Horrendous

★★★

Adelaide Fringe. Bakehouse Theatre. 18 Feb 2020

Horrendous is written and performed by Adelaide born / Manchester based Harry Tobias. It is a poignant story of a young gay man whose life appears to be running out of control: is he a victim of the behaviour of others, or is he the maker of his own ‘horrendous’ situation? The narrative would suggest both with perhaps underlying mental health issues as an explanation for some of the young man’s behaviours and responses.

Tobias is a courageous performer and writer. At times his script is confronting, with its ‘no holds barred’ approach to describing the young man’s sexual behaviours and his turbulent attitudes to his family, friends and lover. Much of the impetus of the play is achieved through a sequence of dialogues between the young man and the people in his life, who are heard (through numerous voiceovers) but not seen. Tobias injects adequate nuance into his responses to these people, and the sections that involve rapid verbal exchanges are particularly well handled, more so than those where he reacts to extended statements from the other person (such as by the young man’s lover).

The quality of the voice overs is variable, and that of his potential employer is the most engaging. This is perhaps the high point of the performance and Tobias gives us a better glimpse into what he is capable of as an actor. Disappointingly, the text and voice over of his lover towards the end of the play lacks the emotion and gravitas that is needed. If Horrendous is to be further workshopped, and it deserves to be, this is a vital area to work on: the voiceovers – both text and execution – are crucial to the success of the whole piece. Kudos to Lucy Mitchell for her sound design and operation.

In an epilogue to the performance, Tobias suggests audience members who are confronted by the themes in the play might choose to discuss their fears and concerns with support services, such as Beyond Blue and Lifeline. However, the text of the play is not sufficiently robust or authentic to ensure that such thoughts are overwhelmingly brought to the front of one’s mind to warrant such a foreboding post script from the stage.

Tobias uses an open black box set with a few strategically placed properties, which he uses effectively and seamlessly. No clunkiness here. Stephen Dean’s sensitive lighting plot assists the mood of the production, and its execution is precise.

Kym Clayton

When: 18 to 22 Feb

Where: Bakehouse Theatre

Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au

Two Cats Drove into the Cuckoo’s Nest

★★★

Steve Davis and Ralf Hadzic. Historian Hotel. 18 Feb 2020

The dear old Historian Hotel is tucked away in Coromandel Place which runs between Pirie Street and Grenfell Street, and yet everyone finds it hard to locate. This navigational oddity draws a goodly laugh from the audience at Steve Davis and Ralf Hadzic’s oddball Fringe show with its oddball Ken Kesey-esque title.

This is the second year this odd partnership has performed here. They seem to be good mates and they drew an opening night audience of old Adelaide celebrity stalwarts. Retro heaven. The idea of the show derives from Hadzic’s career as chauffeur and friend to the stars. He has stories to tell.

Steve Davis, who is not a chauffeur but a ground breaking podcaster and business consultant, also has stories to tell about his mate the chauffeur and the folly of following his trail of, as it turns out, rapidly vanishing stars. The two buddies pilgrimaged across the US on Hadzic’s promise of delivering celebrity interviews. Disappointingly, Kenny Rogers was sick and Margo Robbie was busy. So Davis’s grand adventure ended up in sharing a room with a man whose social media phone notifications kept him awake all night. Out of the nightmare comes a comic skit. 

Davis fills the first part of the show with extremely competent comic patter about life on the road with the chauffeur. Davis has a marvellous voice, a skill in writing comedy, and the timing to deliver it. 

But, it’s a multimedia show with insanely bad video work. Margo Robbie is replaced by Adelaide’s beloved queen of Logies, Anne Wills, who hops in a car James Corden style for some jolly banter with our heroes. Glenn Shorrock sits in the car for a droll chat, too. And, on the cold streets of New York City, they manage a quaintly embarrassing interview with our own Hans, AKA Matt Gilbertson.

Hadzic, an American of Islamic, Catholic, and Jewish background and a former man in the Fat-Cat suit, has more front than John Martins and he takes to the mic with high chutzpa and a few secrets of the chauffeur’s trade, mainly outrageous “rider” demands such as 55 different sorts of mineral water a day and do not speak or look at me.  He’s very out-there in his golden sneakers, surprisingly ingenuous in some ways but, unfortunately, some of his gossipy shtick scrapes at the bottom of the pond of good taste. 

This is the second Fringe production by Davis and Hadzic. They are chalk and cheese.  

If it was three separate shows, the stars might read:  Davis: four stars. Video: two stars. Chauffeur: Two stars. As one show, however, it evens out to two and three quarter stars with an added quarter because Willsy’s in it.

Samela Harris

When: 8 to 26 Feb

Where: Historian Hotel

Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au

A Butterfly Effect

★1/2

Adelaide Fringe Festival. Bakehouse Theatre. 18 Feb 2020

Presented by Melbourne based theatre company First Draft, this revival production of an apparently successful 2015 run of A Butterfly Effect in the Adelaide Fringe is very underdone. Notwithstanding that the script is constructed as a semi-improvisation within a narrative framework and is therefore prone to the inherent risks associated with extemporisation. The performance is hesitant and lacking in focus and energy.

However, the concept of the play is interesting and uses the central idea of the so-called ‘butterfly effect’: a small event in one time and place can create a significant impact in a different locality. The play is essentially in two halves: an infertile couple contemplate accessing medical reproductive services and canvas options for an egg donor with certain consequences; the scenario is then played out again but this time some of the fundamentals are tweaked, although the lack of strength in the writing sometimes obscures the essence of these tweaks.

A common device used by the cast (Amanda Knights, Jessica Luu, Jillian Healy and Rhys Auteri) presumably under the direction of director Jaklene Vukasinovic, is to insert very long pauses into the dialogue, almost in the style of Harold Pinter, presumably with the intention of creating gravitas and impact. However, it has quite a different effect and creates tedium and the belief that the cast are unsure of the text.

There are some genuinely funny lines in the script which are capitalised upon much to the delight of the audience. Rhys Auteri elicited the most laughs with his portrayal of the chauvinist husband who appears to be more comfortable with his X-Box than he does with his wife and extended family.

The Studio at the Bakehouse is a very intimate space, with a compact stage area that is not conducive to seamless action in a play that is episodic and includes a significant number of cast entrances and exists.

Kym Clayton

When: 18 to 22 Feb

Where: Bakehouse Theatre

Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au

Big Tops & Tiny Tots Circus Show

★★★★

Adelaide Fringe. Ukiyo, Gluttony. 16 Feb 2020

A one woman show from Luth Wolff, and this one is very much a kids and parents performance, suitable for (as it says) tots and children up to about 7 or 8.

Wolff is wonderfully engaging, bringing the children into the centre of attention, and carefully moving them back when they shuffle too far forward over the rope in their enthusiasm. That happened later when one young fella kept moving the rope forward to ‘prove’ he was still sitting behind it…

Beginning with a simple hat flip as a warm up for the crowd, Wolff turns it into a complete routine of its own; she is fun and friendly and know exactly what the kids want.

‘Big Tops Tiny Tots’ is educational too, she shows the basics of balance exercises, of the hula hoops and juggling, and riding a unicycle. The plate spinning is turned into a game of ‘know your fruits and veggies’ and becomes a mild lesson in eating healthily. Nothing too serious, and all the kids got completely involved in shouting out to warn her when a plate seemed in danger of toppling. Of course, none did so.

Can you skip a skipping rope on a unicycle? Wolff can, and after some instruction – the kids shouting out directions when she appeared not to be able to coordinate her movement – was hilarious.

Was there a highlight? Of course, seeing the kids so engrossed is a highlight. Our four year old grandson reckons the juggling routine was the best. By that he means the ‘oops I dropped it again’ slapstick part of the routine, which had the kids howling with laughter.

This one is a deserved hit with the kids and their parents.

Alex Wheaton

When: 16 Feb to 15 Mar

Where: Ukiyo, Gluttony (Rymill Park)

Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au