BEAT MAGAZINE'S
FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
Blues
BREATHTAKING
7PM OCT 1-6
9DPS %XUQ Simply Sizzling
hBER t O 7 T C h t O 3 6 T 1OC DOCKLANDS ARTS, LAUGHS & BLUES FESTIVAL
COMEDY
10.30PM OCT 4-5
PEARLY SHELLS
THUR 3 OCT 9.30PM
13
SWING ORCHESTRA SUN 6 OCT 7PM
GALA
DAVE’O NEIL, JEFF GREEN, CJ FORTUNA & MORE
SATURDAY 5 OCT
8.30PM
Bookings Ph: 9602 1311 or wonderlandspiegeltent.com.au
For enquires or to make a booking: wonderlandspiegeltent.com.au
CATHERINE ASHLEY & MICHELLE SMITH PRESENT...
CLASSICAL VS JAZZ
THE ULTIMATE HARP BATTLE REVOLT BALLROOM 2ND - 6TH OCT 12 ELIZABETH STREET, KENSINGTON TICKETS $30 CONCESSION $25
WWW.MELBOURNEFRINGE.COM.AU
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013 GIVEAWAYS
CONTENTS
Strapped for cash? Want to see BEAT.COM.AU dozens of shows? I feel your pain, man. Luckily we’re here to help. We’re giving away tickets to so many of the shows in the 2013 Fringe Festival. Keep your eyes peeled for the ‘Win tickets to this show at beat.com.au’ starbursts within the guide and then head to our website and you could be seeing these amazing shows courtesy of Beat:
PAGE 6 Digital Gardens and Digital Creatures Simon Taylor: Funny Spoilt Asher Trevealen: The Experiment Pretty Peepers: The Untraditional Cabaret When We Were Idiots Social Needia: The Epidemic
PAGE 8 Fringe Furniture Raiders Of The Temple Of Doom’s Last Crusade 3, 2, 1...Impro! Classical vs Jazz: The Ultimate Harp Battle Julius Caesar Water Torture John Gabriel Borkman
PAGE 10 Hairy Soul Man Wizard Sandwiches: The Last Lunch Danny Stinson’s Don’t “Mind” Me Valentine Presents: Love On A G-String Not Axel Harrison Squid Stamp: The Technology Show Andy & Darcy Are: Home Alone
PAGE 12 - 13 Maps The Fringe Hub The Fringe Club The Warren
PAGE 14 The Last Temptation Of Randy Safety First The Woolgatherer Stuart Daulman Is The Principal Together As One Exodus A Sequence From The Homecoming
WIN
TICKETS TO SHOWS AT
OLA MY HOMBRES! Fancy seeing you here. The Melbourne Fringe Festival creates an atmosphere within this fine city like no other. Since it was first established way back in 1982 following the closing of the legendary Pram Factory in Carlton, it has flourished and evolved into Melbourne’s longest running and most popular independent arts festival. One of that launched the careers one some of this nation’s finest artistic and creative minds.
Simon Taylor: Funny, Asher Trevealen: The Experiment, Pretty Peepers: The Untraditional Cabaret, When We Were Idiots, Social Needia: The Epidemic, 3, 2, 1...Impro!, Classical vs Jazz: The Ultimate Harp Battle, Water Torture, John Gabriel Borkman, Hairy Soul Man, Danny Stinson’s Don’t “Mind” Me, Valentine Presents: Love On A G-String, Not Axel Harrison, Squid Stamp: The Technology Show, Andy & Darcy Are: Home Alone, The Last Temptation Of Randy, Exodus, A Sequence From The Homecoming, Here Comes Your Man, Darkness and Light, Love In The Key Of Britpop, Into The Darkness, Papillion, The Kangaroo Killer, Beau Heartbreaker, In The Interests Of Peace, Moving Scores, Dr. Lala Loulou Is Coming Out, Keira Daley: Ladynerd and 3 Little Gigs. Clickity-clack onto beat.com.au/freeshit to win.
Last year saw the Fringe celebrate its 30th birthday, and in 2013 it returns bigger and better than ever. This year the gigantic open-access event will see over 4,000 artists from Victoria’s thriving and diverse arts scene present their work in over 100 independent venues city-wide. So – let’s get on with it. Flick over the page and immerse yourself in the 2013 Melbourne Fringe with our guide to the festival. We’ve scoured high and low through the immense 2013 program to find the absolute most daring, bold and extraordinary shows to allow you to make the very most of the festival. See you in the Fringe Club afterward for a drink or six!
PAGE 16 Here Comes Your Man Darkness and Light Love In The Key Of Britpop Lacrima ...We Should Quit Into The Darkness Another Point Of View
Tyson Wray Arts Editor, Beat Magazine
CREDITS EDITOR: Tyson Wray ADVERTISING: Ashlea Bartlett, Thom Parry CONTRIBUTORS: Joanne Brookfield, Liza Dezfouli PRODUCTION MANAGER: Gill Tucker GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Gill Tucker, Rebecca Houlden
PAGE 18 Papillion The Kangaroo Killer A F*#king Mad Tea Party Beau Heartbreaker Hot Night In The City In The Interests Of Peace Wholegrain or Multigrain
COVER IMAGE: Corp(s)e PUBLISHED BY FURST MEDIA
3 Newton Street, Richmond, 3121 PHONE: (03) 9428 3600 EMAIL: info@beat.com.au
PAGE 20 Moving Scores Dr. Lala Loulou Is Coming Out Keira Daley: Ladynerd 3 Little Gigs Elixir Not Dead Yet
For more information regarding upcoming advertising and editorial coverage, email ash@beat.com.au or call (03) 8414 9700. © 2013 FURST MEDIA PTY LTD.
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Satellite Venues
BEAT'S COVERAGE OF THE NTINUES! 2013 MELBOURNE FRINGE FESTIVAL CO NGE FESTIVAL THIS YEAR? ARE YOU INVOLVED WITH THE FRI OW ABOUT IT? WOULD YOU LIKE EVERYONE TO KN OF COURSE YOU WOULD! NG HEAVILY DISCOUNTED ADTO HELP THE CAUSE BEAT IS OFFERI FRINGE FESTIVAL (SEPTEMBER VERTISING PACKAGES THROUGH THE FREE EDITORIAL, IMAGERY AND 18 – OCTOBER 6), WHICH INCLUDES LINE. GIVEAWAYS BOTH IN PRINT AND ON
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BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
BRING IT INTO FOCUS
2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival 18 September – 6 October Find us on
Book your tickets now at melbournefringe.com.au Principal Partner
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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DIGITAL GARDENS AND DIGITAL CREATURES “Melbourne Fringe can seem like this huge amorphous thing,” says Emma Mayall, Melbourne Fringe’s new Creative Producer. “There are so many different artists, shows, creative talent and performances that not everyone realises Fringe has this stand-alone component – the Creative Program – an important sister program to the festival and a keynote event each year.” Mayall, who’s in her first year as Creative Producer, is keen to make the event something that enriches the whole festival experience. “I want to make it different,” she continues. “There are always two elements to the Creative Program: Fringe Furniture and one other.” The ‘one other’ this year is Digital Gardens (not to be confused with Digital Creatures; more about that below). Digital Gardens is an initiative which brings together independent artists presenting work at the Festival Hub and independent games developers to collaborate in creating immersive digital experiences unique to Fringe. These will be sited in free pop-up playgrounds in the CBD (City Square) and the City of Stonnington (in a
yet-to-be confirmed venue). The original games developed for Fringe’s Digital Gardens are non-combative, says Mayall, focussing instead on performance, exploration and sensation in experiences that allow an audience member to see a show then participate in encounters or become involved as a protagonist in a multi-player game based on that show. Digital Gardens is a uniquely self-referential element of Melbourne Fringe where reality and virtual worlds collide. Images, text or pieces of performance playing at the Fringe Festival Hub in North Melbourne feature in the various digital experiences. “The shows at the Hub are the best of the best,” notes Mayall. “Shows like Dropped and They Saw a Thylacin...there are some very poetic elements to the scripts and they are embedded in the game.” Mayall is quick to acknowledge the work of her predecessor, Neil Harvey. “It was his idea,” she says, “to use aspect of Fringe shows in the games. He asked the question of how to tie this beautiful game in with Fringe shows. It uses voice-over, iconography, script taken from shows, all embedded secretly in the game.” Digital Gardens
even introduces new technology: “Ocular wrist is a virtual reality headgear,” explains Mayall. “It allows this immersive experience.” This year Melbourne Fringe also involves the vibrant community of local animators in the festival: Digital Creatures introduces digital art to the whole shebang with a presentation of new works by independent filmmakers, video artists and animators. Digital Creatures will run all day and night on a big screen at Little Creatures Dining Hall on Brunswick Street. “Melbourne has so many wonderful filmmakers, animators, digital creators,” enthuses Mayall. “Digital Creatures is open-access, not curated, so everyone can be a part. It’s surprising to see what’s been submitted. We didn’t know who we were going to get. That’s the beautiful thing about Digital Creatures. It’s a public forum. Both established and emerging artists get to be part of an arts festival. We’re openly giving all these different artists an opportunity to be public with their work.”
SIMON TAYLOR: FUNNY WIN
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Venue: Imperial Hotel, 2 - 8 Bourke St, CBD Dates: September 18 - October 6 Time: 8pm Tickets: $15 - $18
ASHER TRELEAVEN: THE EXPERIMENT The Experiment aims to discover if Melbourne’s best alternative comedians can be more entertaining than a small dog. Each night there is a ‘best small dog’ competition with a cash prize of $15, but if no dog is present or all are too enormous then the prize will jackpot to $30! After the best small dog is chosen, it is taken backstage and then released at a random point in the show from the stage, if the dog is more entertaining than the show, we lose. But we won’t lose. The cast of The Experiment is the best of the best. They are the hardest hitting, most dangerous, most outspoken danger people of alternative comedy in the whole country. Gathered together for two weeks of comedy destruction where audiences will be ‘destroyed’ ‘smashed’ and ‘killed’ with entertainment each night. There’ll be sketches, music and comedy, but mainly it’s about ze dog.
WIN
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PAGE 6
Dripping in satire, SPOILT, holds a mirror up to contemporary society to display some shattering results. Comic actress, Liz Skitch plays a myriad of everyday Australians who all have one thing in common: they are SPOILT. Parodying everyone from inner city workaholics to suburban dog owners, self-improvement junkies to newly-weds, no one is safe in this comic exploration of humanity’s over-indulgence.The characters in SPOILT are on individual quests to achieve happiness. But they have all been taken in by the rhetoric of the selfhelp industry; self-improvement, self-love, selfindulgence, selfishness. SPOILT is underpinned by an examination of the negative effects of advertising and commercialism and the overwhelming volumes of adverts that encourage us to ‘to indulge our senses’, ‘treat’ ourselves and to spare no expense for these ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities.
Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton Dates: September 19 – 29 (except Mondays and Tuesdays) Times: 6.30pm (Wednesday and Sunday 8.30pm) Tickets: $15 - $25
PRETTY PEEPERS: THE UNTRADITIONAL CABARET Pretty Peepers cabaret, the sellout success of the 2012 Melbourne Fringe Festival, is back in Melbourne with their brand new psychedelic variety show. The grotesquely gorgeous variety show creates a space where parody is the recipe for fun and fury. Spooky characters, adult illusion and absurd strip art as you’ve never seen it before. The fairy godmother of quirk, Glitta Supernova steers a beautiful demented trip into the underbelly of the human psyche. Peepers own special brand of camp comedy and absurd theatre is dished with lavish servings of humor, nudity and pizzazz then bluntly diced with the absolute unexpected.
WIN
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Venue: Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne Dates: October 1 - 5 Times: 7.30pm Tickets: $18 - $30
Venue: Lithuanian Club 44 Errol St, North Melbourne Dates: September 20 - October 5 (except Mondays) Time: 10.15pm Tickets: $23 - $28
WHEN WE WERE IDIOTS When’s the last time that you followed around a penguin from the future armed with a megaphone? Set in 2113, it’s a century since it became socially unacceptable to read anything longer than a tweet. Soon afterwards, society collapsed. Obviously. Follow your penguin guide around a North Melbourne that’s remained unchanged since late 2013, when it disappeared under a mammoth mound of rubbish that was mostly take away coffee cups, stale cupcakes and hipsters. Featuring actual artefacts from a time when there were ‘cars’, ‘mobile phones’, ‘beef ’, ‘pop music’, ‘sport’, ‘the stock market’, ‘advertising’ and ‘reality television’. A time when people actually denied the existence of climate change, gay marriage and vampires. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Comedian Xavier Toby will be taking groups on an exciting and intriguing comedy walking tour: discovering the murder, mystery and mayhem of North Melbourne. At the same time marvelling at the stupidity of the people, products and practices of 2013 – When We Were Idiots. Tours run rain, hail or shine. Umbrellas are welcome if you feel the need!
Digital Creatures will screen from 6pm until late each night of the festival at the Little Creatures Dining Hall, 222 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. Admission is free. Digital Gardens will take place at City Square from Thursday September 19 - Saturday September 21 and then at the City of Stonnington from Saturday September 28 Sunday September 29 and then Saturday October 5 - Sunday October 6. Visit melbournefringe. com.au for more information and exact locations.
SPOILT TICKETS TO THIS SHOW AT
Melbourne comedian turned Hollywood writer, Simon Taylor delivers a brand new stand-up comedy hour. No frills. No gimmicks.
By Liza Dezfouli
SOCIAL NEEDIA: THE EPIDEMIC WIN
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Venue: Start point is the Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne Dates: September 20 - October 5 (except Mondays) Time: 6.30pm (2pm and 6.30pm on weekends) Tickets: $10 - $15
What happens when a social media addict embarks on an online detox to try to cure her obsession? This comedy show. If you get anxious when nobody comments on your Facebook status updates, Instagram your food before eating it, wake up in the middle of the night to tweet, express all feelings through emoticons and believe that hashtags make everything cooler...you’re probably suffering from Social Needia; an epidemic that’s gone viral. Jordana Borensztajn suffers from all of these symptoms and more. In Social Needia: The Epidemic she delves into her addiction to social media and technology, plus a range of neurotic characteristics that all feed her obsession. Please note: The use of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout this show is not only permitted, it is encouraged. Doctor’s orders.
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
WIN
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Venue: Portland Hotel, Cnr Russell & Little Collins St, CBD Dates: September 19 - October 5 (except September 20, 21, 25, 28, 29, 30 and October 2, 4) Times: 9.15pm (Sunday 7pm) Tickets: $16 - $20
$127+(5 32,17 2) 9,(:
Gasworks - Theatre 24 - 28 September 8pm, Tue 8:30pm, Sat 2:30pm and 8pm Full $23, Conc. $18, Tightarse Tue $15
/$&5,0$
:( 6+28/' 48,7 Gasworks - Studio Theatre 18 - 21 September 7pm, Sat 1pm and 7pm Full $23, Conc. $18, Group (4+) $18
(/,;,5 Gasworks - Theatre 1 - 5 October 6.45pm, Sat 1.15pm and 6.45pm Full $23, Conc. $18, Tightarse Tue $15, Group (4+) $20
Gasworks - Theatre 1 - 5 October 9.15pm, Sat 3.30pm and 9.15pm Full $20, Conc. $16, Tightarse Tue $15
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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FRINGE FURNITURE “Fringe Furniture has been part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival for 27 years,” notes Emma Mayall, Fringe’s Creative Producer. “It’s a core part of the festival. We’ve had double the entries this year, from 50 in 2012 to around 90.” Fringe Furniture, an annual showcase for new works in art, furniture and design, is one of the stand-alone events that form part of the Creative Program of Melbourne Fringe. “Melbourne design is very strong,” continues Mayall. “The Australian design community is pretty significant overall, here and internationally, with incredible designers. Marc Newson, although he’s from Sydney, is now designing interiors for private jets. Really good design is something that everyone can recognize and you get such beautiful, resolved pieces in Fringe Furniture.” This year the designers in Fringe Furniture are responding to the idea of ‘Make It True’. “I’m very excited,” says Mayall. Fringe Furniture, in keeping with the ethos of Melbourne Fringe, is an open
access event and covers all aspects of interior design. Over the years Fringe Furniture has been tailored to create opportunities for new artists – previous initiatives have included the establishment of residencies, mentorship programmes, designer development programs as well as the annual Awards. The non-curatorial foundation of Fringe Furniture means that emerging designers get to exhibit and engage in dialogue with more experienced and established practitioners. Careers have been launched at Fringe Furniture, an important event in Melbourne’s design calendar. Designers from various disciplines are invited to submit work; everyone gets a chance to display their creations with participants returning year after year to be involved in various ways in a showcase of a vast cross-section of local talent. Fringe Furniture event was held at the Abbotsford Convent for the first time last year, in intriguing spaces that Mayall sees as the ideal place to show off Melbourne’s emerging design talent. “There are two sites at the convent, the Sacred Heart Chapel, and the
By Liza Dezfouli
former Industrial School – the oldest surviving building on the Convent grounds – is an enigmatic space, it’s slightly ruinous, falling apart slightly; it has a raw quality which creates a complete dichotomy with the refined design objects on display.” Fringe Furniture looks to be staying at the convent. “Our relationship with the convent is incredibly strong and we hope to build it,” Mayall continues. “It’s a beautiful location. There are a lot of studios, private studio spaces, public forum spaces, public program spaces, sites are used for short-term exhibitions and for theatre with bump-ins and bumpouts happening; over 300 people work here every day ...it’s the perfect forum and venue for Fringe Furniture.” Is there anything in this year’s Fringe Furniture exhibition that Mayall wants to take home with her? “Oh, yes,” she answers.” There are several. With so many of the objects I think, ‘I have to have that’.” She’s not naming any favourites although she will say that there are some incredible lighting designs in this year’s offering.
3, 2, 1...IMPRO!
RAIDERS OF THE TEMPLE OF DOOM’S LAST CRUSADE Three classic adventure movies. One man. 60 minutes. Stephen Hall performs the first three Indiana Jones movies in an hour. All the characters, all the thrills, escapes and hugely expensive special effects, with little more than an obsessive knowledge of the films, a knack for accents and an office chair on wheels. In 1981, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford defined adventure movies for a generation, with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Its two sequels Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade continued the globetrotting, swashbuckling adventures of everyone’s favourite whip-cracking archaeologist. Now, in 2013, the people behind the hit show Bond-A-Rama! Every James Bond Film Live on Stage bring you the original Raiders trilogy...as you’ve never seen it before. If you’ve got a ‘Raiders’ DVD box set, but no time to watch them all, this show is just the ticket!
Venue: North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry St, North Melbourne Dates: September 20 – October 5 (except Mondays) Times: 8pm (Sundays 7pm) Tickets: $16 - $23
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Venue: The 86, 185 Smith St, Fitzroy Dates: September 19 - October 6 (every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday) Time: 7.30pm Tickets: $10
JULIUS CAESAR
WIN
It’s the age old debate; is classical better than jazz? Which one goes deeper? Does improvising jazz in the moment play out more infinite possibilities? Or has classical already found the very best sounds and melodies? Is fusion possible between such different musical languages? Join Michelle Smith - one of the worlds’ very few jazz harpists, and Catherine Ashley - an international classical harp performer as they take you on an aural journey of melody, rhythm and cross genre rivalry.
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Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: October 2 - 5 Time: 8pm Tickets: $25 - $30
WATER TORTURE
Conspiracy is alive and well in our government. The tension and tragedy of ancient Roman politics are not so far from our own. Minus some murder. This classic text resonates today with a brutal combination of ambition, pride and patriotism that overthrow rational thought and give way to bloody vengeance.
Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 18 - October 5 (except Mondays) Times: 9:30pm (Sundays 7pm) Tickets: $18 - $25
JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN WIN
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WIN
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Boom! Exploding heads Impro blasts onto stage with a different show every night, and no idea what’s coming next. Bang! The show is created from your suggestions, meaning anything could happen. This spectacular-looking cast will lead you on the ultimate journey to reawaken the imagination of your inner child (with some very adult humour). Kaplow! This Fringe Festival we are exploring improvisation in a film context – movie based games and genres with 5 actors and one very serious director!
CLASSICAL VS JAZZ: THE ULTIMATE HARP BATTLE
Just another 40 degree day in the life of two bored Inner Melbourne lifeguards: ethnic tensions, sexual harassment, lap lane abuse and blood in the water. Just your typical Northside melting pot of cultures, with plenty of chlorine. Tensions rise along with the heat and maybe, just maybe, one lifeguard might actually get wet.
Fringe Furniture will be on exhibition at The Abbotsford Convent through the festival from Wednesday to Sunday, 11am - 5pm. Admission is free.
Twin sisters replay an ancient feud over a man, a miner’s son, who paces incessantly in his room above them. He is the husband of one and the former lover of the other. He has been disgraced following a fraud and has served time in prison. He is now destitute. A young girl plays the piano to him. The former lover comes upstairs to torment herself and him. The wife appears to claim ownership of her son. Downstairs, the three wrangle over the love of that son whose own lover comes to take him and the girl away. The three go out into the storm...or is that the mine? John Gabriel Borkman - written by Henrik Ibsen, translated by William Archer and directed by Peter King.
Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 18 - 29 (except Monday) Times: 7.30pm (Sundays 5pm) Tickets: $15 - $22
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
WIN
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Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton Dates: September 18 – 29 (except Monday and Tuesday) Times: 8.30pm (Wednesdays and Sundays 6.30pm) Tickets: $15 - $25
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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HAIRY SOUL MAN What influences and experiences growing up shape a performer? There’ll be as many different answers to that as there are performers but for Kai Smythe, it all began in the kitchen. “As a child my mother used to play a lot of Prince and Michael Jackson and D’Angelo in the kitchen and she’d always turn it up really, really loud and I’d know that if she was turning it up loud, she was dancing,” he recalls of his childhood in Queensland. “So me and my brother would run to the kitchen and we would all just dance, which is a really fond memory of mine and also one that makes me think, now that I’m doing this show, that’s where I was brought up: listening to Prince in the kitchen by my mother,” says Smythe. Now 30-years-old, and having called Melbourne home for the past seven years, Smythe is about to stage Hairy Soul Man as part of the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival. He says it’s the artistic culmination of the various shows he’s been performing for the past few years. Originally Smythe was an actor but once he “got sick of the whole thing” turned to filmmaking and music. “It’s
only been in the last three years I’ve started performing live comedy wise,” he says. Performing in the duo Mager and Smythe, which he calls “an action adventure comedy duo best described as a mix between Tenacious D and Indianna Jones,” their show, In Search of Atlantis, toured nationally in 2010, winning the Melbourne Cabaret Festival Award at Melbourne Fringe and a nomination for Best Cabaret at the Adelaide Fringe. The pair played all the characters and performed all the music. The following year, he was in another collaborative effort, Sexytime, which was a physical comedy based on the history of attraction that played at festivals here and in Edinburgh. Then last year he tackled solo stand up in his show Big Hairy Fun, which had some songs in it, and it was in doing that he realised how much he loves performing music. “Every night I’d look forward to singing the songs in the show and the stand up bits I was like ‘oh yeah I’ll breeze past that to get to the songs’. So this show I went ‘just focus on the songs, that’s what you love doing’”.
WIZARD SANDWICHES: THE LAST LUNCH
By Joanne Brookfield
The result is Hairy Soul Man, which combines anecdotal patter, dance and his own original songs as he fronts a tenpiece band every Friday and Saturday night of the Fringe. “I’ve been down a few different paths and I think now I’m getting to a point where the pendulum has swung all the different ways and I’m finding a balance of all my different artistic endeavours,” he says. “Because I have the music background I do have a lot of music friends,” Smythe says of being able to pull together such a large band, which is being overseen by Musical Director, James OBrien (ex-The Boat People). “We’ve found this opportunity to be able to play together, which is awesome”. The original music will be all soul. “Some (songs) span to R&B, blues, there’s a little bit of reggae in there but mostly based on soul music but no particular soul era. Because I love northern soul, all the stuff from the ‘70s, and neo-soul and the new stuff that comes out now,” he says.
WIN
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Venue: Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne Dates: September 20 - October 5 (Fridays and Saturdays only) Time: 9pm Tickets: $15 - $20
DANNY STINSON’S DON’T “MIND” ME WIN
Wizard Sandwiches premiere absurd sketch comedy for the Melbourne Fringe in The Last Lunch. With their varying degrees of facial hair, split second character changes and perfectly crafted comedic timing, these five diversely talented comedians are definitely the ones to watch. Critics have likened their work to acts such as The Pajama Men and Tim & Eric, receiving acclaim for their unique ability to combine intelligent satire with intense playfulness. The Last Lunch will be directed by Lliam Amor - founder of Impro Melbourne and as seen in The Hollowmen, Thank God You’re Here and The Micallef Program.
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Venue: North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry St, North Melbourne Dates: September 20 - 27 (except Monday) Times: 10.30pm (Sunday 9.30pm) Tickets: $15 - $20
From the creator of Confessions of a Psych Nurse and Interview with a Psych Nurse comes Danny Stinson’s Don’t “Mind” Me. Join Danny for a rolling hour of stand-up comedy and storytelling as he takes you into a world in which everything is filtered through his comedic mind to distil a show that’s big on laughs with a pleasant after taste.
VALENTINE PRESENTS: LOVE ON A G-STRING A delectable delve into the delights and disasters of love. Welcome to a tour of hearts with songstress and hopeless romantic, Valentine. Meet a myriad of real-life and imagined lovers as Valentine exposes the hopes and fears, tragedy and elation, brave admissions and daggy confessions hiding inside a variety of hearts – exploring many different types of love. This brand new indie-pop cabaret features funny, charming and whimsical original music with a delicious fusion of romanticism and cynicism. Delightful accompaniment provided by Sam Bennett (guitar), Barnaby Reiter (keys) and Emily Bennett (piano accordion and novelty percussion instruments). Complimentary candy will be provided to all audience members to ‘sweeten’ the deal. Hold on to your heart and prepare to be smitten!
WIN
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Fresh, fast-paced, futuristic fun for the whole family! Join the attendees of a Technology Anonymous meeting on a buzzing ride through their lives as they delve into their technological addictions. Google and iPhones and Facebook, oh my! Could you be addicted? The Technology Show is a dynamic, high-energy, sketch show exploring how technological gadgets of the 21st-century are used, and sometimes abused, in everyday life. Geared for children aged eight – sixteenyears-old this show asks the question, “does technology really help up to communicate better, or just faster?” Squid Stamp delivers theatrein-education for kids and adults alike through entertaining performances, memorable characters and wonderfully silly sketches!
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NOT AXEL HARRISON A florist must impersonate notorious hitman Axel Harrison for 60 minutes...after resourcefully strangling the real Axel with a telephone cord in scene one. As long as he doesn’t take out another contract on the scapegoat that the bent cop nailed for his own murder, or fall for the loan shark’s daughter, or make eye contact with his unhinged goon, nobody should see through the fake moustache. Not Axel Harrison is a fast paced, tightly woven, relentlessly funny homage to every gangster flick. Razor sharp dialogue propels the play through its many twists and turns, as the larger than life characters dig their own graves.
WIN
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Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 18 - 29 (except Monday) Times: 10pm (Sundays 8pm) Tickets: $10 - $25
Venue: Gertrude’s Brown Couch, 30 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy Dates: October 1 - 6 Time: 6pm Tickets: $15 - $20
SQUID STAMP: THE TECHNOLOGY SHOW
Venue: Portland Hotel, Cnr Russell & Little Collins Street, CBD Dates: September 19 - 21 Time: 8pm Tickets: $10 - $12
ANDY & DARCY ARE: HOME ALONE WIN
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WIN
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Venue: La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond St, Carlton Dates: September 28 – October 6 (except Monday) Time: 2pm Tickets: $12 - 15
The world is a scary place; full of monsters and potential arrests, so Andy and Darcy decide to stay inside for the evening, spending it singing silly songs, telling tall tales, and aligning awesome assonance. They guarantee at least one laugh with a variety of comedy and music in this musical comedy variety hour. Puppets! Magic! Music! Jokes! What more do you people want?!
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
Venue: The Greyhound, 1 Brighton Rd, St Kilda Dates: September 26 - 28, October 3 - 5 Time: 7pm Tickets: $16 - $20
Blues
BREATHTAKING
7PM OCT 1-6
9DPS %XUQ Simply Sizzling 10.30PM OCT 4-5
PEARLY SHELLS
THUR 3 OCT 9.30PM
SWING ORCHESTRA SUN 6 OCT 7PM
13 hBER t O 7 T C h t O 3 6 T 1OC DOCKLANDS ARTS, LAUGHS & BLUES FESTIVAL
COMEDY
GALA
DAVE’O NEIL, JEFF GREEN, CJ FORTUNA & MORE
SATURDAY 5 OCT
8.30PM
Bookings Ph: 9602 1311 or wonderlandspiegeltent.com.au
For enquires or to make a booking: wonderlandspiegeltent.com.au
FELTFACE.COM PRESENTS
“A daring experiment that subtly reinvents the entire notion of standup comedy.” - THE SKINNY, Edinburgh
20th Sept – 5th Oct www.melbournefringe.com.au
Directed by
Featuring music by
Alex Papps
Jimmy Stewart
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
PAGE 11
WHERE THE FRINGE AM I? THE FRINGE HUB North Melbourne will once more host a brilliant selection of Fringe Festival shows as the Fringe Hub will showcase a diverse cross-section of the indie arts scene in Melbourne. Covering all genres, from theatre to dance to comedy, the Fringe Hub program amalgamates work from both emerging and established artists. The Fringe Hub has been serving the festival for years, and there’s a reason why. Check it out.
THE WARREN Sharing a name with legendary rapper Warren G, American billionaire Warren Buffett and Beat’s favourite Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren, The Warren is a cozy little place to enjoy a beverage before or after your Fringe show. Find a comfy corner downstairs from the Fringe Club or explore the fascinating installations and performances throughout.
THE FRINGE CLUB After filling up on the freshest shows from all around the festival, the place to digest and unwind is the Fringe Club. With music, circus, comedy, colour and a touch of magic, the Fringe Club is the place to kick up your heels and dance the night away. Featuring 12 nights of incredible talent from across the Fringe, you’ll be coming back time and time again to celebrate your Melbourne Fringe Festival experience.
FEELING A LITTLE LOST? Feeling a little lost? No idea where your show is? Not sure how to get there? Slow down! Deep breaths. Okay? Here we go. Check out the map. Baby steps. We’re going to get you there.
SOUTH MELBOURNE, SOUTH YARRA, PRAHRAN AND ST KILDA
PAGE 12
KENSINGTON, FOOTSCRAY AND NEWPORT
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
MELBOURNE CBD, DOCKLANDS AND FITZROY
FITZROY, COLLINGWOOD AND RICHMOND
THE FRINGE HUB, NORTH MELBOURNE, CARLTON, BRUNSWICK
BRUNSWICK, NORTHCOTE AND CLIFTON HILL
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
VENUES
VENUES
PAGE 13
THE LAST TEMPTATION OF RANDY Newly-sober stand up comedian Randy has made a series of claims that include explosive allegations and shock revelations. Speaking from the inside of a cow, Randy gave these exclusive scoops to Beat, and we have not bothered to substantiate or verify them in any way. “I am currently sitting in a small tee-pee style tent in a paddock in Sale,” Randy says at the start of our phone interview, explaining he is there to think, write and learn his script for his upcoming Melbourne Fringe show The Last Temptation of Randy. The make-shift structure, he says, is “made from cowhides, and just has a threepronged stick arrangement”. Did he construct this retreat with his own tiny fabric arms? “Absolutely. Maybe you have visions of it being a grand sort of large tee-pee with enough room for a fire but it’s probably only 700mm off the ground, so it’s not even a metre high. I just crawl in there like a frightened dog and learn my script. Me and a torch inside a dead cow,” he says. Randy has been a regular fixture at festivals in
Melbourne, Adelaide and Edinburgh plus is no stranger to having his purple felt face appear on television screens. The Last Temptation of Randy is the third instalment of a trilogy that began with Randy’s Postcards from Purgatory and this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival offering, Randy Is Sober. All three shows have been directed by Alex Papps. “I met him on a cruise ship in Vanuatu, I was doing table-to-table close up magic and he was there as part of a Home and Away reunion tour,” the puppet recalls. However, a raucous late night card game led to the pair being kicked off the boat. “They left us in port because we were being ‘too obnoxious’ so we ended up having to live in this little cabana on this beach in Vanuatu, stranded for two weeks and we became very good friends. Ate a lot of pineapple.” Randy has also worked extensively with musical comedian Sammy J at past festivals but why not for this Melbourne Fringe? “He has a terminal illness and so it’s making it difficult for us to spend a lot of time together,” claims Randy. “He just doesn’t have time for the Fringe festival. That being said, he is doing his own show”.
“The 50 Year Show should be good and unless it goes into remission, this could be his last 50 Year Show so I think it’s definitely one to come check out,” Randy says of Sammy J’s concept show, which is being performed once every five years for fifty years, and will feature Randy as one of the many guests on the line-up. So tell us, Dr Randy, what exactly is Sammy J suffering from? “He has a chronic case of syphilis which has gone into his lungs. Apparently it’s a hereditary thing.” Really? Isn’t that usually sexually transmitted? “It’s funny because that whole thing of sexually transmitted diseases being passed from mother to child during childbirth, I mean, I’m not saying in the press that Sammy’s mother has syphilis. But I am sort of saying that”. An allegation so outrageous, it does call into question the veracity of the claim he is now sober. Are you drunk right now Randy? “No, I’m high on life,” he responds. “You know what I did, I got rid of one vice. Thing is, when you get rid of one vice, what happens is all the other vices float to the surface. So this show is probably more about me lining up all my ducks of my other vices and seeing whether
BEAT.COM.AU
Venue: Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne Dates: September 20 - October 5 (except Mondays) Times: 7.45pm (Sundays 6.45pm) Tickets: $18 - $25
Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday St, Carlton Dates: October 2 – 6 Times: 7.30pm (Wednesday 6.30pm, extra matinee show at 4pm on Sunday) Tickets: $15 - $25
Venue: The Tuxedo Cat, 17 - 23 Wills St, CBD Dates: September 18 - 24 Times: 7pm (Sunday 6pm) Tickets: $15 - $18
TOGETHER AS ONE Together As One is an analogue and eco-friendly performance creation merging live art with choreography at Artshouse’s The Warehouse on opening date Friday September 20. Set in 1975, the work, in three short acts, moves through the frames of mind of troubled youth amidst the Australian constitutional crisis. Through dance, live music, and art installation seven performers explore themes of inhibition and freedom in a time of constant political and cultural change. This work is Jonathan Homsey’s debut full length work featuring a cast of contemporary and street dancers.
2013 RAW Comedy State Finalist, and one fifth of the acclaimed sketch comedy group Wizard Sandwiches, Stuart Daulman premieres his one man show Stuart Daulman is The Principal. The principal of a high school has a lot to deal with, expulsions, kids smoking, sick teachers, overbearing parents and bad cups of tea. Watch the sketch and standup comedian explore the dizzying highs and crushing lows of a suburban school headmaster.
Venue: The Warehouse, 521 Queensberry St, CBD Dates: September 20 - 27 (except Monday) Times: 7.30pm (Sunday 6.30pm) Tickets: $20 - $25
Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: October 1 - 5 Time: 10pm Tickets: $10 - $15
EXODUS
PAGE 14
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Kerry Armstrong makes her directorial debut with a production of The Woolgatherer by William Mastrosimone. Armstrong is well known from her roles in Lantana and Seachange, making history by winning an AFI for both productions for Best Actor in film and television in 2001. With a vast experience in film, television and theatre, Armstrong’s career has spanned more than 30 years. Winning an acting scholarship in 1982, Armstrong studied with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Bergof Acting School in New York and worked with Tim Robbins, John Cusack and Helen Hunt as a member of The Actors Gang in Los Angeles.
STUART DAULMAN IS THE PRINCIPAL
Exodus is a new work of theatre explores three intriguing narratives inspired by Australia’s policies and perceptions of asylum seekers. Exodus bravely tackles this sensitive and contentious topic head on. A debut production from exciting new theatre company Bone Marrow Theatre, Exodus is devised collectively using movement as the primary device for creation and storytelling. This story is weaved in with works of fiction about a contemporary Australian family, in addition to a psychological journey of an Iranian refugee living in Melbourne. A cast of five performs the 60-minute production, with the story being told through gestural evocation of images using the mimodynamic approach. This method allows the actor to discover physical movements through the use of colours, materials and the elements to transpose images and create characters.
I’ve got the balls to shoot them or not. There’s a frickin’ quote for ya.”
THE WOOLGATHERER
SAFETY FIRST In a parody of workplace training, comedian Dylan Cole plays safety expert Tim Lock, a questionable instructor who awkwardly tries to deliver an OH&S course in Safety First, presented by Wizard Sandwiches. Learn about emergency evacuation procedures and avoiding workplace injuries as the audience become company employees in this comprehensive seminar. This one-man character piece is a must see for anyone who has undergone any degree of workplace training. Safety First not only makes fun of workplace training but also the workplace in general; the cliché office language, the banality of procedure and policy and the idea that people can be genuinely excited about their seemingly mundane jobs. It explores the relationship between home and the office as we watch one man unsuccessfully try to juggle his personal and professional lives.
By Joanne Brookfield
A SEQUENCE FROM THE HOMECOMING WIN
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One woman. Three men. Sexual tension. Notso-happy families. What happens when one man brings his wife home to meet the family? Will the relationship survive or will a new one begin? Bring a nice girl home to an all male household and they all want to jump her – she doesn’t seem to mind either, in fact she has much the same idea. So it should all work out fine – except she loses her husband who bought her home in the first place – though he doesn’t seem to mind either in the end. Curious? Come and see it for yourself and try and work out what actually happens here!
Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 25 – October 5 Times: 5.30pm (Sunday 3.30pm, October 1 - 5 7.30pm) Tickets: $15 - $23
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 24 - October 5 (except Monday) Times: 8.30pm (Sundays 6:30pm) Tickets: $18 - $23
La Mama Theatre 205 Faraday Street Carlton La Mama Courthouse 349 Drummond Street Carlton www.lamama.com.au | info@lamama.com.au | +613 9347 6948
john gabriel borkman
the woolgatherer
September 18 – September 29
October 2 – October 6
Written by Henrik Ibsen Translation by William Archer Directed by Peter King Performed by Cory Corbett, Jim Daly, Ezel Doruk, Will Freeman and Russell Walsh Designed by Peter Corrigan
Written by William Mastrosimone Directed by Kerry Armstrong Performed by Laura Wheelwright and Lee Beckhurst Design by Gina Gascoigne
Venue: La Mama Theatre
Venue: La Mama Theatre
spoilt
squid stamp: The Technology Show
September 19 – September 29 Written and performed by Liz Skitch
September 28 – October 6
1 ACTOR 60 MINUTES 6 SPOILT WOMEN
Written and presented by Squid Stamp Directed by Mark Samual Bonanno Performed by Isabelle Clara Mason and Samantha Wojcik
Venue: La Mama Theatre
Venue: La Mama Courthouse
All part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2013 at Australia’s home of Independent Theatre
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
PAGE 15
HERE COMES YOUR MAN How about doing an honours thesis on audience reactions to your cabaret show? “It’s a study of the phenomenon of audiences in performances using story telling techniques in an intimate setting,” explains writer and performer Alex Roe. In the interests of academic research Roe is bringing his cabaret show Here Comes Your Man about a serial killer for hire to this year’s Melbourne Fringe. Sounds like he’s created himself a good time in disguise. But a show about a serial killer - how will that be fun for his audiences? “He’s not one of your drunken foul-mouthed troubadours of cabaret,” says Roe, of his character, Mr X. “I take a look inside the head of a serial killer to find the person in there.” What leads a nice boy like Roe to delve into the mind of a murderer? “I’ve always had a soft spot for the lone warrior,” he explains. “I’ve always been interested in the eastern-western tropes surrounding him. You see him in comics, literature, film, animation, pop culture...the wandering warrior, the anti-hero who’s
good at what he does, the fringe-dweller walking that line on the edge of the societal norm. To him the perfect kill means good quality work; he wants to be the best.” Roe has made his character if not sympathetic then at least acceptable by including the audience in his conceit. “He’s teaching,” explains Roe. “He comes on stage to deliver a corporate seminar to would-be assassins. He brings the audience on a par with himself, to the same level. He’s a sophisticated predator and that type of relationship can be intimidating to an audience so he speaks to them as though they’re all killers, as though he’s teaching the next generation of the killer elite.” While we’re getting in touch with our inner Dexters, Roe is exploring what happens in the story of the anti-hero archetype when he finds he has a human side after all. “Something changes in him,” continues the performer. “The realisation of his humanity makes him vulnerable, it brings him down and he’s undone. The noir hero treads a similar path: after years and years of defying his humanity, cutting off all emotion, he finds it’s not what he wants any
more. Here Comes Your Man’s not glorifying X’s life. He realises it’s a really bad thing to make your life a pursuit of something that goes against your real nature. There’s a heartbreaking moment when his facade of the predatory misanthrope starts to crack.” Being everything at once Roe says, has been the greeted challenge in putting Here Comes Your Man together, given that he wrote and is performing the show himself. “I’ve initiated all parts of the process. It’s really complex stuff for a one-man 60 minute show. Being dynamic is the hardest part, adhering to character. There are moments when I am walking into the audience, talking to them, I’m ad-libbing a lot. It’s really interesting to hear how people respond.” Roe is particularly concerned with how being close to a performer, as audiences often are in a cabaret setting, affects them. “The smaller space and intimate image is in service to the storyteller and vice versa. The exchange with the audience is more evident in that environment. You lose that when everything gets bigger, you’re missing that interaction with the audience.”
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PAGE 16
Venue: The Tuxedo Cat, 17 Wills St, CBD Dates: September 19 - October 3 (except Wednesdays) Times: 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) Tickets: $14 - $18
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Venue: Tuxedo Cat, 17 Wills St, CBD Dates: September 18 - 28 (except September 25) Times: 8.15pm (Sunday 7.15pm) Tickets: $15 - $19
Venue: Tuxedo Cat, 17 Wills St, CBD Dates: September 18 - 24 Times: 7pm (Sunday 6pm) Tickets: $18 - $22
…WE SHOULD QUIT
Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St, Albert Park Dates: September 18 - 21 Times: 7pm (extra matinee show at 1pm on Saturday) Tickets: $18 - $23
An impeccable union of traditional circus and contemporary clowning provides the structure for the physical comedic feat, ...We Should Quit. Award winning circus performer Avan Whaite provides the direction for this compelling show, which incorporates Chinese pole, corde lisse and acrobatics to tell the story of two cogs who are stuck in the daily routine of life. When their habitual schedule of life becomes unstuck, chaos ensues.
Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St, Albert Park Dates: October 1 - 5 Times: 9:15pm (extra matinee show at 3.30pm on Saturday) Tickets: $15 - $20
ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
INTO THE DARKNESS Follow Sassafrass Into the Darkness on a journey to the other side of the bridge. Haunted by her past, she confronts demons she didn’t even know she had. A piece of story telling perfection from Think Blink Theatre which uses a magical mix of animation, aerial and puppetry to bring one woman’s nightmares to life. This is the story of a woman in need of no- one, who goes out into the world seeking a life less ordinary. The piece explores the gaps between independence and isolation, adventure and loneliness, and ultimately becoming what we fear the most. The story is told in a one-woman monologue format, with puppetry, physical theatre and an animated set to help bring the piece to life.
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Anglophile Aussie girl meets English boy in a Melbourne indie disco in the early hours of New Years Day 2006. A blur of love, gin and tonic, and passionate Britpop debate ensues. But is singing along, hand on heart, to all the same favourite songs enough to sustain a relationship? Britpop fanatic Emily Andersen performs bittersweet poetry for anyone who wishes it was still 1995. This show is an ode to Britpop, nightclub romance, visa marriages, and anglophile love.
LACRIMA
Gasworks invites you to enter the world of a ‘50s circus family and watch as the happy family façade of a contortionist wife, her clown of a husband and a new baby unravels before your eyes to reveal a darker reality. Accompanied by a selection of evocative ‘50s inspired songs, Lacrima uses captivating circus, physical theatre and clowning to explore themes of love and loss.
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LOVE IN THE KEY OF BRITPOP
DARKNESS AND LIGHT If you’ve ever experienced bullying, mental illness, racism, coming out, grief, substance use, chronic illness, a broken heart or just had a really bad day, you’ll find you’re not the only one, as some well known faces share some very personal postcards from the edge in a show that will make you laugh and cry – but mostly laugh! Sometimes confronting, but always funny, the line-up changes every night, and features a stellar selection of comics and storytellers at the top of their game, including Dave Thornton, Cath Styles, Luke McGregor, Nath Valvo, Lori Bell, Richard McKenzie, Bart Freebairn, Geraldine Hickey, Simon Taylor, Girls Uninterrupted, Laura Davis, and many more. You won’t want to miss Darkness and Light!
By Liza Dezfouli
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Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 18 - 29 (except Monday) Times: 6.30pm (Sundays 5.30pm) Tickets: $15 - $20
Revolving around the whimsical existence of two sisters living a toy box life of solitude, Another Point of View presents the curious turn of events that occur when an unexpected phone call comes through from a phone that never rings. An enchanting mix of aerial hoops, contortion, aerial rings and hula hoop, Another Point of View is an absurd tale of sisterhood, the struggle for freedom and the binding power of love.
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St, Albert Park Dates: September 24 - 28 Times: 8pm (Tuesday 8.30pm, extra matinee show at 2.30pm on Saturday) Tickets: $15 - $23
Andy & Darcy are:
Home Alone
The world is a scary place; full of monsters and potential arrests.
Perhaps it’s best that Andy and Darcy decide to stay inside for the evening, spending it singing silly songs, telling tall tales, and aligning awesome assonance. They guarantee at least one laugh with a variety of comedy and
music in this musical comedy variety hour!
Tickets
DATES
TIME
Full $20 Conc $18 Group (4 ppl) $16
September 26th / 27th / 28th October 3rd / 4th / 5th
7PM (60 mins)
Book tix @ melbournefringe.com.au
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
PAGE 17
PAPILLON “I work with another woman and I do all the throwing her around and she stands on my head and on my shoulders and does handstands on me,” Elena Kirschbaum says matter-of-factly about her full time job. When growing up in Canberra, her parents would often take her to see the circus and she has grown up to literally, run away and join one herself. She started training 12 years ago, which the 27-yearold says is fairly late compared to a lot of other physical performers, but she’s now performing acts you’ll rarely see other women do. “I’m kind of a circus strong woman, stunt woman,” she says of her form of acrobatics, known as adagio. Adagio is performed in pairs and involves acrobalance poses and movements, with one (the ‘base’) remaining in contact with the floor, while the other (the ‘flier’) balances on them. “I really love being strong and doing things that people don’t expect to see from a woman, so that’s one of the really exciting things about our show: there really aren’t female duos doing the things my partner and I do, the
high level, hand to hand acrobatics that you see a handful of duos doing all over the world but there’s almost none of us who are actually pairs of women. There’s only a couple around the world. That’s something that really excites me, to do something a bit different that people don’t really expect,” she says of working with partner Amy Nightingale-Olsen. The pair are two of the six performers who will feature in the circus-cabaret show Papillon. The five night season, being held at the Wonderland Spiegeltent in the Docklands, straddles both the Melbourne Fringe Festival and the Docklands Arts Laughs & Blues Festival and marks its world premiere. Acrobat Kirschbaum, who along with clown Idris Stanton, are also the co-Creative Producers of Papillon, and plan to tour the show to international arts festivals and the Spiegel circuit for the next six months. Filling out the cast of Papillon are Joshua Phillips, Claire Andrews and Vincent van Berkel. The show title in French means butterfly. “One of the driving forces behind the show is it’s about transitions and all sorts of transitions, so as simple as doing quick changes of costumes, or changes
THE KANGAROO KILLER Australia’s biggest hydro electric dam is being opened in Kangaroo Valley but when Frank Smith is introduced as the engineer, rumours of sabotage begin. With a one in 200 year cyclone predicted and no one to help him, Frank must risk his life to confront the eco-terrorist rumoured to be planning the attack. But to save his town Frank will have to confront something more dangerous than a saboteur, his dark past and a community that demand he pay the ultimate price for it.
By Joanne Brookfield
of character or emotion throughout the act. So it’s a circus cabaret show, primarily circus with an element of music and singing,” says Kirschbaum. She says the aesthetic of the show, costuming in particular, will pay homage to their influences, primarily the “glamour age of live entertainment” of the ‘20s and ‘30s when the touring vaudeville circuit flourished. “That was the golden age of carnival and variety entertainment, that was when people came out in droves and that was the most popular form of entertainment,” she says. The show will feature acrobatic stunts, comedy acts, soulful melodies and a memorable finale. But they’re also hoping to make a deeper connection with the audience as well. “It’s made to be really entertaining the whole way through but also with some really touching emotional moments within the show, which I think circus is so great for because circus is pushing human bodies to the absolute limit of what they can do,” she elaborates. “It’s doing things that ordinary people can’t do with their bodies, so the tension and spectacle you can put into an act through just the tricks and
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Venue: Wonderland Spiegeltent, 120 Pearl River Rd, Docklands Dates: October 1 - 5 Times: 7pm Tickets: $18 - $25
Venue: Norm, 34 Breese St, Brunswick Dates: September 18 - 19, 24 - 28 Time: 8pm Tickets: $20 - $27
HOT NIGHT IN THE CITY
Venue: Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, CBD Dates: September 20 - 27 (except Monday) Time: 10.15pm (Sunday 9.15pm) Tickets: $15 - $20
IN THE INTERESTS OF PEACE
PAGE 18
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Drink me! Eat me! Watch me! You are invited to enter Wonderland, explore its intoxicating wonders and meet those unique characters. A taste of vaudeville, physical theatre, carnival and burlesque presented in an immersive theatre environment. This world created by 10 visual artists working in installation art, sculpture, sensorial art and interactive art will delight all who enter, transporting them into this fantasy filled world. Samantha Wojcik and Timothy Christopher Ryan present a modern performance that is fuelled by fantasy, dazzling performance, sexuality and exploration. Come share a cup of tea at a delightfully mad party.
BEAU HEARTBREAKER
This rollicking puppet play will flip your contrary evening into a warm world of delights and hilarious ruckus spirit, whilst the undercurrent will lead you into deeper thought. In the interests of peace is a comical satire that unhinges the dilemma of combat soldiers carrying out peacekeeping roles. Set in Timor Leste, East Timor, during the 2006 crisis, this quirky show features a cross-cultural cast of finely crafted puppets and bilingual narrative. Featuring, the beautiful warm traditional music of Timor Leste sung by the Timorese performers. This show is a sharp insight into the untold local community experience of peacekeeping. In the interests of peace celebrates laughter against adversity and reveals the twisted reality of political circumstance.
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A F*#KING MAD TEA PARTY
Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 18 - October 5 (except Mondays) Times: 8.30pm (Sundays 6pm) Tickets: $15 - $20
One woman, performing as one very endearing bloke. Written and performed by Selina Jenkins, the award winning character Beau Heartbreaker is back. Packed with hilarious tales of worldly adventures and brilliantly composed songs, this seasoned performers astonishing vocal ability and depth and sincerity as character Beau Heartbreaker is remarkably convincing. Oh, and he’s a bloody nice bloke too. After some significant time away from the stage, Selina Jenkins anticipated return as widely loved character Beau Heartbreaker will not go unnoticed. Beau may be returning with guitar in hand and the same intoxicating smile he’s always had, but his striking facial hair is not the only thing that’s changed and matured. It doesn’t take long for the intricacies of this character to emerge. The experiences and challenges he’s faced since we last shared a yarn with him have left their mark. Beau has grown into a man of real substance. Somebody you’d be proud to call your brother, son or friend. No small feat for a woman in a beard, but one this artist has worked tirelessly to achieve.
the stunts that circus performers are doing, then layered with beautiful music and lighting. We’ve worked really hard to have those production values on it to create a really immersive experience that will hopefully touch people at the same time as being entertaining.”
The finest comedians from the Melbourne Fringe Festival, peppered with snack-sized samples of magic, circus, music, puppetry, burlesque and improvised comedy. Who’s got time to see eight full one-hour shows? Not this guy, and I don’t even have a real job, girlfriend, or a place to live. So why not see eight top quality acts, all in under two hours? If you like ‘em enough, maybe you’ll commit to their whole show, but no pressure. Hosted by Xavier Toby with special guests including Rod Quantock, The Big HOO HAA!, Micah D Higbed and Dilruk Jayasinha, don’t miss the all-conquering meganight, or miss it and have trouble sleeping for the rest of your life, as you try to overcome the feelings of regret and disappointment. The choice is yours.
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Venues: The Local, 22 Bay St, Port Melbourne (Tuesdays), The Portland Hotel, 115 Russell Street, CBD (Wednesdays), The Provincial Hotel, 299 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (Thursdays) and The Hawthorn Hotel, 481 Burwood Road, Hawthorn (Saturday October 5) Dates: September 18 - October 5 (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday and Saturday October 5 only) Time: 8pm Tickets: $10 - $12
WHOLEMEAL OR MULTIGRAIN
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Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 24 - 29 Times: 8pm (Sunday 7pm) Tickets: $12 - $20
Wholemeal or Multigrain features a little bit of theatre and a whole lot of song. With Kensington as their shared homeland, mature age men and women drawn together by a love of musical storytelling have written songs about ‘love, hate, an empty chair’ and sandwiches.
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
Venue: Revolt Artspace, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington Dates: September 20 - 22 Times: 8pm (Sunday 7pm) Tickets: Free
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
PAGE 19
DR. LALA LOULOU IS COMING OUT
MOVING SCORES Moving Scores is an exciting collaboration between new music ensemble 3 Shades Black and visual artists. New films made by composers and visual artists will be screened and performed live as graphic scores. We’ve taken experimental music notation and put it in motion; taken the map and made it a GPS. Come hear the image and see the music! Graphic scores take traditional music notation and remove the rules. These scores are traditionally static images. This show is exploring how the scores and interpretations will change when the scores are in motion. John Cage said that “music is all around us” and this project takes that a whole step further. How does a road at night sound? Or fish in a tank, or the distant sky?
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PAGE 20
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3 LITTLE GIGS WIN
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Venue: Tuxedo Cat, 17 - 23 Wills St, CBD Dates: October 3 - 6 Times: 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm) Tickets: $19 - $23
Following on from a wildly successful debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the 3 Little Gigs format is taking on its second round of local young comics for a tilt at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Arielle Conversi, Cam Tyeson and Rose Callaghan have joined forces to bring you stories from the wilds of Tampa, Florida, the apple lined avenues of Launceston and the mean streets of Port Melbourne. Melburnian, Rose Callaghan, is a comedian and writer who you might know from the Triple J debate night, or heard on 3RRR FM and SYN FM. She’s also interviewed Justin Bieber, invented the #Goslingwatch hashtag and appeared on The Project. Floridian, Arielle Conversi, hosts comedy podcast, Baking Rad. She’s appeared on Open Mic Life and live podcast, Persuasion. She’s also really great at baking. Tasmanian, Cam Tyeson, has written for Junkee, The Vine, MusicFeeds and SBS. He runs the AFL podcast The Pressure Cooker with CT & The Chef, and has appeared on The General Consumption. Once, he appeared as a contestant on Letters & Numbers.
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Venue: The Imperial Hotel, 2 - 8 Bourke St, CBD Dates: September 18 - 27 (except Sunday) Time: 7pm Tickets: $12 - $15
NOT DEAD YET
ELIXIR
Head First Acrobatics catapult into the Gasworks to debut their astonishing new acrobatic extravaganza, Elixir. This Melbourne based duo mix an extraordinary blend of high intensity acrobatics, live music and strong images to share the story of two enthusiastic scientists attempting to create the elixir of life. The result is a dynamic, adrenaline fuelled contemporary circus show.
TICKETS TO THIS SHOW AT
Venue: Club Voltaire 14 Raglan St, North Melbourne Dates: September 23, 24, 27 and 29 Times: 7.30pm (Friday 6pm) Tickets: $15 - $18
Venue: Bluestone Church Arts Space, Hyde St, Footscray Dates: October 3 - 4 Time: 8pm Tickets: $12 - $20
KEIRA DALEY: LADYNERD Piano bar meets Sega Megadrive! Indulge your inner (or not-so-inner) nerd with this award-winning cabaret tribute to some of history’s brainiest ladies – from Marie Curie to Ada Lovelace, via that woman who invented Liquid Paper. Amazing true stories and intriguing real-life characters interface with quirky rants and inventive song arrangements – some old, some new, all in the key of nerd. LadyNerd sees Sydney-based performer and lifelong nerd Keira Daley join forces with musical director and piano nerd Mark Chamberlain in an unashamedly brainy celebration of women who’ve changed the world. Long, long ag the nerd emerged as a pop-cultural (and playground) punching bag. Now, with “geek chic”, it’s a marketing vehicle used to sell gadgets and copy paper. But a nerdy state of mind can be inventive, powerful, and a bit adorkable. And so, employing music and a dash of time-travel, LadyNerd sets out with one simple task: To reclaim nerd.
WIN
Dr. Lala Loulou does not intend to entertain, or teach or give you prescriptions primarily...but be a real artist on a stage with a sound person, curtains, lights and real people in the audience like the professionals. You are invited to join her as a participant-witness in her exploration of coming out. This experiment-meets-performance-ritual involves mostly improvised movement, music, poetry, and delicious moments of medicinal benefit. Described as an ‘uber’ personality of sorts, ‘she’s what would happen if Alice and the Mad Hatter had a kid’ and becoming known for her loop-box story-singing, djembe rap-poetry and improvised group vocal orchestras.
Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St, Albert Park Dates: October 1 - 5 Times: 6.45pm (extra matinee show at 1.15pm on Saturday) Tickets: $15 - $23
When passions for the obscure and unknown take hold, innovation in death defying stunts makes risky business, deadly business. The Sword Swallower’s death had been foretold to him again and again. Confronting and cheating death, this striking performer is back from the dead to reinvent the sideshow. Inspired by the ‘learned freaks’ of the sideshow, shaolin monks, vaudevillian mind readers and a handful of daredevils, this is the show for the 21st century and the YouTube generation. With a mix of extraordinary abilities and dark humour, Aerial Manx shares his stories and shows no fear of the unknown. Not Dead Yet provides a visual feast of knowing how far your body can go after almost losing everything.
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
Venue: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Pl, CBD Dates: October 1 - 6 Times: 8pm (Thursday - Sunday 9pm) Tickets: $20 - $25
ASHER TRELEAVEN presents.
Are Melbourne’s best ‘Alternative’ Comedians more entertaining than a small dog?
MELBOURNE FRINGE FESTIVAL
FRINGE HUB BALLROOM
10:15PM 20TH SEP 5TH OCT
TICKETS
WWW.MELBOURNE FRINGE. COM.AU
"A delightful narrative of lust, love and loss built on the soundtrack of the greatest indie music there ever was. Heartbreaking, funny and lyrical." The Brag “Andersen’s poetry has that magic ability to err between pithy one-liners and something more honest and bleak“ **** Broadway Baby “A must-see for anyone who grew up in the 90s and enjoys playing ‘spot the lyrical reference’” The Scotsman
18-24 & 26-28 SEPTEMBER, 8.15pm (7.15 SEPTEMBER 22) TUXEDO CAT 17 Wills St, Melbourne
www.melbournefringe.com.au BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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SATELLITE VENUES Taking place around the Fringe Hub in North Melbourne and spreading out into Melbourne’s suburbs, the Melbourne Fringe Festival is a program of new ideas across a range of art forms including comedy, music, theatre, circus, dance, design and visual art. This year, several venues are hosting multiple Melbourne Fringe shows, showcasing a broad cross-section of the program.
GASWORKS ART PARK 21 Graham St, Albert Park
THE SUBSTATION 1 Market St, Newport The Gasworks art complex in Albert Park features a strong circus contingent this year, with eight shows as part of the Circus After Dark program.
REVOLT ARTSPACE 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington
The Revolt Artspace provides a hub for theatre and other arts lovers, with 15 shows across performance, music and visual art.
THE BUTTERFLY CLUB 5 Carson Pl, CBD
Over in the west, The Substation represents Melbourne Fringe with six strong shows across music, theatre and visual art.
The Butterfly Club is an inner city cabaret haven – and also has an eclectic roster, with nine shows of cabaret, comedy, dance and more.
TUXEDO CAT 17 - 23 Wills St, CBD
Comedy lovers rejoice! With 25 shows taking place this festival at The Tux, you’ll be spending several nights down in Wills St getting a few daily-doses of much needed comedic relief.
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BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
THREE
SHADES
BLACK
CLASSICAL MUSICIANS WHO DON’T BLEND IN Presents:
Moving Scores New films by visual artists and composers, performed as graphic scores by Melbourne’s exciting ensemble of contemporary music specialists.
Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th October 8pm. $20 full, $15 Conc, $12 group Bluestone Church Arts Space Hyde st, near Napier st, Footscray,
www.melbournefringe.com.au (03) 9660 9666 www.3shadesblack.com Melway reference: 42 D5
BEAT MAGAZINE’S FRINGE FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
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