fringe Festival artistry to heights that are infrequently seen. Writer/performer Joanne Hartstone and designer/director Tom Kitney have an indisputable triumph on their hands that merits playing to capacity audiences around the world. They have experienced such success before (think The Girl Who Jumped Off the Hollywood Sign and That Daring Australian Girl, as well as all of the other shows they have curated and produced over a number of years), and this show will continue to see them as irresistible theatrical forces of nature.
The Reichstag is Burning is billed as cabaret in the tradition of Weimar Kabaret, but it is so much more than that. It is classy theatre that includes a high impact light and sound installation, superb singing, an evocative music score, sharp lyrics, tightly performed choreography, and dark humour that speaks to issues that gnaw at your guts.
The Reichstag is Burning is essentially a documentary revealed through song and dance about the rise of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s seizure of power prior to the outbreak of World War II. It looks at various key major events, such as the book burnings, demonization of the Jews, the burning of the Reichstag, and savage repression of artists and performers. These events are studied through a cornucopia of iconic songs – such as Total Control (by The Motels), Chuck Out the Men (a Weimer Republic 1926 classic by Friedrich Hollaender) – whose lyrics are re-imagined so that they become satirical social commentary in the true tradition of cabaret. Emma Knights’ astute musical direction shows through.
Perhaps the most compelling inclusion was History Repeating composed by Alex Gifford and originally performed by the Propellerheads featuring Shirley Bassey. As Hartstone belted it out, the projections on the backdrop behind her transitioned from Nazi Germany to modern day USA with images of Donald Trump peddling ‘alternative truths’ to his adoring masses. History repeats itself, indeed.
This show is a must see.
Kym Clayton
When: 21 Feb to 14 Mar
Where: Black Box Theatre, Adelaide Botanic Garden
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe Festival. Peter Goers. The Arch, Holden Street Theatres. 21 Feb 2021
’Tis only the sixth in the Goers trilogy of Fringe shows. If one was wondering where he could go in the wake of the other five, the answer comes as “upwards”. It is not that the old dog has learned new tricks; it is just that he has honed and timed and gathered and dared. If anything, he becomes more shameless - and for one whose life is a very open book, broadcast on radio five times a week for X decades, this is saying something. In Joyful Strains he strips naked his abnormally high-arched foot to reveal the mysterious floppy big toe. It is something of a medical mystery and not a pretty sight. “Floppy, floppy, floppy”. Those words will never sound the same.
Goers' carriage and epic life experiences belie his stubborn 48 years, but his mental arithmetic keeps the gag rolling ad infinitum. Keep moving over, Jack Benny.
The show’s format is as ever: Goers swings into the old comic gold of his raconteur persona telling tales of the stars of yore and anecdotes about his adventures in rural South Australia. The adorable “Singing Milkman”, Robin “Smacka” Schmelzkopf, sings a gorgeous song, this time Show Me the Road to Amarillo. Goers does some more showbiz schtick and then ever-loved-and-loving Anne “Willsy” Wills comes on as the penultimate dazzle of fun, reminding us all that she ever was a singer who knows how to sell a song. It’s Broadway Babe this year, and the frock and boots are a blaze of giant red sequins.
Goers plays to the oldies because someone has to. He loves them and never patronises them. Hence, the show has a language warning. He knows his craft and he makes sure his peeps get their money’s worth.
Samela Harris
When: 21 Feb to 21 Mar
Where: The Arch, Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
DISCLAIMER: Samela Harris is a Goers colleague on the Sunday Radio 891 Adelaide Smart Arts program but, as a theatre critic of fifty-plus years standing, she swears she would not and could not ever give a bum steer. If the show was lousy, this space would be blank.
★★
David Cronin. Star Theatres. 21 Feb 2021
Who killed Kennedy? Did man really land on the moon? Are UFO spacecraft stored in Area 51? Who wrote Shakespeare? Now I know the answer to that one. Henry Neville, of course!
According to playwright David Cronin’s research, Hamlet was written in the Tower of London during Neville’s two years at the Queen’s pleasure. His close friend, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, was imprisoned with Neville for their involvement in the Essex Rebellion in 1601 against Elizabeth I. Cronin portrays them as bosom buddies (wink wink nudge nudge). In spite of the exchange of rings and butt-grabbing hugs, Cronin pens in his programme that he leaves “his sexual preferences” an “open” question. ‘fraid not.
The stifling and suffocating atmosphere of prison is created with dim lights and an impressive arc of stonework painted on canvas. You could almost smell the urine. The exchanges between Russel Starke as Neville and Charles Herkes as the Earl are like Chinese opera to the Western ear – randomly modulated and chopped up sentences.
Herkes second biggest role as Ben Jonson is more useful as it contributes to the mechanics of how one of the greatest deceits in literature (if it were true) was carried out. Both his major roles, and more, are played with more than is needed. More successful is Emily Jo Davidson who sang a few period melodies which were also penned by David Cronin and are his best work in this production. Moving about a bit Ariel-ishly as a narrator, her seraphic countenance and sweet voice lent a welcome distraction from the overwrought male characterisations. Her Queen Elizabeth I makes a couple of appearances in a gold glitter gown with a mountain of curls and hair clasp from Hair and sounding like Elizabeth II in The Crown. Director Malcolm Harslett struggles with fluidising the scene changes and with, well, directing – making it real and keeping it moving.
I didn’t learn enough about Neville’s deception – too much focus on what Neville and the Earl were up to, and the performances were more histrionic than history.
David Grybowski
When: 19 Feb to 20 Mar
Where: Star Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★
Adelaide Fringe Festival. National Wine Centre. 19 Feb 2021
More than 40 years on, Fawlty Towers lives through its legacy as the best British sitcom of all time, in this case via a dinner experience hosted by the main characters; Sybil and Basil Fawlty, and Manuel, the Spanish Waiter.
With only three characters to ‘host’ the evening, it’s essential that the three are excellent and strong performers, able to exert influence upon a room of over 100 people. The simple truth is the characters from Fawlty Towers are grossly overplayed caricatures and must be played as such.
Nicholas Richard as Manuel was probably the best of the three, though Monique Lewis Reynolds (Sybil) pushed him hard, especially when she revealed her outstanding singing voice in wishing some of our number Happy Birthday.
Jack Newell as the quite youthful Basil Fawlty simply did not have the strength of characterisation to cut through the hubbub. He hovered around the edges, made acerbic comments to some tables (which no-one else could hear) and overused a newspaper prop to little effect.
This meant a great deal did not happen on this, the first night of the Fringe, in a new venue, when the dining ran well over an hour late. The result of this appeared to be that there was not enough script to cover the time period, so much of the extra time was used by the audience getting to know each other while nothing else was happening. My notes make mention of the spare table, the bread rolls, and the butter – all gags as the evening progressed – followed by Manuel’s solo turn when he is asked to ‘wait on table’, but these are highlights in a show which needs to get so much better. The inevitable Basil The Rat made an appearance late in the evening, which is nice.
By the way, the meal was perfectly acceptable, and may have been even better if it had come out on time, but that is speculation. How good people expect a show such as this to be is also open to speculation, but I saw this in a very early iteration (around 2000) and it was wickedly rude and so very funny.
Alex Wheaton
When: 19 Feb to 7 Mar
Where: National Wine Centre or Adelaide Oval Pavilion
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★
The chaser.com.au and The Shovel. The Viago, Gluttony, Rymill Park. 20 Feb 2021
The dynamic duo is back in Adelaide for their second anti-experts-themed review of the year’s shenanigans. James Schloeffel heads up theshovel.com.au which is a very funny satirical fake news site. If you only have a minute, just read the headlines, but delve into the text when you can. Charles Firth is a co-founder of The Chaser (CNNNN, War on Everything) and was an executive producer of ABC’s axed satirical news show, The Roast. He currently has a host of news-related comedy projects.
The format is the same - their dialogue is prompted by slides illustrating their points with graphs, Twitter twattle, and photoshopped funny faces of politicians and influencers we love to hate. I hoped they had at least finished writing their show when I saw that they hadn’t finished dressing – appearing in white shirts and jackets with boxer shorts and thongs. More on that later.
The first theme, naturally, was the virus. They sold out last year filling every seat, so filling only every second seat thanks to COVID is simply cruel. There are some funny theories about the virus. Pete Evans’s Instagram and Facebook accounts have been removed for repeatedly sharing debunked claims, and his useless Biocharger got a good bucketing. The virus is having a big effect on Madonna but that’s because she wears her mask over her eye instead of her mouth. Firth was so upset at Treasurer Josh for misplacing $60 billion dollars in COVID relief funding that he yelled our ears off.
The second segment was on conspiracies. I never heard about online furniture ads having a subtext of selling children but I try not to hear these things - it’s their job to find them. And QAnon is closer to the PM than you think. But so it a rape scandal, which wasn’t mentioned because the show is older than one week.
The last segment on ScoMo was best of all. They focused on his incessant media campaign about his everyday self, which seems like a never-ending photo opportunity. Firth did some research to uncover an army of media consultants. And the picture of him working from home, gosh, the guys dressed just like him.
The international content promised in the ad pictures is absent – not a bo-peep about Trump - and the list of topics was quite different than advertised. While the guys are certainly thorough and sharp-tongued no matter what the subject, the format is tired. The mock-up of the Biocharger is not enough in the prop department. More show and less tell.
David Grybowski
When: 19 Feb to 7 Mar
Where: The Virago, Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au