Fringe audiences are used to their role as the essential crash-test-dummies for new and emerging shows and performers that go onto tour the country and the world. Strangers talk to strangers; in ticket lines, on queues for shows; at cafes and on public transport. People are eager to exchange recommendations with complete strangers. The results toward the end are long queues and venue sell-outs.
On first encounter, Adelaide Fringe appears both sprawling and unwieldy. Many shows arrive unknown and with uncertain expectations. However, once it all opens, a magical Fringe process takes over, seeking to make sense of it all. Multiple reviews and awards, and word-of-mouth, together determine what ultimately flies—both across the country and around the world. It's all a refining process.
As Adelaide Fringe opens its doors to a COVID disturbed world, performers are emerging into an utterly transformed landscape. How, where, what, when, and with whom they perform remains in flux. But if Fringe is about anything, it's about novel solutions to creative challenges.
Adelaide hosts one of the two key Festivals on the world Fringe calendar. Over 61 years, Adelaide Fringe has evolved into the independent, counter-seasonal edition to Edinburgh's bigger and older event. The two Festivals combine to form what has to be the world’s most productive, economical and creative incubator for the performing arts, bar none.
Adelaide, like Edinburgh, is an essential trade show for the performance and entertainment worlds. Some shows use Fringe as a development platform. Others are just there for the hoot. Anyone can, and often do, put on a show—even amateurs. These sprawling events remain fiercely un-curated by their hosting organisations. They provide the rare creative conditions that allow novel productions and developing ideas to emerge. The Festivals’ contributions to the evolving broader creative and cultural landscapes are rare and extraordinary.
It’s Out Now gets the ball rolling for our own suggestions for Fringe picks. Many more will emerge as the Festival progresses.
Any of the four shows associated with members of the absurdist comic troupes the Latebloomers or their associates Clownfish Theatre, will reduce the most jaded block-headed adults into helpless, giggling children. These English-Australian-Swedish troupes draw from and exceed the best English absurdist traditions, spiced up as they are, with Continental clowning and mime. The results are several potent tonics, best consumed live and with other consenting adults present. This small band attends Adelaide Fringe as modern-day Nicholas Nicklebys, working on or contributing to several shows at once. Any mash-up would be mind spinning.
The Bakers
Attenborough & his Animals
The Baroque
MAN-BO
The Latebloomers premiered their second major show The Bakers in Adelaide, in 2020. Don’t worry too much about the plot; it’s only a device to turn their comedic mime skills onto yet another hapless audience. But if you have to know, it’s about a family of traditional bakers fighting to keep their business afloat and their familial bonds intact!
The troupe first quietly snuck into Adelaide in 2019 with their quixotic breakthrough show Scotland! With word of mouth and glowing reviews, the show began to fill, ending its season as “standing room only”...
“Clever, wholesome and completely hilarious... Whoever you are, whatever you do, there is so much joy to be found in this show. —★★★★★ Fringefeed, Perth, 2021
The English arm of the Late Bloomers, Jonathan Tilley, joins Jess Clough-MacRae in recreating the vast natural world of the determinably perennial, David Attenborough. We know his distinctive voice and the inevitable arcs of his barely credible encounters. One day, both Attenborough and his cast of critters fail to turn up on set. But the show must go on, and it’s up to Jonathan and Jess to take-on all the parts. With little props, the show relies on the pure clowning and mimic skills of the two performers, who first met at L’Ecole Jacques Leco, the famed Parisian school of mime, clowning and physical theatre.
Jonathan, once a scholarly Summerian archeologist, gave up a donnish Oxbridge future to tread the boards. He is hardly the first brilliant British comic to do so.
"To paint images into an entire audience’s minds so that we all see the same picture is an art at which this very talented pair excel.” —★★★★★ Glam Adelaide, 2020
In The Baroque, Swedish Late Bloomers’ Oliver Nilsson is Syphilis, the aristocratically ridiculous embodiment of the Baroque. With endearing silliness and perpetual effervescence, Nilsson illustrates Melbourne academics’ (Beaven & Ndaliani) worthy assertions that the Baroque exhibits:
"an interest in performativity and theatricality; [has] a love of spectacle; [takes] a self-reflexive attitude towards methods of construction; [it has] a desire to play with the borders that separate illusion and reality."
Syphilis makes all that perfectly clear his master class on Baroque sensibilities, loach behaviour, make-up and curly wigs; slurped away with champagne while bopping to Bach.
"It’s a hilariously stupid hour of escapism that draws upon every form of comedic tradition, hearkening back to the baroque era itself."—★★★★1/2 The Fourth Wall, Perth, 2021
Sam Dugmore is Mr MAN-BO, the appalling, everything-you-hated-about-the-80s, hyper-macho-hero goof-ball, and star of any of a raft of really stupid, brainless movies. Who the hell made this stuff?
Be warned, Mr MAN-BO is not dead yet; he’s just semi-retired. He awaits a recall for one heroic last tour of duty. Poor thing; time has not been kind. Mr MAN-BO has definitely miss-read the use-by-date on his crotchless souvenir action-man doll. The more Mr MAN-BO tries turning back the time, the sillier he looks, and naturally the funnier the show gets.
In his one-person show, Late Bloomer Sam Dugmore, demonstrates the extraordinary reach of his clowning and mime skills, as he gets to cruelly deconstruct what’s left of this damaged cultural artefact.
"Dugmore rushes headlong into his piss-take of men’s suppressed anger and the outlet of war and violence through physical comedy, live montages, and surprisingly complex action sequences..."
Reuben Kaye in Edinburgh, 2019
Reuben Kaye has no title for his show at Adelaide. The sheer force of his personality must be his selling point. Kaye electrifies the cutting edge of “cabaret”. He strides across its fault lines with ruby red lips, draped in black trouser; trailing pink feather boas in his wake.
Kaye’s throws off all gender assumptions in reaching the full capacities of personal expression. He fully embodies his persona. Kaye meets his audiences, fully “QEr’D”. They gloriously meet him back. Post Marriage Equality, its clearer than ever, everything has changed.
Reflecting a recognisable antecedent in the MC’s role from Cabaret, Kaye dispatches earlier worthy yet brave manifestations to the dustbins of history. He is a fully in-command presence; triumphant as a tower of self-confidence. Despite more glitz, glamour and warpaint than an over-seasoned drag queen, his “drag” only occasionally reaches for a frock.
Oh, and he sings with extraordinary intelligence, belting it out the best, and serenading with the sweetest. See Kaye before the rest of the world takes hold of him.
★★★★★
"Armed with a powerful voice, an immaculate stage presence and tear-inducing hilarity, Reuben Kaye takes you on a journey through the ups and downs of his life” —★★★★★ Fourth Wall, Perth 2021
“ Seamlessly merges comedy with heartfelt truths, tales of the misunderstood and poignant messages to deliver an electric, motivational performance that will linger.... long after the show ends.” —★★★★★ Fringefeed, Perth 2021
Click thru: venue, times and bookings
Click thru to read Reuben Kaye~Cabaret Drag
Australia's outstanding contribution to evolving contemporary circus must be the emergence of the adult variety—dazzling, physical, sensual and totally inclusive (i.e. QEr’D). With a touch of Aussie bluff, they incorporate plotlines driven by imaginative musical soundscapes—either recorded or live. The result is a familiar cup of quality coffee from your local cafe. You don’t know how good it is till you start to travel! Around half the shows featured at the Circus Hub at the most recent pre-COVID Edinburgh Fringe were Australian. There is enough quality contemporary circus In Adelaide for a bottomless cup.
For Adelaide, the energetic lads of Head First Acrobats reprise their previous outing, Elixir. The show embraces a nonsensical zombie/apocalypse set-up. We meet our crew as lab scientists downing various elixirs to assess their relative effects better.
A Head First Acrobats show is like an opera. It has a plot, but its direction is entirely incidental to its purpose. The far-fetched story-line is a mere excuse for a dazzling array of extraordinary acts of body gymnastics.
Head First Acrobats' boys maybe bad and mad, but they’re not very dangerous to know. They admit their speciality is “fun and dumb...”. “That’s all we do...” says co-director Tom Gorham. It’s a goof-ball description of the troupe’s particular and endearing brand of “camp slapstick”.
The troupe is a boys’-own gang let loose for an adventure play date. They have the bods, cheek and charisma to be extraordinarily attractive, especially to each other... It’s like an infectious Carry On movie cast with acrobatically-buffed boys. Take your granny.
Best Circus and Physical Theatre, Adelaide Fringe, 2018
This show has something for everyone—but a lot for middle-aged women and gay men— only kidding, Elixir is slick, fun, and incredibly hot! —★★★★★ The Fourth Wall, Perth, 2021
The sumptuous circus that is Rouge returns to Adelaide. Rouge grew from a drop-by, Sunday-night cabaret gathering of performers at a Melbourne café, of the same name. There, guided by producer/director Elana Kirschbaum, a permanent and transferable show emerged, taking on its now inviting cloak of approachable sensuality and palpable physicality.
Rouge is the delectable amalgam of traditional circus arts, acrobatics, burlesque and cabaret. It exudes a comfortably shameless quality of sexual knowing and being. Ever safe, it never threatens as it gently prises the mind open to the joyous fertilities of lush imaginings.
Rouge embodies the rich traditions inherent to the travelling circus from before modern times. From backstage, it places firmly at the centre, the radical inclusivity that has always been part of the circus family. No wonder people run away with it.
Rouge is so effortlessly and gorgeously subversive, to labour the point would be redundant. ★★★★★
Winner of Best Circus at Adelaide Fringe 2020
In a spectacular display of strength, acrobatic prowess, carnality, and storytelling choreography, the troupe presents an exploration and celebration of sexualities and the human form. —★★★★★ Fringefeed, Perth, 2021
...sex therapy on a whole new level.—★★★★★ Out in Perth, five stars
Click thru: venue, times and bookings
Click thru to read more about Rouge
Many shows arrive in Adelaide, well-developed; having already earned good reviews and significant awards recognition. Further confirmed by the Fringe process and the trade show aspects of the Festival means that Adelaide can be their springboard to wider audiences.
Flight is an immersive theatre experience built on 3D sound effects. Audiences enter a banal white sea container to arrive in a rebirthed economy section of an old plane. In pitch black and through 360° binaural sounds (frequencies calibrated separately for both ears), audiences go on a sensory journey that flicks them through different universes and possibilities. And while it’s not a flight simulator, the producers intriguingly state, “there are many worlds in which the plane lands safely...”.
This show is nerve-racking, utterly thought-provoking and not for the faint-hearted, raising big questions in such a tiny space and short amount of time. —★★★★★ Fringefeed, Perth, 2021
Out of the west lurches the Hairy Godmothers’, Disney in Drag; Once Upon a Parody. These Godmothers update those loving, adorable and morally improving characters still resident in our heads, left there by the wonderful world of Disney.
Disney in Drag arrives in Adelaide with warm revues from Perth. Seems the Godmothers mine Disney’s camp shadow, even when it’s attached to every known form of cultural and racial stereotype. Today, some would say that Disney “colonised” the minds of the young, and we all need some recalibration.
Disney provided a glorious Wonderland to feed many a child’s escapist fantasies. Children could identify with endless magical, exotic and morally attractive characters. It takes little for the adult mind to recall and reclaim their personal fantasies as projections of their true younger selves.
As a loving subversion of Disney, the show has a wholesome and happy, but updated ending.
...an an intelligent yet light-hearted look at the movies that shaped us into LGBTQI+ and everything inbetween adults, despite touting a heteronormative, patriarchal message. 4—★★★★1/2, Fourth Wall, Perth, 2021
...it’ll make you leave questioning your childhood morals —★★★★★, Fringefeed, Perth 2021
Paul and Catherine are the near-legendary Paul McDermott (Doug Anthony All Stars, Good News Week) and witty cabaret diva Catherine Alcorn (Hayes Theatre’s Divine Miss Bette). With all-new material, the pair combine to present their reflections on a very strange year. It's the first time that Alcorn and McDermott have performed together. But there is linage in their association.
At the height of the pandemic lockdown in Sydney, Alcorn led a group of extraordinarily talented, suddenly-available performers and technical people, when she co-presented Friday Night Live. The show, produced to push the commercial possibilities of live streaming, aimed to revitalise the tonight-show format. With live cabaret, friendly patter, drop-by guests, and an extremely poised drag queen in the barrel girl role (Verushka Darling), Alcorn’s contemporary spin on the classic format showed there’s plenty of legs left in that old girl. With the edgy imperative of live television, Alcorn and her co-host (Rodger Corser), dependably delivered with unfailing show-business aplomb on every scripted and unscripted moment. Bring back the magic of live television.
For the most recent Sydney Festival, McDermott was to join Alcorn as co-host, along with Verushka, for the show's next outing. Unfortunately, COVID stole the show again when interstate guests were unable to fly in.
In Adelaide, Alcorn and McDermott get together at last, while their broader project is likely to have further iterations. Watch this space.
Click thru: venue, times and bookings
Click thru to read about the Streamed tonight-cabaret show
Also, catch McDermott in his own show, Plus One
Catherine Alcorn at initial "Friday Night Live", Sydney, 2020
Photo: Don Arnold
When the solid citizens of Adelaide are safely in bed, the unconstrained spirits of Fringe emerge over its fairgrounds—anarchic, subversive, creative, entirely inclusive and very entertaining. Leading performers host their own late-night drop-by variety shows. It’s like finding yourself at the Magician’s convention. It’s also the most efficient way to experience a potpourri of previews from other shows on offer.
The Boys of Briefs, Dublin
For over a century, Burlesque has been a conduit that skilfully and artistically reshaped the boundaries for (mainly) female sexual expression. After a very, long time boylesque came long, allowing men to express their sexualities and identities beyond the confines of their collective, repressive host cultures. And then there was Briefs Factory. They are the Brisbane group who mixed it all up, taking it to the country and the world. Briefs Factory introduces their hand-picked selection queer artists at the Festival .
With his natural show business flare, dynamic singer and intimate raconteur Reuben Kaye presents his late-late selection which he promises to be “the riskiest, most diverse acts of the Fringe”.
Reuben dazzles in scantily clad black drag with a unique porcupinesque boa that gives Celebrity Skin a run for its money. —★★★★★ Fringefeed, Perth 2021
Ms Bettie Bombshell takes Afer Hours Cabaret to Edinburgh
After Hours Cabaret Club is produced by Melbourne’s Burlesque powerhouse, Ms. Bettie Bombshell. Among her many other accolades, she once won the 'Most Classic' award at the Oregon Burlesque Festival. Ms Bombshell has taken her Australian cabaret variety show to Edinburgh and back. The show is hosted by Tash York and backed by a five-piece band. Ms Bombshell promises the best of Fringe from across burlesque, cabaret, sideshow and circus. The After Hours Cabaret Club is always unpredictable; the script is but a guide. ★★★★★
Late night is the time to get down and dirty with the Hairy Godmothers. Hop on their magic carpet ride to Neverland to catch your favourite Disney in the act. It’s a step through the looking glass to spy on Cinderella when she didn’t go home after the ball. The Godmothers pervert history with a “shit-show of debauchery, song, and improv fun”.
19 Feb-21 March 2021
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/