★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Le Cascadeur, Garden Of Unearthly Delights. 14 Feb 2020
Sean Choolburra acts as MC for this fairly high-paced show, tonight before a very appreciative audience, but all four are onstage to greet us as we take our seats. Choolburra works a didgeridoo piece into the act and warms up the crowd before introducing Kev Kropinyeri.
Kropinyeri’s humour is direct; ‘bald and handsome’ he opines, and is pitched at the audience. He looks firstly at the degree of blackness required for true aboriginality, concluding there are none so black as a blue-black reservation Aborigine.
Choolburra bounds back onstage and delivers his best, a pastiche of five decades of dance, breaking the comedic thread before he introduces the next performer.
Steph Tisdel uses a self-deprecating routine, getting in her gags about body type and colour before they can be used against her it seems: ‘You may not know much about bra sizes but I’m a double J. That’s a fuckin’ long way down the alphabet.’ It’s a funny and clever routine which does a lot to temper her anger in discussing race relations. Considering a possible child with her redheaded English partner, she gets the best line of the night in thinking of a new term for their offspring. ‘Boomeranga I reckon, ‘cause when he grows up and leaves home he’ll keep coming back!’
Andy Saunders is a completely different sort of comedian. Subtle and sly, and crafty. In tackling the casual racism of colour he mentions he might be mistaken for an Indian, an idea he successfully revisits: ‘If the cops come in looking for a 6’3 Aboriginal then I can be Indian in a second, brother’. Saunders has apparently been on ‘The Block’ on TV, but when he reveals his other skills the fact that one didn’t know that becomes irrelevant. Saunders is both a mimic and vocaliser and beat-boxer of real calibre. His microphone technique is outstanding, his song to his daughter a real highlight.
Perhaps not so much Allstars as a mixed bag, but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable.
Alex Wheaton
When: 14 Feb to 1 March
Where: Le Cascadeur, Garden Of Unearthly Delights
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Tim Ferguson. The Box, Garden of Unearthly Delights. 14 Feb 2020
The title of Tim Ferguson’s solo show hangs heavy with the air of ironic fatalism which has pervaded the comedian's working life since the encroachment of dreaded multiple sclerosis. He has not let its pain or physical impediment impede a defiantly ongoing career in film, television, writing and sit-down comedy.
So here he is again in his wheelchair on a primitive Fringey high-box stage in a massive black box in the Garden with a simple and direct multi-media presentation.
Of course, it is a bit trendy these days to be a disabled comic, to clown around with cruel fate.
But Tim Ferguson is not like the others. Not a bit. While he cannot do stand-up, he can stand alone in the field.
It is about content, intellect, and terms of reference. His humour does not capitalise on disability or mock it; it extrapolates intelligently about and from it.
Ferguson is a Fringe veteran. He erupted onto the Adelaide Fringe program and right into controversy as one of the Doug Anthony Allstars, back in the anarchic heydays of the 80s. With Richard Fidler and Paul McDermott, he was not only into jelly-wrestling and darkly mischievous humour but also into baiting journalists. To that end, this critic was to become a special Adelaide target. It was all in edgy good spirit.
The DAAS Fringe years rolled into TV years and divergent careers. All these things Ferguson relates in his hour of power in The Garden: the evolving relationships of the trio and his gradual voyage into disability.
Ferguson explains MS and illustrates its diagnostic characteristics with slides.
In the face of darkness, he is droll and wise.
But his show is not narrow. Ferguson is a substantial Australian talent and he knows his craft. Hence is the show eloquently balanced between dark and light, absurdity and perspicacity, life stories and quick gags. It rolls along easily and amicably, tech flaws irrelevant. He interacts with the audience’s interruptions fondly and respectfully and gives one and all a bit of a lesson in comedy writing. Yes, you, too, can do it promises this man for whom the teaching of comedy writing has become another ongoing career path.
Indeed. Tim Ferguson is a very interesting man of considerable depth and substance. His show is enlightening, enriching, and entertaining, Out of the negative of pain and dependency comes the positive of humour and acceptance. No wonder Tim Ferguson is so beloved in this country. Five stars.
Samela Harris
When: 14 to 23 Feb
Where: The Box, Garden of Unearthly Delights
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★1/2
Adelaide Fringe. Millicent Sarre. The Bally, Gluttony. 14 Feb 2020
Such a gentle feminist is Millicent Sarre. She invites you in, sits you down and apologises in advance for any offence caused. She is going to have a bit of a chat about feminism and life in general, and with her band of musical cohorts, sing a song or two to illustrate the point.
Just to settle us in, the butter-wouldn't-melt blonde presents her opening song Khaki which gives us a list of feminist stereotypes, so we understand the kind of hairy legged, ball busting, man hating dykes we're talking about here.
Very quickly the show develops to the point where Sarre has to acknowledge that she is not mild mannered at all, but is bloody angry. The feisty rap of The ABC Of Feminism showcases that anger, and makes clear that there is an intelligent, articulate and political rage being expressed here.
Audience singalongs (Don't Make Them Drink The Tea) serve to deliver messages of "consent" in a most palatable manner, only to soften you up so that she can rip off your skin with her shockingly personal ‘Me Too’!
There's a hard core to this mild mannered feminist and this is where she really shines, exhibiting a biting wit tempered with compassion and reason. There is always a fine line between delivering the message and keeping your audience entertained. Sarre is mostly successful in straddling that line and only occasionally veers dangerously towards didacticism and polemic.
Some tight direction could improve the flow of the show, but Sarre's original songs and skilled piano playing keep it moving along at a great pace.
This is not a political treatise; is it political entertainment? The personal is political, and politics can be bloody entertaining, so here we are.
Arna Eyers-White
When: 14 Feb to 1 Mar
Where: The Bally, Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★
Matt Byrne Media. Don Pyatt Hall under Norwood Town Hall. 14 Feb 2020
Theatre impresario Matt Byrne is one of the backbones of Adelaide community theatre, probably the L5 that gives me so much trouble. When you review the fine print of Matt Byrne’s Vegans’s program – and believe me, there is nothing but fine print – you will marvel at what a force he has been and is. Besides producing and directing and sometimes performing in a musical and a play every year, he has written, produced and performed in a vaudeville-type review for every Fringe since 1998. And he has written a show EVERY YEAR since 2008 after the Fringe went annual.
This show, unlike others, has an all-new cast – except for Matt – but, alas, the same format, that still works well. Each year, Matt targets a special group or TV show that begs his comic comment. It all started with shaking up bouncers in 1998, moving on to bagging bogans, going overboard on The Love Boat, cutting up My Kitchen Fools, razzing real estate agents, and murdering Married At First Fight, to name a few. All with a sincere empathy.
This year it’s one of my favourite topics – how and why we choose what to eat and the intolerance shown to those outside the norm. It’s the carrot or the steak. My favourite bits are when the vegan and the gluten-free couple’s requested special treatment at Meat Lovers’s backyard BBQ are met with alarm, and the ridiculously personalised coffee orders. And yes, I still laugh at farts, even if they’re squeezed off by cows.
Matt’s writing is sprinkled with funnies, like Farmer Parmigiana, and eating quinoa to annoy ya, and poor farmers getting up at 5 am to milk the almonds, or jokes, like - What do you call it when one chick pea murders another? (See end of review for answer.) Matt rephrases famous songs and a highlight was the opening number after intermission where the whole cast reappear as Elvis impersonators singing, Vegans Hate Vegas. And by the way, glasses of wine and beer are only $5.
Jayke Melling plays Gluten Free III with a noted realism and has the finest singing voice of the bunch, thanks to his lengthy experience leading in bands. Perky Lauren Weber – yes, that’s her real last name – was suitably holier than thou as Tegan the Vegan. Adam D’Apice as Meat Lovers regards choreography as a necessary evil but shines during his monologue showing stand-up comedy potential. Actually, the whole cast treated choreography with indolent insouciance (no credit in program for choreography – not surprised). During scene changes, they often bumbled around like bump’em cars until places were remembered. Matt Byrne plays a sweet guy, Greenie Thumbs, but as director, needs to give this show a dose of vitamins and Red Bull.
The production oscillates from fine dining to a dog’s breakfast. Maybe the cast needs a raise in celery. Yet while the material is all finger food and no main course, you won’t go away hungry, that’s my take-away. Vegans and carnivores alike will have their funny bone tickled.
Answer to riddle: Hummus-cide! That’s a good one!
David Grybowski
When: 11 Feb to 14 Mar
Where: Don Pyatt Hall under Norwood Town Hall
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Holden Street Theatres and Josh Belperio. Holden Street Theatres. 13 Feb 2020
Josh Belperio is back, and he is bespectacled, moustached and sporting thick, long, flowing hair, in contrast to his poster appearance that reflects on his multi-award-winning 2019 Fringe show, 30,000 Notes. Missed it, so I can’t compare, but Right Here, Right Now is definitely a must-see for the morally concerned.
This is the real Josh, not the one that’s trying to please anyone. Josh foresaked the show he planned, Scarred For Life, in favour of material in response to the fires, the lack of action on climate change, the humiliation of the gay marriage debate, the upcoming Religious Discrimination Bill (legalising religious discrimination) and ScoMo’s famously poor leadership. He is energised by Alan Downs’ self-help book for gay men, Velvet Rage, sufficiently to write what amounts to half a Broadway musical in a couple of months. Josh is an astonishingly accomplished wordsmith and matches that skill with inventive keyboard work while bashing away on the Roland. Whoever can make a string of invectives like “obscene pious hypocrisy” sound good is good by me. Mark Nadler and Eddy Perfect – make way!
Josh is a gay fellow in more ways than one and he is simply a joy to be around. His bonhomie is contrasted with his sincere concern for the world and especially his personal movement toward self-assertion. You want to cheer him on. The songs are ceaselessly clever, although his Otto song from his musical-in-progress, Gay Conversion Therapy, would make a Feast audience blush. Josh’s songs are vocally challenging for a musical star, so I don’t think he would make the cut at an audition for one of his own shows.
Josh lost half a spleen in a bike accident, but he’s all heart. An intelligent, moving, and authentic experience by someone who no doubt will make it big one day. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 11 to 22 February
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au