★★★★★
Hew Parham. The Chapel – Migration Museum. 18 Feb 2023
If you missed Hew Parham’s hit show in January at the Festival Centre, Symphonie de la Bicyclette, because you didn’t have the right padded shorts and lurid lycra top to wear, this is your chance to see a champion. Locally grown and Canadian-trained Parham has been involved in a peloton of shows and his comic and clowning experience shines in this autobiographical tour de force.
Parham plays with your mind in his pursuit of purpose. Egged on or barred by alter egos which are distinguishable by excellent characterisations in body, voice and soul, Parham pursues his dream of acting, from Edmonton and Manitoulin Island to New York and California. The real becomes surreal and vice versa. Symbolism and the comic technique of shelving abound. His hallucination of sage advice from a Mark Rothko painting in the MONA of New York is very much worth listening to for its guidance toward sanity in a world of uncertainty, longing and setbacks. You cannot but be astonished at his honesty and openness, and you want to thank him for sharing. Along the way, he does his bright party tricks of McEnroe and Hendrix, and finds everlasting friendship in Native American spiritualism. It is touching and intimate. “You learn to express yourself because you’ve been through the agony of expressing yourself.”
If you are obsessed with Sequoias, Italy and pistachio gelato, this is a must-see show of the Fringe. Touching, warm and funny. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 18 Feb to 19 Mar
Where: The Chapel – Migration Museum
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
