Fest Adelaide Preview 2024

Adelaide Festivals Guide

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Inside: Bisexual Intellectuals Dane Simpson The Folk Foragers Jannali Jones Jenny Tian Restless Dance Theatre Safari Street Creative Sam Kissajukian

MEL SAM HORSIN' AROUND

Features

Top Picks

City Guide

Venue Map

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Director George Sully

Editor Ben Venables

Commissioning editor Arusa Qureshi

Editor-at-large Laura Desmond

Design Team Phoebe Willison Dalila D’Amico

Sales Executive Ema Smekalova

Writing Team Justin Boden, Dani Bozanski, Mahala Gainer, Sarah Herrmann, Talara McHugh, Alana Pahor, Allan Riley, Sarah Sims, Kyron Weetra, Charlotte Whincup

Cover Image I Got Shot By Charlie

Illustrations Lauren Hunter

Radge Media Editor-in-Chief Rosamund West Commercial Director Sandy Park

General Manager Laurie Presswood

Deputy Editor Peter Simpson

Digital Editorial Assistant Ellie Robertson

Fest Adelaide Street Dates 2024 8 February, 6 March Advertising sales@festmag.com

Contact festmag.com hello@festmag.com @festmag

Published by Radge Media C.I.C., M9 Codebase, Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH3 9DR. Every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the information in this magazine, but we cannot accept liability for information which is inaccurate. Show times and prices are subject to changes – always check with the venue. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher. Printed by Finsbury Green, Thebarton SA 5031

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Fest 2024 Preview

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8 On Their High Horse Mel & Sam ride in

36 First Nations Kyron Weetra on embracing the Everywhen

Comedy 51 Stream of Consciousness Josh Glanc returns

Theatre 69 A Stab at the Truth Safari Street Collective’s Stabbing the Ghost

Cabaret 75 This Woman’s Work Sarah Louise-Young’s tribute to Kate Bush

Visual Arts 84 Art as Therapy Comedian Sam Kissajukian’s works of art

Kids and Family 89 Childhood Dreams Chris Turner on nurturing wonder

92 Map & City Guide Food and drink recommendations

Image credits (top to bottom, left to right): I Got Shot By Charlie; TJ Garvie; Marcelle Bradbeer; Safari Street Collective; Steve Ullathorne; Tony Palliser; Will DeVito; The Big Easy Group

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Editorial Laura Desmond

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number of years ago, I had a terrible car accident. I had just been dumped and was driving homeward to see my parents four hours north of Adelaide. Roughly two hours into the trip, I lost control of the car on the highway. I calmly took my hands off the wheel, feet off the pedals and allowed myself to be a victim of physics.

Don’t worry, I’m fine.

But trauma is something we all face and work through. For myself, and many of the artists interviewed within these pages, we choose art. For some, we take the lighter path. Jokes at our own expense, or a trip to Gaulier to learn how to move emotion through our limbs. For others, it is paintbrush to canvas, or dramatic plays personifying the characters in our lives who have made us question ourselves.

These traumas shape how we view and create our reality, and art is a way to explain that reality to others.

To try to create closeness by showing others all the pointy, raggedy parts of ourselves that – for a few reasons

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– would be best kept hidden. But that’s what separates the artist – this unwavering need to be understood, no matter how twisted. They invite you to explore their reality and live in it with them for a moment, even though ultimately it is a fool’s errand.

Our writers have let themsleves lapse into the minds of a wide range of creatives including Indigenous playwright Jannali Jones, comedian-cum-artist Sam Kissajukian, musician Helen Morriss and the cabaret trio behind Bisexual Intellectuals. Our Narungga writer Kyron Weetra highlights the beauty and importance of storytelling in Indigenous culture and brings us a stunning personal glimpse into the privilege of being on Kaurna Yerta.

So this season, I implore you – calmly take your hands off the wheel and open yourself to the grotesque experiences of others and allow yourself to be a victim of their realities, as I was once a victim of physics. Your life won’t be the same.

Events in Fest Magazine are listed: Show title, venue, final performance date.

To book tickets see: Adelaide Fringe adelaidefringe.com.au 1300 621 255 ig: @adlfringe Adelaide Festival adelaidefestival.com.au 1300 393 404 ig: @adelaidefestival WOMADelaide womadelaide.com.au 1300 496 623 ig: @womadelaide Follow the main festival hubs on Instagram: Adelaide Festival Centre @adelaidefescent The Courtyard of Curiosities at The Migration Museum @migration_museum Fool’s Paradise @foolsparadise_au Holden Street Theatres @holdenstreettheatres The Garden of Unearthly Delights @thegardenofUD Gluttony @gluttony_fringe

Acknowledgement of Country 2024 Fest Magazine acknowledges that we are working on the traditional Country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay our respects to ancestors and Elders past, present and emerging. We also acknowledge that the tradtional Kaurna cultural and heritage beliefs are still important to the living Kaurna people today. Fest Magazine is committed to honouring Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation by respecting their unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and sky, and recognising their rich contribution to society.

Festival Follows

Photo: Andrew Beveridge

Festival Follows

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Two halves of a whole idiot Sam Andrew and Mel O’Brien discuss eshays, Boomer dads and ADHD Words: Laura Desmond 8

Cover Feature

Photo: I Got Shot By Charlie

On Their High Horse

9 Features

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el O’Brien and Sam Andrew met through the University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association while studying and they instantly clicked. “I booked this workshop for the show that Sam had written and I remember being like ‘Oh, this bitch is clever’,” says O’Brien.

“I saw this bitch perform in a variety night and I went ‘That’s the most hilarious person I’ve ever seen in my life’,” says Andrew.

From there, a beautiful mess was born. It was during their first coffee together that they realised their similarities. “We just started chatting about the creative projects that we wanted to be doing and we realised that we had similar goals and we went ‘wait a minute, let’s do a show together’ and then No Hat, No Play: The Cabaret was born and we wrote it fully on Zoom during Melbourne lockdown,” says Andrew.

This first cabaret was a little more hinged than what’s expected in their upcoming show HIGH PONY. “Our first show was a pretty easy access point for anyone to come to our stuff,” says O’Brien. “All you needed was to have gone to primary school in [Australia], which was almost everyone, to find this funny.”

Since this first show, they’ve grown into their unique senses of comedy. “As we’ve gotten more confident in our voices we’ve been like ‘Hmm, can we pull off a sketch where there’s a mythical wizard on The Spirit of Tasmania who is stuck in a curse on the ship and he has to find someone who looks like

“We love writing for the girls, the gays, the theys” Emma Stone and turn her into a balloon animal?’ – just the wackiest shit that we back and we find funny,” says O’Brien. “Our shows have gotten progressively more that way and it’s inspired from things that happen around us.”

“We find Australian characters that take things really seriously that don’t need to be taken very seriously hilarious,” says Andrew.

“Our niche, or things we love, are like Boomer Dads, people with random jobs that they care so much about, we love nostalgic throwbacks, we love writing for the girls, the gays, the theys, we love writing stuff that’s queer, we write a lot of sexual content because we’re pretty bold and empowered in our sexuality.”

Although the pair have gained a following through their online presence and television appearances, the stage is still their most authentic expression. “If you like the personality of what you see online then you’ll like the live shows but we go more balls-to-the-wall and we’re more unashamedly us on stage,” says Andrew. “There’s nothing that compares to being on a stage and the energy exchange and the way that we riff with an audience. We’re live bitches at heart.”

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Photo: I Got Shot By Charlie

“Performing within [online] guidelines is such an interesting thing to do and that’s why the live shows are so unashamedly like ‘this is actually fully us’,” says O’Brien.

The magnetism and synchronicity between Andrew and O’Brien is something truly special and makes for a hectic, fast-paced show, but it is niche. Andrew acknowledges that although they frequently see the “9-5ers regular people working Muggle jobs” come to their shows, they “literally and kindly won’t go to the next show, but they can say ’that’s done well it’s just not for me’.”

“We’re really aware, our stuff isn’t for everybody, [but] it’s so good for my heart and soul to write stuff that’s authentically me as opposed to slotting into some cookie cutter like ‘Ah, I’m the fat funny girl I guess in this show about whatever’,” O’Brien says. “It’s really empowering to have your own voice and make your own stuff for that reason.”

The frenzied approach to their live show is anything but accidental. In a time where attention spans are decreasing, there’s a market for their hard and fast style. “[Andrew] has ADHD and my psych has just said ‘I think you might have ADHD’ and we can provide for that, that’s how our brains work,” says O’Brien. “We love things that are snappy and piecey and weird” “I j’adore sketch comedy but every now and then I’ll think ‘that sketch should have ended a minute and a half ago’,” says Andrew. Keeping 10

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this in mind, the duo have created ‘palate cleansers’ within HIGH PONY to keep the pace and break up their seven-minute ballads.

Their musicality is a huge part of their live performances and something the pair pride themselves on. “We have a gorgeous music theatre ballad that’s sung by two eshays who want a career change at the age of 14, they’re like ‘I gotta get out of this job, man. I wanna be a florist’,” says O’Brien.

“We’re both music nerds with music degrees and we care a lot about music and genre and world building – even the wackiest stuff that we do it’s always done with a beautiful brushstroke of musicality,” says Andrew. “We always want our musical worlds to be really well done. We definitely bring that and inject that into our work.”

Andrew and O’Brien have no plans to slow down with a new show in the works for Melbourne Comedy Festival, and their first international trip to Edinburgh Fringe later this year. “It’s a beautiful combination and we plan on doing this for the rest of our lives,” says Andrew. “We will be in an old people’s home, tinkling away at one of the old out of tune pianos going ‘What should we write about this year?’”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

HIGH PONY Gluttony Until 17 March

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Adelaide’s Menagerie With a mixture of comedy, sci-fi and theatre, these animal-themed shows will be taking centre stage at the Adelaide Fringe Words: Sarah Sims Illustrations: Lauren Hunter

FUR BABY, OR: THE LAST CHILD WEARS FUR The Jade, until 27 February

A Marlene Dietrich classic with Sylvia Brécko, who will tell amusing stories about people and their dogs with a spice of caba-

ret and comedy.

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The Boy with The Golden Fox

Don Pyatt Hall, until 16 March

Rabbits On A Red Planet – A New Australian Sci Fi Musical Goodwood Theatre and Studios, until 10 March

Making its Fringe debut, this new Australian sci-fi musical is based on a perilous journey as a crew of three experience a newly transformed Mars with an abundance of discoveries. An adventure to space and help from an ambitious trillionaire, what problems will they encounter?

Amazing Drumming Monkeys – 20 Year Anniversary Show

The Garden of Unearthly Delights, until 17 March

The successful show for families with young kids is back for another season, celebrating 20 years. With a variety of segments including puppetry, live music and heart-warming themes, it’s a family-friendly show that features amazing drumming monkeys!

What in the world!?

Escaping the Wommolly’s ruin through the woods, come along and experience Ewing and the Golden Fox’s heartfelt journey to their home where they discover new friendships. The show also features original musical numbers and an orchestral score, leaving audiences guessing what will happen next on this magical and captivating adventure.

Michelle Ryan talks about challenging stereotypes and inviting audiences into a world of secret desires and dreams Words: Charlotte Whincup

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estless Dance Theatre’s Private View marks the fourth occasion that the company for dancers with and without disability has featured in the Adelaide Festival. Now, they’re inviting audiences into a voyeuristic world of secret desires and dreams, imbued “with a little bit of naughtiness and a bit of cheekiness.”

Artistic director Michelle Ryan says it “always cracks [her] up” when someone misjudges that the emotions of people with Down syndrome are skewed towards the positive, rather than across the whole spectrum. “People always say to me, ‘Oh, the dancers, they’re happy all the time.’ And I’m going, ‘They’re not! They’re human beings with feelings’.”

When it comes to romance and sex, there exists a stigma where people living with disability are often infantilised. “The reason I wanted to do this was just we’re all human, aren’t we? And we all have those desires. Pretending that people don’t is not a realistic thing.”

Ryan, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 30, says, “Even just on a personal level, I know that when I acquired a disability that I could feel the judgement from people. I mean, I know that people were fantastic and have the right intentions. But I can tell that there’s certain judgements.”

Part of Ryan’s mission at Restless is to challenge audiences’ perceptions by exploring universal themes with diverse artists onstage. Back in 2017, the company deliberately made no reference to disability in any

promotional material for their show Intimate Space, which brought them “a really different crowd.” Ryan outlines their approach: “Lure the audience in, make them feel comfortable, and then try and hit them with something that makes them think.”

With around one in five Australians identifying as having a disability, the onstage representation that Restless provides in a renowned, mainstream arts festival holds the utmost importance for eradicating stigma. “It’s about just having those conversations and not being scared of people with disability.

And if you don’t know, ask the question,” Ryan says.

To ensure that the dancers’ voices were included in Private View, Ryan utilised the Pina Bausch model to collaboratively devise movement. “It is about when you set a task, and then you ask the

“Lure the audience in, make them feel comfortable, and then try and hit them with something that makes them think”

Features

Voyeurs of Change

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Photo: Matt Byrne

dancers to respond, mostly physically, and then you mould it into scenes and then the overall structure of the show.”

The hour-long production is segmented into four main scenes: romantic, playful, enticing, and rebuilding. “It’s not exactly their stories, but it’s absolutely informed by their responses to that provocation.”

25-year-old dancer Darcy Carpenter, who hails from the Riverland, performs a playful duet in which she giggles and tickles with her partner.

“I dance with Charlie [Wilkins] who is a brilliant dancer. He and I are aware and comfortable with me. And I feel safe. And it is a safe show.”

To counter the heavy-handed themes, Ryan implemented safeguards in the working environment to maintain a healthy balance between the toxicity and beauty, including changing into stage persona t-shirts after warm-up, employing intimacy coordinator Eliza Lovell, and mixing up rehearsals with fun activities like playing with condoms. “You bring part of your own self to this, but we always talk about that we leave any personal stuff at the door,” Ryan says.

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After seeing Private View, Ryan hopes that audiences will accept dancers with disability as legitimate artists and that Restless is “not a poor cousin to other companies.”

She adds: “I also just hope that they might see a bit of themselves in one of the rooms at some point, and then just realise that we’re all in this crazy world together and we all share the same things.

And that people with disability are allowed to have attraction and to have sex.”

Although, “there is no sex onstage,” she reassures us.

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Private View Odeon Theatre until 9 March

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Top Picks: Comedy

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Various venues, until 17 March

A phenomenal line-up of award-winning Indian, Pakistani and South Asian comedians divulge tales of growing up brown in Australia. Featuring Daizy Maan, Leela Varghese, Kushi Venkatesh, Yasmin Kassim, Amna Bee, Sashi Perera, Shyaire Ganglani, Aarti Vincent and Kru Harale.

Molly Dooner presents a heartwarming exploration of some of life’s darkest moments, encouraging open conversations and using the power of laughter to heal.

Stand-up comedian Ed Byrne is a household name in Ireland and the UK. Tragedy Plus Time is his most personal show: an unvarnished, prickly and, most of all, funny tribute to his late brother, the renowned comedy director Paul Byrne.

Ed Byrne Photo: Raphael Neal

Gluttony, until 17 March

Molly Dooner Image: courtesy of Laughing Stock

Ed Byrne – Tragedy Plus Time

Photo: Roslyn Gaunt

The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 25 February

Brown Women Comedy

Photo: Megan Motmans

Dear God, please take me now

Photo: Daizy Maan

Brown Women Comedy

Felicity Ward

Fern Brady

Felicity Ward – I’m Exhausting

The Garden of Unearthly Delights, until 17 March

The Australian comedian returns home for her first national tour in five years, with no topic off the table. Expect gags about birth, Quorn, fingering and transition lenses, all with Felicity’s trademark high-energy delivery.

Fern Brady: I Gave You Milk To Drink

The Garden of Unearthly Delights, until 17 March

Scottish comedy queen Fern Brady returns to Australia with her brand new show, throwing out the age-old question: what happens when you get everything you want and it’s not enough?

Top Picks

From returning heroes to rising stars, these comedy shows will ensure you’re in on the joke

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Foxdog Studios: Robo Bingo

Electric Dreams @ Freemason’s Hall, until 17 March

Described as an interactive show for introverts, Robo Bingo sees IT consultants Lloyd and Pete take you on a journey which includes robots, comedy and chaos. All you need to play along is a charged phone.

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins

Hannah Camilleri – Lolly Bag

Self-described “overzealous idiot” Garry Starr takes it upon himself to single-handedly save the penguins by performing every Penguin Classic novel ever written, in an hour and mostly nude.

Most Outstanding Show nominee and winner of the Pinder Prize at the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Hannah Camilleri returns for six nights only with her hugely popular one-woman sketch show.

The Gallery at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 25 February

The Chapel at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 3 March

Photo: Pat Mooney

Photo: Aaron Walker Garry Starr Photo: Michael Mannion

Photo: Rebekah Halls

Foxdog Studios

Hannah Camilleri Image: courtesy of Live Nation

Han Arbuthnott

The Majestic, until 17 March

Nazeem Hussain – Totally Normal

Transmasculine comedian and rising star Han Arbuthnott brings his Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut to Adelaide, with jokes about being on testosterone for three years, having an elective double mastectomy and more, all in a celebration of trans joy.

Australian comedian and actor Nazeem Hussain has been on a two-year break but now that he’s back, he’ll soon be hitting stages around the country with his brand new standup show in tow.

How to Shave

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Nazeem Hussain

Comedy

Upstairs at Rhino Room, until 24 February

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Top Picks: Theatre and Physical Theatre Don’t miss these gripping performances that delve into resilience, societal challenges and whimsical clown weddings

Holden Street Theatres, until 17 March

A searing one-man play by Ed Edwards, powerfully brought to life by stand-up comedian Mark Thomas, depicting a young man’s spiral through abuse and addiction. Balancing the brutality of personal experience with social insight, the play is a moving story about the consequences of colonialism and capitalism, with moments of kindness and hope amid the darkness.

Fool’s Paradise

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Anna Piper Scott

England & Son Photo: Jason Kuykendall

England & Son

Photo: Alex Brenner

In a special one-on-one interview, comedian Anna Piper Scott adopts the persona of children’s author JK. Is this globally acclaimed writer the beacon of contemporary feminism or the emblem of a divisive movement fuelled with animosity?

Image: courtesy of Adelaide Fringe

The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 17 March

Photo: Olly Lawrence

An Evening With JK

Britt Plummer

Blood of the Lamb

The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 3 March

Blood of the Lamb

Britt Plummer’s clown wedding takes an unexpected turn as her fiancé Otto is conspicuously absent, setting the stage for a modern day love story sprinkled with humour and touching moments. Through song, puppetry, and masterly physicality, this rom-com explores the challenges of long-distance relationships.

Playwright Arlene Hutton serves a stark warning about the broader implications for women following the fall of Roe v. Wade, illustrating the realities of abortion restrictions across 18 US states.

Theatre and Physical Theatre

The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 17 March

Burn it.

Helios

After a tumultuous break-up a couple from the LGBTQIA+ community go camping.

Will they opt for healthy and healing discussions or instead resort to alcohol and avoidance? The play explores mental health, abuse and unreciprocated affection in a darkly comic narrative.

Lucy Heffernan’s rock ‘n’ roll monologue takes audiences Multi award-winning storytell- on a journey through the mind ers Wright&Grainger present of hot mess and kids party their piece about the Son of entertainer Fairy Sprinkles, the God of the Sun, transplant- exploring love, faith and the ing the Ancient Greek tale into impact of mental illness on a modern-day myth, all told family along the way. by a solo performer in an intimate space and accompanied by a cinematic score.

The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 17 March

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Star Theatres, until 25 February

Photo: Clare Hawley

Photo: Paul Baker

Image: courtesy of Adelaide Fringe

Lucy Heffernan Photo: Motley Bauhaus

Burn It

Helios Photo: Naomi Reed

Photo: Jamois A Solo Commedia dell’ Arte Show

Me, My Cult & I

Jack & Jill’s Basement Bar, until 16 March

A moving and honest piece by acclaimed West Australian-based writer, performer, and storyteller Colin Ebsworth about being raised in a cult by parents that were matched in a mass wedding in Madison Square Garden in the 80s.

A Solo Commedia dell’ Arte Show

Me, My Cult & I

Long Drive Together

Long Drive Together by Neptune Henriksen

Secret Basement @ WEA, until 10 March

Critically acclaimed writer/director Neptune Henriksen presents his The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, heartfelt play which follows two high until 10 March school friends, Solar and Dylan, who reunite fifteen years later to take a Andrew Crupi is back following a sell-out season in road trip from Adelaide to country NSW 2023, switching seamlessly between multiple characters, through the use of traditional Commedia dell’ Arte to visit the grave of a mutual friend.

This moving, coming-of-age tale stars masks and storytelling. A charming production for all ages, with accompaniment by musician Jake Morrison Neptune Henriksen and Lou Sebial in the lead roles. and his live original score.

Top Picks

Verandah Private at The Strathmore Hotel, until 14 March

Party Girl

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Top Picks: Music Immerse yourself in a vibrant symphony of sounds Mary’s Poppin, 29 February

Gluttony, until 17 March

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season two favourite Bimini Bon-Boulash heads down under for a headline tour featuring the very best queer performers from across Australia, who will all be singing, dancing and serving.

Australian rock icons Sarah McLeod and Kevin Mitchell pay homage to the fated 27 club (Joplin, Winehouse, Cobain and more), with Carla Lippis and Dusty Lee Stephensen leading a four-piece band.

Poppin Out Festival

New Building Lawn and Yard at Adelaide Gaol, 24 February

A storming double-bill featuring two of New York’s finest. Punk legend Lydia Lunch presents her passionate, confrontational and bold prose, while musician and songwriter Joseph Keckler offers his haunting and absurdist songs.

Summary of Love Image: courtesy of Adelaide Fringe

The Garage International @ Adelaide Town Hall, 14 March

27 Club

Photo: Josh Geelan

Lydia Lunch & Joseph Keckler – Tales of Lust and Madness

Bimini Photo: Nestor Zhu, Lightning, Ying Hejpg

Described as “a Colourful, Camp & Carefree music festival”, Poppin Out places inclusion at its heart, with party vibes aplenty. Headlined by Sneaky Sound System, Kween Kong, Cece Peniston, Anetra and over 30 other artists.

Photo: Saige Prime

27 Club

Photo: STONEY

Bimini LIVE

Marlon

Lydia Lunch & Joseph Keckler

Gluttony, 17 February

Summary of Love 梅催春動已熹微

Former Australian rules footballer and current musician Marlon launches his latest track, ‘Blood in the Water’, which is written in reflection of the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Musicians Chuan, Huijie Lin and Yanchao Liu blend classical bel canto with jazz and strings, in a concert that includes Chinese, English, Italian, German and French songs.

Marlon – Blood in the Water

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Music

Brighton Performing Arts Centre, 17 February

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Top Picks: Circus From aerial feats to electro sounds, every kind of circus is coming to Adelaide Image: courtesy of Adelaide Fringe

Photo: Ben Preston Artist / Acrobat

Gluttony, until 17 March

Fool’s Paradise, until 17 March

Cirque X disassemble gender constructs and binaries in this show that combines circus and cabaret, celebrating themes of love, desire, and vulnerability through a queer gaze.

YOAH Photo: Rob Blackburn

Tender

Tender

Photo: Jack Fenby

Acrobatics take place around fragile ceramic sculptures in this collaborative piece from Australian contemporary artist Sam Matthewman and circus performer Emily Loe.

Photo: Kei Yamada

Artist / Acrobat

YOAH

Gluttony, until 10 March

Japanese contemporary circus company CIRQUEWORK present the Australian premiere of their latest work, which fuses Japanese drums, electro sounds and visual effects for a unique circus experience.

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Apricity

Oat Milk & Honey

Apricity

Oat Milk & Honey

Fool’s Paradise, until 3 March

Gluttony, until 25 February

A brand new production from acclaimed contemporary circus company Casus Creations, which centres around the power of human connection in times of darkness through the use of mesmerising aerial apparatuses, acrobatics, visuals and more.

Fresh from a hugely successful Edinburgh Fringe, collaborative performance company Sound of Circus Australia bring their multi-award winning work to Adelaide. Featuring a stunning pairing of acrobatics and live music to explore the human experience of anxiety.

Circus

Cabaret has it all, from a profound clown to drag superstars and a tribute to The Simpsons Paulina Lenoir: Puella Eterna

HUSH

Swiss-Mexican theatre-maker, clown and designer Paulina Lenoir, the mind behind “cult cabaret sensation” Fool’s Moon, presents a show about life, in all its stages, asking audiences: Would you like to live forever?

Join drag icons Iva Rosebud and Jens Radda and burlesque and singing sensation Meg Hickey as they transport you to an underground cabaret of pleasure. Expect glamorous drag, grunge burlesque, live singing, and theatrical dance numbers.

The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 17 March

Nineteen Ten, until 18 February

Photo: Jens Radda

Photo: David Pickens Paulina Lenoir

HUSH Photo: Kyahm Ross

Photo: John Mcrae Prinnie Stevens

Reuben Kaye Photo: KTB The Stripsons

Prinnie Stevens presents Lady Sings The Blues Volume 2 The Kingfisher at Gluttony, until 25 February

Prinnie Stevens returns with another volume of stories about women who have shaped the history of music, with songs from Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner and more.

Reuben Kaye – APOCALIPSTIK The Garden of Unearthly Delights, until 17 March

Cabaret superstar Reuben Kaye returns to Adelaide Fringe with his brand new show, which crosses continents, generations and the political spectrum of the 20th century to tell the scandalous story of Reuben’s scoundrel Uncle.

The Stripsons

Gluttony, until 10 March

Swamplesque bring a brand new, adults-only show to the Fringe featuring The Stripsons. See those famous residents of Springfield but with a burlesque and drag twist, like you’ve never seen them before.

Top Picks

Top Picks: Cabaret

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Singular performances to joyous celebrations across the Fringe’s dance program Sentiments

Glitter Apocalypse

Amelia Watson offers a profound exploration of heartbreak within queer communities in this highly physical solo show, using personal and collective stories by LGBTQIA+ people from across the globe.

An electrifying mix of dance styles including hip hop, waacking, popping, animation, robot, and house from a cast of all-South Australian performers, including members of Adelaide’s premier crew FREAK NATION. Expect bass, pulsing beats and plenty of glitter.

House & Grounds at Carclew, until 2 Mar

The Parks Theatres, until 3 Mar

Photo: Chris Woods

Image: courtesy of The Garage International Alchemy of the Muse

Cabin Fever Photo: Courtney Baines Sentiments

PULP Live

Cabin Fever

Caravan at Henley Square, until 25 Feb

Dance and screen artist Dianne Reid is known for her boutique performances in unusual locations, from underground tunnels to train carriages.

Set in a vintage caravan, Cabin Fever places a maximum of eight audience members in a half hour encounter with a woman contemplating escape.

Dusty Feet Mob

Main Theatre at Adelaide College of the Arts, until 9 Mar

Young Aboriginal performers aged between six and 31 use the power of song and dance to tell stories of the Stolen Generation. Through their art, the Dusty Feet Mob community offer a joyous celebration of Aboriginal culture.

Alchemy of the Muse

Therapy Cocktail Bar, until 15 March

The Garage International @ Adelaide Town Hall, until 16 Mar

A performance art club night from four of Adelaide’s top queer artists – Amelia Watson, Alix Kuijpers and Co-Founders of Alchemy Collective, Kate Burgess and Caroline De Wan – where fruit is used as the messy metaphor for sexuality.

Journey into the Otherworld of the Muse, with this enchanting show from Divine Elements Belly Dance Company and The Garage International, that takes inspiration from the Goddess of alchemy.

Top Picks

Top Picks: Dance

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Top Picks: Kids and Family Gluttony, until 17 March

Gobble up a musical comedy and biological adventure alongside educators Oesoph A. Gus and Dewey Dean! The two teachers will lead a voyage into the intricacies of the human digestive system. Expect a lively variety show stuffed with sketches, songs, and scientific insights. A production by The Science Gang and ideal for ages 5-12.

The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, until 17 March

I am the BOSS

Fool’s Paradise, until 17 March

Witness three ordinary people as they transform into extraordinary heroes defying the laws of physics. This circus show blends the art of body language and mime, weaving together reality and fantasy. Presented by 0471 Acro Physical Theatre & Cluster Arts, renowned as one of Taiwan’s top circus acts. Perfect for children aged 6-12.

JUNKLANDIA

Various venues, until 16 March

Two brothers hailing from the distant planet ‘JUNKLANDIA’ are on a mission: to teach us Earthlings the secret recycling arts from their homeland. Expect a mesmerising fusion of rhythm, dance, circus and comedy, culminating in a ‘Junk Orchestra’, where every audience member joins in with an instrument fashioned from recycled materials.

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Kids and Family

JUNKLANDIA

I am the BOSS Image: courtesy of Adelaide Fringe

Dive into a delightful journey through time for an educational show that’ll make kids and grown-ups sing and dance in the rain. From dodging dinosaurs to combating climate change, this is an aquatic comedy sketch show set to broaden horizons and uplift audiences. Suitable for ages 5-10.

You Are a Doughnut

Photo: KEN Photography

I’m a Raindrop, Get Me Outta Here!

I’m a Raindrop, Get Me Outta Here!

Image: courtesy of Adelaide Fringe

Photo: Matt Roberts

You Are a Doughnut

Image: courtesy of Adelaide Fringe

Every show is an adventure, from the inner workings of the body to a Junk Orchestra from outer space

Jon & Jero

Jon & Jero: Stuff!

Gluttony, until 3 March

A high-energy hour for the whole family from Melbourne-based comedians Jon Walpole and Jeromaia Detto. Join bumbling brothers Jon & Jero in this choose-your-own-adventure, where they travel far and wide on a mission to get their STUFF back.

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Top Picks: Adelaide Festival The Festival program contains many wonders, from updating ancient tragedies to travelling through time Floods of Fire: Our Celebration with Electric Fields & the ASO

Antigone in the Amazon Dunstan Playhouse, until 17 March

Swiss theatre director Milo Rau returns to Adelaide Festival in 2024 with his latest piece, in which he creates a political Antigone for the 21st century. Featuring Brazilian and European actors, musicians and indigenous activists, Antigone in the Amazon was filmed in Brazil and is mixed with live sequences on stage.

I Hide in Bathrooms

Waterside Workers Hall, until 16 March

Adelaide Festival Centre, 17 Mar, 7.30pm

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and electronic music duo Electric Fields partner up for a program featuring new music created for the two-day festival within a festival, Floods of Fire. The first half of the concert includes the world premiere of the Floods of Fire Symphony, while in the second half, the orchestra is joined on stage by Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the pair behind Electric Fields.

Photo: Moritz Von Dungern

Working with collaborators including Ingrid Voorendt, Zoë Barry and Jason Sweeney, performer Astrid Pill’s new work fuses fiction with autobiography, reflecting on the experience of losing an intimate partner, falling for someone whose partner has passed away and traversing a relationship while dying.

Adelaide Festival

Time Machine

I Hide in Bathrooms

The Nightingale Photo: Ralph Alswang

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Floods of Fire

Photo: Michael Cooper

Director Robert Lepage takes on Stravinsky’s first opera, which was written between 1908-13 during the composer’s Russian period. Inspired by a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the story is brought to life by shadow play, Taiwanese hand puppets, and the ancient art of Vietnamese water puppetry, as well as a cast of singers from Ukraine, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Photo: Sam Oster

Adelaide Festival Centre, until 5 March

Photo: Enzo Frisini

The Nightingale and Other Fables

Antigone in the Amazon

Time Machine

Grote Street, until 17 Mar

Award-winning performer Elizabeth Streb brings her Extreme Action art form to Adelaide for the very first time, in a work for all ages that combines physics and force with dance. Using prototypic ‘Action Machines’, her dancers become ‘Action Heroes’ who push the boundaries of the human body.

WOMADelaide Highlights

33 Top Picks

Four acts that are unmissable at this year’s open-air festival, which annually brings together some of the best live music from around the world

Photo: Sophie Garcia

Photo: Danika Magdelena

MC Yallah

Yussef Dayes

A.Girl

Hinenuiterangi Tairua, known more commonly by her stage name A.Girl, is a rising star in the underground hip-hop scene of Western Sydney. With a sound rooted in R&B and soul, she has been applauded for her fast and frenetic flow and undeniable talent as an MC.

for over two decades. Fusing concious hiphop with lyricism in Luganda, Luo, Kiswahili and English, her delivery is bold and full of heat, drawing from real-life experiences and messages of empowerment. She performs with Berlin-based producer Debmaster, who she has worked with since 2018.

Arooj Aftab

Yussef Dayes

Pakistani singer, composer, and producer Arooj Aftab has been captivating audiences since her early days as a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, taking inspiration from jazz, minimalism, Hindustani classical, Urdu poetry and more. She’s since gone on to win a Grammy for her song ‘Mohabbat’, becoming the first ever Pakistani artist to win a Grammy.

MC Yallah & Debmaster

As part of Kampala’s Nyege Nyege crew, MC Yallah has been on the African hip-hop scene

South London-raised producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Yussef Dayes has built up a solid following for his immense skills behind the drums, having collaborated with the likes of keyboardist Kamaal Williams and singer and guitarist Tom Misch. His highly anticipated debut solo album, Black Classical Music, was released in September 2023, cementing his status as one to watch in the UK jazz scene.

SHOW

WOMADelaide

VENUE:

Botanic Park / Tainmuntilla

TIME:

8-11 March

festmag.com

An Acknowledgement Kyron Weetra is a self-professed milky nunga of Narungga and Saxon clan descent. A writer, actor, musician, offspinner and full-back who has been surviving off of his creative flow in Adelaide for the past decade

I

t is my perpetual privilege to acknowledge the beautiful land of the Kaurna people. I am in awe of and hold the utmost respect for the relationships, beliefs and customs that have been practised in this country since time immemorial. I pay my respects to the Elders, past and present who preserved culture and paved the path. I acknowledge the ongoing and lived connection that First Nations people have to country and to culture. I extend this acknowledgement and respect to all First Nations people from all language groups.

When I was but a mere child I was told that Aboriginal history was around 20,000 years old… I had my suspicions even then. 20 years later and the mainstream scientific viewpoint is 65,000 years of unbroken history! To be honest, I’m still dubious they’re short-changing us, but if we were to take that as true then that many years holds literally thousands of generations of history and wisdom. That means Aboriginal people were passing down knowledge that predates almost EVERY civilisa-

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tion we know about. A feat that, I feel, does not get venerated enough.

The history of Aboriginal people just keeps getting older and more undeniable. This could not be truer for the Kaurna people and their culture which has seen a massive resurgence in its repatriation and its accessibility. Kaurna Yerta is a magical place with tens of thousands years of history and culture and that culture is becoming more prevalent and easy to access.

Some people call Aboriginal culture/mythology the ‘Dreaming’ but I call it the ‘Everywhen’, mostly to stop the implication of an altered state of drowsiness and to further imply that the culture is a constant and that culture is actively lived. It’s a fine marginal point to make but that’s what this world is made up of, fine margins.

In saying that, embrace the Everywhen my friend for it has never been easier. There are language lessons with visual aids online, animated stories on YouTube and there are even

Features

Photo: TJ Garvie Luke Currie Richardson in Guuranda, an epic opera showcasing the Everywhen stories of the Narungga people

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“The feeling of connection, celebration and culture is something that has always been fostered”

Everywhen trails posted on council websites where you can walk the path of the old sky heroes from ancient tales.

As an artist who has lived in Adelaide the vast majority of my life, I feel an impenetrable and sometimes incomprehensible connection to this space. From the lofty hills of Stirling to the crystalline beaches of Goolwa. From the leafy greens of Urrbrae to the dry gums of Salisbury and to all of the plains and wetlands in between, there is a certain mystical energy that wraps itself around this country.

This mystical energy is fed into itself and amplified outwards when the festival season rolls around. This is a natural amplification as the core ethos of the Adelaide Festival and the Fringe festival aligns with traditional First Nations culture. Gathering, sharing and educating through culture. Something that is not done enough. At least, not done enough in earnest and without ego.

With venues spread further than any eye, mechanical or otherwise, could see, the spirit of the festival reaches through the lands of the Narungga (Yorke Peninsula), Adnyamthanha (Flinders Ranges) and all the way down to Buandig Country (Mount Gambier).

The land of this country holds patterns in its bones and the feeling of connection, 38

First Nations

celebration and culture is something that has always been fostered. A pattern that has always been drawn upon and re-drawn again to strengthen that echo. ‘Karrawirra Pirri’, the Kaurna word for the River Torrens which means ‘Red Gum Forest River’, has always been a place to gather, share and educate. We follow in the footsteps of our ancestors and honour their past by making it our present. So, please. Gather. Share. Educate.

So, whether ye be a punter from Adelaide or the rest of Australia or a performer from anywhere else on this wide world of culture, I implore you to engage with the wealth of information at your fingertips and dive into Aboriginal culture with respect, curiosity and revelry. Make it a point to know whose land you’re on. Try to learn a new word every day or every week. Make an effort to connect with the thoughts and sounds that have been uttered on this land longer than the land remembers. Take a breath with the ancient.

Walk with a full heart and a light step on your festival journey.

I’ll leave you with a beautiful Ngarrindjeri word – ‘Nukkan’. Nukkan means ‘to look you in the eye’ or ‘to see’. It effectively means ‘until I see you again’. So, enjoy the festival, tread lightly and Nukkan ya soon!

festmag.com

Preview: First Nation Premieres This festival season sees essential First Nations shows for the first time Words: Kyron Weetra

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Guuranda Her Majesty’s Theatre, Kaurna Yerta, until 3 March Created by a collection of First Nations Artists and spearheaded by Jacob Boehme, Guuranda is an epic opera showcasing the ‘Everywhen’ stories of the Narungga people. As a proud Narungga man I am particularly excited to see this championing of culture. The word ‘Guuranda’ is what Narungga people call their homeland, what westerners call the Yorke Peninsula.

Baleen Mundjan Glenelg Foreshore, Kaurna Yerta, until 2 March Set among giant Whalebones on the Glenelg foreshore, Baleen Mundjan is set to be an exultant fusion of place and meaning. Stephen Page, former Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival, mixes dance, theatre and song to tell a story inspired by Page’s grandmother and her Ngugi/Nunukul/Moondjan cultures who are connected to the area we now call Stradbroke Island.

First Nations Voices HAT’s Courthouse Cultural Centre, Auburn, Ngajduri Land, until 16 March A musical experience that is set to be laden with velvety tunes and harsh truths where global Aboriginal culture is showcased through the power of songwriting. Another world-premiere chronicling life and culture with powerhouse performers such as Glenn Skuthorpe, Nancy Bates, Toni Jenke and LENI that will send sonic bliss right to the soul.

With everything that’s happening in this country it seems a good time to listen to First Nations Voices.

Dupang Bangari (Coorong Spirit) Festival Long Point Rd, Dupang Coountry, until 17 March A great way to end the festival is by joining Senior Elder Major Moogy Sumner for a camping festival and corroboree. Sharing culture, healing the spirit and connecting to country are the main aims of the three-day camping trip. Workshops on basket weaving, clapstick carving and boomerang throwing will be happening with corroborees and yarning circles flowing later in the evening. An immersive and relaxing way to wind down from the Fringe Festival and connect to culture.

First Nations

Features

Photo: Daniel Boud Rika Hamaguchi and Maanyung in Baleen Mundjan

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Exploring Family, Culture and Grief Jannali Jones discusses cultural disconnection among Aboriginal individuals and her award-winning play Trail’s End Words: Talara McHugh

C

ultural and familial disconnection is something many Aboriginal people experience yet it is overlooked by many. Aboriginal people often find themselves walking between two worlds as they navigate their cultural identity and what it means to be an Aboriginal person in modern Australia.

This experience was something award winning Gunai/Kurnai writer Jannali Jones hoped to capture in her latest play, Trail’s End. “I wanted to convey in some way what it’s like growing up as an Aboriginal kid who has been disconnected from their culture,” she says. “It’s an experience that can be hard to articulate, and I found it difficult to properly wrap my head around until I was well into my 20s.

“Due to a history of dissemination and fragmentation, it’s actually a pretty common

“I wanted to convey in some way what it’s like growing up as an Aboriginal kid who has been disconnected from their culture”

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experience across First Nations peoples of Australia.

“I hope that people feel they understand a little more about the Aboriginal experience – or at least one example of it – and that they can challenge some of the stereotypes they may have been holding, whether consciously or not, about what an Aboriginal person is.”

Trail’s End follows half-brothers Sam, played

by Dylan Miller, and Jamie, played by James Goodliffe, as they come to terms with the loss of their mother exploring issues of family and identity, being part of a mixed family. Both brother’s cultural experience and grief has been different with older brother Sam, who is Aboriginal, struggling to reconnect with his culture and have a relationship with his non-Aboriginal family.

“The brothers’ cultural experience is in contrast to each other – Jamie went to a private school, Sam didn’t. Sam struggled with his home life, Jamie hasn’t. Jamie has been a lot more sheltered, whereas Sam almost has a second family who’s adopted him and helped him through hard times when his own family didn’t,” Jones explains.

“Jamie feels comfortable enough to go out and explore the world – his identity is shaped more strongly through music than culture – whereas Sam is still stuck second guessing who he is and where he fits into the world,” she says.

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Trail’s End Marion Cultural Centre, and Goodwood Theatre and Studios until 3 March

Features

Photo: Cassandra Jones

The two brothers decide to go on a final camping trip before Jamie goes to university where they reflect on growing up and share secrets with one another. However, Sam is keeping one last secret hidden from his brother and planning to do something he knows is unforgivable.

The one-act play is led by a team of Aboriginal creatives, which Jones said was vital when telling Aboriginal stories. “It’s crucial that Aboriginal stories are told by Aboriginal people.

Without Aboriginal people being involved, it’s not only inauthentic storytelling, but in the past we’ve seen how it leads to misrepresentation, stereotypes and just plain getting it wrong,” Jones says.

“Most people in Australia haven’t even met an Indigenous person, so a lot of what they know about us comes from news media, which tends towards negative coverage.” Jones was also determined to provide opportunities for other Aboriginal creatives and expand the presence of Aboriginal theatre in Adelaide.

“Part of my mission in producing this play was to give opportunities to as many local Aboriginal creatives as possible,” she says.

“It was also a way for me to feel out the local scene and work towards building a greater presence of Aboriginal theatre in Adelaide. I’m super proud of all our cast and crew as well – most of whom are emerging in their fields – and hope they can use the play to help them go further in their careers.”

As the only Aboriginal work of its kind in this year’s Fringe program, SA-based Jones said it was “so special” to share her work with her family here and hopes to see more Aboriginal theatre on offer in the future.

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First Nations art and culture will be celebrated at this year’s Red Poles First Nations Fringe Festival through a visual art exhibition, interactive workshops, demonstrations, storytelling and live music performances Words: Talara McHugh

S

et amongst vineyards and natural bushland in McLaren Vale, Red Poles is a multi-award winning restaurant, B&B and art gallery with an Indigenous focus, especially during Fringe.

This festival season, Red Poles is proud to present the Yalata – A Happy, Healthy, and Safe Community art exhibition which owner Ros Miller describes as a “window into the oldest living culture on Earth.”

“This exhibition is a vibrant celebration of indigenous art and culture, set to make a significant impact at the Fringe 2024,” she says.

“Red Poles has consistently represented and supported Indigenous communities”

Image: courtesy of Ros Miller

“The heart of this initiative lies in showcasing the creative talents of Yalata artists, descendants of Pitjantjatjara Anangu desert people who were displaced from their traditional lands and brought to Yalata Mission in the late 1940s.

“The exhibition from Yalata will feature a diverse collection of artworks and artefacts, each bearing a rich cultural heritage and contemporary expressions of these gifted artists. There will be a mix of 2D and 3D works including paintings, ceramics, baskets, weaving, punu and other artforms.”

Features

A Window into the Oldest Living Culture on Earth

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Image: courtesy of Ros Miller Yalata Painting

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Yalata Painting

culture” from First Nations artists including Glenn Skuthorpe, Thelma Cheechoo and Vern Cheechoo.

“We’ll also be celebrating some of Australia’s leading First Nations musicians, with musical experiences that showcase a chronicle of life and culture through bold and powerful stories,” Miller explains.

“The event with a fire circle fuels the mosaic of their sacred land and the blending of bold and powerful stories will ring on for generations to come,” she says. “Set around the theme of a campfire, the fire circle, where they can identify with cultural stories shared through generations past and present.”

The Red Poles First Nations Fringe Festival is free to all and kicks off with Indigenous artist demonstrations held throughout the afternoon. Sunday 18 February will include an official opening and feature artist exhibition talks, demonstrations and live music with Glenn Skuthorpe from 12.30pm. Until 17 March

Features

Image: courtesy of Ros Miller

The exhibition is in collaboration with the Yalata Anangu Aboriginal Corporation with artists Vanessa Quema, Melissa Windlass, Emma Palmer representing the community with the support of Far West Coast artist Pam Diment.

Miller also notes that the exhibition is an opportunity for artists from the small community, located around 1,000km from Adelaide at the head of the Great Australian Bight, to share their stories and creative work with the wider community. “[I am looking forward to] the opportunity for artists from the remote Yalata region to feature their art in Red Poles gallery for the first time and providing them the opportunity to travel and stay at Red Poles and share their stories and artistic practices with the wider community.

“First Nations Voices will perform at Red Poles for the first time thus bringing this wonderful experience into the McLaren Vale region for the first time.

“This platform for First Nations creatives is very important to Red Poles and this focus on Aboriginal arts and culture has been a vital component of Red Poles’ artistic statement for the past 18 years. Red Poles has consistently represented and supported Indigenous communities including Ceduna, Oak Valley, Scotdesco, Maruku, Eastern and Western Desert, Mimli, Indulkana and now Yalata.”

Miller also describes the exhibition as an opportunity for visitors of all ages and nationalities to immerse themselves in First Nations culture.

“The aim is in collaboration with Yalata and First Nations Voices we will have created a space for people of all ages and all nationalities to enjoy and participate in a programme of events that celebrate Aboriginal arts and culture and increase their knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal culture and hear stories intrinsic to the region through varied traditional and contemporary art forms.

“Demonstrations will appeal to adults and children and include storytelling and encourage interaction for a shared learning experience.”

In addition, the Red Poles Festival will feature musical performances that “transcend time and showcase a chronicle of life and

festmag.com

Dane Simpson: In Quotes

Photo: Jacqueline Cooper

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49 Features

Stand-up comic, karaoke host, didgeridoo player, and proud Gamilaraay man Dane Simpson gives his thoughts on big time fame and small town life

I

always love to talk about how I feel about things. In Always Was, Always Will Be... Funny I talk about Australia Day; what I think about it, how I feel about it personally, the reasons that I feel this way. I feel like we can come up with solutions and create a really good option to make everybody happy. What I love is telling silly yarns about my mob and what they’re up to. People who aren’t from a country town, or people who aren’t Aboriginal, or people who are different to me, they can still say: ‘I relate to that’ and I just think that’s so cool. There’s a particular story about my dad walking around in a motel in his undies. There was a bloke laughing too hard in the show in Melbourne and he said ‘the same thing happened to me’.

It doesn’t matter racially – dads are dads – they’re silly idiot people and I find that really funny.

per asked my mum what she thought of it and she said ‘Yeah, they’ve got the same sized head’.

I’m not anybody special when I’m home. I’m just a cousin. There’s no people in Wagga who go ‘Oh wow, you’re from the TV’ and I love it, it’s just so normal. When I’m in Melbourne I’ll ring up a lot of comedians and friends. If you do go to the pub it has to be an organised, planned event – it starts at a time and it ends at a time.

Whereas in Wagga, I live three or four blocks from the pub and I’ll just wander down there and grab a seat, have a laugh, be a bit silly. Dad might ring, he’ll catch the bus and join. It’s just so spur of the moment and silly – it’s just so normal for me.

I talk about being a Blackfella all the time and the flavour of being mob is in my shows because I can’t help it. You joke about who you My dad does this thing I call yarn-topping. He’ll are and what you’re up to, but it’s who I am. try and top your stories. When you have your Tom Gleeson was saying that ‘I don’t underdad and your uncles in the same room, that’s stand how someone who is so Aboriginal can where the gold is. I love a good session with all have a right-wing white man come to his show of my fellas and the cuzzes just spinning yarns and walk out of there laughing.’ I think that’s and being silly. This show is about me, my mob so strange but I love it. I love that people can and who I am. I live in a country town. I love come and have a laugh and enjoy comedy – it going to the pub with my mates or my dad and doesn’t matter who you are, you can relate to spinning a yarn, being silly and if it gets a good it in some silly way and that’s awesome. But I laugh – that’s a good tester. slip stuff in, I want people to learn something.

There’s a mural here of me which is crazy and it’s mind-blowing. It’s so cool to have but my mates would never let me settle into that or brag about it ever. They’d be ‘Alright Mural Boy, calm down’. When they painted it, the newspa-

SHOW VENUE:

Dane Simpson Always Was, Always Will Be...Funny Rhino Room until 2 March

Josh Glanc discusses his comedic odyssey Words: Justin Boden

Photo: Features Marcelle Bradbeer

Stream of Consciousness

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J

osh Glanc has been a familiar face at the Adelaide Fringe since 2016, when he left his career in corporate law to debut his Sacha-Baron Cohen tribute show 99 Schnitzels (But a Veal Ain’t One). Subsequent shows have seen Glanc dabble in lounge-music autobiography (Glance You For Having Me), thrumming original music (Vroom Vroom), and inventive, durable sketch (Kharma Chamedian). This year, Glanc returns with Collections 2024, which promises to be “like nothing he’s done before”.

In particular, Glanc is leaning further into the spontaneity of his craft. “Something I’ve been experimenting with for the last two years is improvised stream-of-consciousness.

I’ve got this sound bank, which was given to me by Abandoman, and I improvise with different sounds. I might have an interaction with an audience member, which might trigger me to play a particular underscore, and then I start monologuing or acting out a character in that underscore, and then there might be a moment in the show where I decide to bring that back. It’s really live, which I think is really great and something I love about comedy.

“It’s about having material but it’s also about creating something from nothing.”

Glanc has also been branching out with songwriting in recent years. “I really enjoy writing original songs. Vroom Vroom was my first foray into that. There’s a song that I wrote which people don’t quite know how to take because it’s not ostensibly funny. It’s just me in costume as a tree, singing a song about being a tree and it’s quite sweet and sombre. I’m

leaning more into songs with this new show.”

Glanc brings Collections from London, where he’s moved for a second time after a first abortive attempt was frustrated by the pandemic. “I first moved at the end of 2019 and basically spent the entire of 2020 locked down in London, in winter, not performing. And I said fuck this and I came back to Australia in February 2021. I was just gigging, having a great time, doing Melbourne Comedy Festival, a bit of touring in Queensland and Tassie, but then we got locked down again in Melbourne.

“I chased lockdowns around the world. Only this year have things become normal again, in terms of being a live performer in the comedy industry.”

But the moves to London have brought lots of opportunities, from an appearance in Paloma Faith’s video for her 2020 single ‘Gold’ to an upcoming Barrbicuue short with Alex Hines

“I chased lockdowns around the world”

Photo: Marcelle Bradbeed

(Juniper Wilde) and Patrick Durnan Silva (Hot Department). “I just continually get pulled over to this part of the world because the work is so good. They love what I do so much and there are just so many opportunities. I’m making something with Channel 4 this year, I can do five nights at the Soho Theatre in a big room and sell it out. And if this is what I want to do with my life, to be a comedian-performer-actor, you’ve got to go where the love and the work is.”

But the Australian festival run has its own draw for Glanc. “That run is a beautiful run.

I’ll have a great time in Perth this month. My season just got extended in Adelaide, so I’ll be there for two weeks in March, just a little bit longer to play with different things in the new show. And it’s not confirmed yet, but it looks like I’ll be doing a full run for the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

“So having just moved to London I’m spending a stupid amount of time in Australia.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

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Josh Glanc: Collections 2024 The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum until 17 March

festmag.com

Hoo’s There Lizzy Hoo on why her new show is like sharing wine with friends Words: Allan Riley

“I

’ll still be going on rides after the show to wind down – I know, crazy!”

Going on show rides might not be the first thing that springs to mind when asked about what comedians do after a show, but for Lizzy Hoo, it’s nothing new.

Hoo mixed comedy and adrenaline in her show Ride Queens with Geraldine Hickey, with the two going on rides immediately after sets.

While that show has not made a return in 2024, this year, Hoo is performing solo for the first time at the Adelaide Fringe, bringing her new standup special, Hoo’s That Girl, to The Howling Owl. It’s the first time Adelaide gets to experience what Hoo calls “60 minutes of just me!”

“I’ll miss my comedy mates side of stage but I’m looking forward to showing Adelaide a little bit more of me. This is my fifth solo show and Adelaide [finally gets to] see one!” she explains.

Hoo’s That Girl is naturally quite different to the insanity that comes from mixing rides with comedy, with Hoo talking about tackling a bigger roller coaster – turning 40.

“I always have some sort of Hoo pun and I love the 2001 [R&B track] by Eve – ‘Who’s That Girl’ and I thought I’d love to walk out to that song. It just so happens to tie in with the theme of the show as well which is a lot about being in my 40s and not being where I thought I’d be,” Hoo says.

“If you told 20-year-old Lizzy she’d be a single comedian when she turned 40 I wouldn’t have believed you. I grew up in Brisbane and went to a Catholic school for 12 years. I thought I’d be married with kids and working in finance.

Life is weird.”

Focusing on life after 40 and the turbulence of a big break-up is a step in a different direction compared to Hoo’s more light-hearted material, so what can we expect from this year’s effort?

“I guess this show is closer to what you’d find me talking about with my girlfriends after a couple of wines. It feels more authentic if I’m honest,” she says.

“I have thought when I’ve been writing this show – ‘Geez Lizzy, there’s a lot of dick and poo in this show!’ I’m just going to go for it and if

“My comedy’s always been relevant to what I’m feeling and that happens to be about a 40-year-old single woman living her best life”

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Between releasing a special on Amazon Prime, becoming a regular on Have You Been Paying Attention and hosting a travel show for Channel 7, Hoo had a bumper 2023, so what’s next for the comedian?

“Oyster farming on the NSW south coast?

You never know!”

She adds: “I’m just going to keep doing comedy. I love the challenge of comedy. I like the people you meet. I’d love to write a TV show or have my own travel show. I got to host a Getaway episode last year and Channel 7’s Escape To... – getting paid to travel and eat is a dream job.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Lizzy Hoo – Hoo’s That Girl?

The Howling Owl until 24 February

Features

Photo: Chris Hillary

people don’t like it I won’t care too much. I’ve always spoken about what’s happening to me at the time.

“My comedy’s always been relevant to what I’m feeling and that happens to be about a 40-year-old single woman living her best life.”

In what has been a traditionally male-dominated industry, Hoo thinks that comedy is now better reflecting just how diverse Australia is. “There are comedians for all interests. You can see whomever you want. If you want more alternative comedy that’s available, if you want to see a white dude do crowd work then go see that,” she says.

“Comedy is like TV streaming – just watch what you want to [watch]. I think it’s up to the audience to decide what they wanna watch as much as it’s the providers’ responsibility.”

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Mel Buttle, Christopher Hall and Jenny Tian discuss comedy in the age of social media Words: Laura Desmond

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“Dad used to go to TAFE on Thursday nights, in rojecting two billion active users by the his absence I was allowed to watch Full Frontal, end of 2024, it’s no surprise TikTok has and it blew my mind. This is where I first got been a digital launchpad for comedians excited about comedy,” she says. worldwide. Even classic stand-up comedians After a brief stint as a “not-all-that-engaged have flocked to the app (and Instagram Reels) high school drama teacher”, Buttle dabbled in – reaching new audiences, honing their jokes, the Melbourne comedy scene at 24. “I did some and exploring new forms of character and open mics and wasn’t the worst person on the short-form comedy.

Christopher Hall, like line-up, what a win,” she many young TikTok susays. “This swell of self-esperstars, started during teem led me to eventually the Covid lockdown in enter the Raw Comedy 2020. “I came from a mucompetition,” in which she sical theatre background reached the national final. so I always thought that More recently, Buttle has making people laugh was taken the online world by Mel Buttle going to be reserved storm with her Aussie to cast-mates, colleagues or friends,” he says. mum character Lyn. “During lockdown, after years of wishing I was Jenny Tian started similarly to Buttle, but brave enough to post comedy content online, went from small time gigs to internet fame in I figured it was now or never to start, plus if just 12 months due to the timing of lockdowns. anyone thought negatively of it, I wouldn’t be “I’m mostly known for my TikTok, Insta and seeing anyone face to face for a while.”

YouTube following which total over 600,000 Conversely, Mel Buttle started in a more fans,” she says. Tian now sells out her live shows traditional stand-up style, piquing her interest across the country and features on national with late night 90s sketch comedy as a kid. television and radio programmes.

“My thumbs are now stronger than my biceps”

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Reels to Reels

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Image: courtesy of Token Jenny Tian

The reach and accessibility of the online sphere has allowed co-creation to flourish between comedians and when you don’t have comedy clubs to mingle in, it’s a refreshing way to support one another. ”The tricky thing is there’s so many creators and only a few events per year so we don’t see each other too frequently,” says Tian.

“It’s really fun to work with like minded, creative people, as that is something I miss from being in theatre casts,” Hall says.

Tian has also related to other content creators through her online platforms. “The online culture is quite supportive because we all understand how hard it is to churn out content, receive hate comments and be at the mercy of ~ the algorithm ~.”

Buttle has had a similarly supportive experience. “As soon as I started making online content, Tanya Hennessy, who’s an online OG, reached out to encourage me,” she states. “I really appreciated her support, as I’m such a fan of her character Tracey.”

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from stand-up style comedy and isn’t without its challenges. “I get to explore niche concepts I couldn’t in stand-up comedy like monolid make-up – that would totally alienate an audience at an RSL,” Tian says.

“I feel it’s an amazing way to keep your creative muscles flexed,” Hall adds. “Not every video has to be perfect, or the funniest, but it keeps my brain active and keeps my inspiration bubbling for longer form or bigger ideas.”

Buttle echoes this statement of quantity: “I’ve learned that volume is more important than perfection,” she says. “Just whack it up.

Have a thought? Film it, put it online. If you don’t like it, you can always take it down. I’ve learned to be less protective about ideas.”

Getting to the point, however, is the key.

“The challenges are of course keeping the audience’s attention span,” says Tian. “If the subject matter isn’t interesting or you haven’t hooked the audience in the first few seconds, they’re gonna give you a big ol’ scroll.”

Hall has faced the same obstacles in his writing. “It can be challenging sometimes to try and keep the comedy concise and getting

the joke and story across in 60 seconds,” he says. “Also, it can sometimes be stressful to try and keep the volume of content high and ideas fresh.”

“The challenge is not watching your phone all day to see how your content’s going,” Buttle says. “I fall into that trap often. The upside though is from all my scrolling, my thumbs are now stronger than my biceps.”

Rather than a double tap or a comment from an online audience, performing live brings a very different type of immediacy and intimacy – it’s obvious (and often awkward) if a joke doesn’t land at a gig. “Stand-up means the jokes have to literally be laugh-out-loud funny,” Tian says. “With [online] sketches, I can make observations and the jokes may not be as strong but the subject matter must be interesting.”

Now that borders are open and touring is once again possible, these artists are planning how to blend their online work with their live stand-up. “I love doing live stand-up so much, long may it continue, and am so excited to be abroad performing for Australian audiences, hopefully more travel is in the future plan,” Hall states.

Mel Buttle

Tian is equally excited to be touring. “This year, I plan to do the Edinburgh Fringe which will be my first time properly touring overseas,” she says.

And what about the comedy scene in general? “I have no idea what the next step in terms of the comedy industry is, probably something to do with TikTok and robots,” says Buttle.

SHOW VENUE: TIME: SHOW VENUE: TIME: SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Mel Buttle – Not Here To Put Socks On Centipedes The Garden of Unearthly Delights until 22 February Christopher Hall: Self Helpless Gluttony until 17 March Jenny Tian – Chinese Australian: A Tale of Internet Fame The Garden of Unearthly Delights until 25 February

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Image: courtesy of Token

Image: courtesy of Sassafras Christoper Hall

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The lounge singer lets us in on her history and the secrets to nailing that audition

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Image: courtesy of Laughing Stock

In Character: Tabitha Booth

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What were you like as a child?

I had an uncanny resemblance to a porcupine doll. In fact, I was mistakenly placed in a Grace Brothers display cabinet before being found by a lovely janitor. I believe that’s where my love for the stage and blue collar men began.

Have you always loved performing in some way or another?

Always. My mother’s midwife said she felt me kick a perfect step-ball-change in utero. The world is a stage for me, and the stage is the world! To me, everyday is the audition and I’m determined to get the call back! Lead roles only, thank you.

Tell us a little bit about how you get into character. What’s your process?

What is a doctor without their stethoscope? A painter without their brush? An actor without their wig? If the eyes are the windows to the soul then the wig is the glass sliding door. Most actors waste precious time learning lines and connecting to their character, but not me. I try not to over complicate it, VBAW* can apply to every character and has never let me down.

What tips would you give someone heading in for an audition?

Use your time in that room! This simply can not be overstated. In an audition you have a limited amount of time to show them what you

can do, so show them! Why waste time doing a two minute contemporary monologue when you could be singing the entire cast album of Le Mis? Why walk in the room when you have the God given capability to salsa? Remember, the script is a guide only, don’t be afraid to go so far off-book even you don’t know what’s happening anymore!

Do you choose your roles or do the roles choose you?

When you are a vessel for the craft you choose to accept all roles. No matter how big, small, or questionable. I live by that.

What insights can we expect from your Adelaide Fringe show this year?

You can expect to find the contents of my heart and soul, my life’s story, my entire being naked and raw on stage ready to scream ‘This is me world! How about it?!’ We will also have a merch table selling novelty pins. *Vaguely British Accent and Wig.

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Frankie McNair - An Intimate Evening with Tabitha Booth The Garden of Unearthly Delights until 17 March

PRESENTED BY HOLDEN STREET THEATRES’ EDINBURGH FRINGE AWARD ‘23 IN ASSOCIATION WITH HOME MANCHESTER AND TIN CAT ENTERTAINMENT

A NEW PLAY BY ED EDWARDS – DIRECTED BY CRESSIDA BROWN

★★★★★ therecs.co.uk

★★★★★ festmag.com

extraordinarily powerful scotgayarts.com

★★★★★

“ANY NATION THAT DEVOURS ANOTHER WILL ONE DAY DEVOUR ITSELF”

13 FEB - 17 MAR

Photo: Elyse Batson

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Photo: Elyse Batson

Family Recipe The seven deadly sins, getting high with grandma, and chatting nice – Courtney Ally Miller and Ben McCarthy lay the table for Sunday Roast Words: Sarah Herrmann

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amily is responsible for a lot of things. Trauma. Ego. Kicks up the bum to sort through your childhood bedroom – which is how Ben McCarthy found a dusty university script of Sunday Roast. Written in 2009 by New Zealand comedian Thomas Sainsbury, the play follows a foster child’s integration with the family Giles, each member plagued with one of seven deadly sins, over a meal that unites them – well, tries to.

“The thing I found really interesting about reading it in 2023 was that all these issues he’s writing about are pretty much the same issues that we have now but they’ve all gotten worse,” says McCarthy.

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McCarthy shares the stage with fellow 16th Street Actors Studio graduate, and Home and Away alum, Courtney Ally Miller. The thought of playing all eight characters wasn’t a deterrent to the pair – it was a catalyst. “I’m certainly used to living in the world of big, crazy characters, and in improv we change characters a lot because you just have to do whatever the show needs,” McCarthy says.

“Courtney is an excellent dramatic actor.

What do they say, ‘Drama is serious but comedy you have to be very serious’? People find her so funny because she knows how to just become a character.”

Ben McCarthy

In her first play Miller portrays three archetypes “turned up to 200%”. There’s overbearing mother Leanne, squabbling daughter Courtney, and wildly sexual granddaughter Tamsin.

Meanwhile McCarthy takes on five – laidback father Phillip, depressive son Anthony, foster child Rupert, squabbling daughter 2.0 Diane, and pretentious son-in-law Francois.

Creative consultant Fabio Motta workshopped how the characters would interact and therefore who’d be assigned who. “[He] gave our bodies ideas around how our weight distribution should be high on our toes, where our hands should be, what part of our body are we speaking with,” Miller says. With a “black box of a stage”, unchanging costuming and two prop chairs, the theatrical style is “all we wanted because the playfulness and the shifting of the characters was enough”.

McCarthy adds: “There are times towards the end where we are literally jumping from spot to spot because all characters are on stage. Otherwise we’re using clever little tricks to go from scene to scene even if it’s just a twirl and then you’re someone else or if you exit and then immediately enter as someone else.

“It escalates very beautifully; it’s two-person scenes and then it becomes three or four and then there are all eight – which is manic... gets us all sweaty.”

But before all that, entering spectators are greeted with a blank canvas. “There’s no

predetermined feeling at all. We have a bit of music but otherwise it’s like anything could happen,” McCarthy says.

“And it does,” Miller adds. “It shocks them.”

Shock like when I asked the duo if their real families have influenced the show. McCarthy recalls a trip to Jamaica where Bob Marley’s grave was the site of his 88-year-old grandmother’s first foray with marijuana. “I bought a joint off this man on the street and the tour guide saw me holding the joint and was like ‘Light it up man, light it up’ because there were candles all around his dead body. And I was like ‘You want me to light it up on the candles?!’ and the guy was like ‘It’s Bob Marley!’” And, well, the whole family got involved.”

While Miller says theatre should elicit surprise, McCarthy says Sunday Roast is “so recognisable” for audiences. Miller says: “[The Giles] try to get on but deep down they’re just too different. They keep trying to force themselves to love each other or to like each other.

Maybe you don’t like each other and that’s OK.” But remember, McCarthy laughs: “once that dinner bell rings, you better sit in your seat, you better enjoy your food and chat nice!”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Sunday Roast Fool’s Paradise until 17 March

Features

Photo: Elyse Batson

“It gets us all sweaty”

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Hot and Steamy

Dive headfirst into the land of gay saunas with playwright Dan Ireland-Reeves Words: Laura Desmond

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n interview room. Under a row of slatted blinds, a faded white couch. The lighting is harsh, almost medical.

A scene perhaps familiar to some. Transactional sexual encounters have been documented since society has been documented – sex work is often colloquially referred to ‘the oldest profession’ – and yet it is still shrouded in mystery and fascination.

Dan Ireland-Reeves offers a glimpse with his new work Sauna Boy. Detailing his yearlong experience working in a gay sauna in London, even Ireland-Reeves wasn’t aware of what he was getting into when he first walked into his interview. “I always thought going into the job that it would make for a really interesting

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play because it’s a world that not many people know much about –it’s a world that I only knew the basics of.

“The place that I worked operated with its own set of rules that were quite outside of what you would expect from a normal workplace.” And in the UK, these saunas are not as few and far between as some people may expect, and not as illegal as one might assume. “As far as saunas go, you have to have a sex-on-premises licence to say people are having sex in this building, but it’s totally legal because no-one is paying for sex, you are paying to use the ‘facilities’.”

This is a far cry from South Australia where, in 2019, a Bill to decriminalise sex work was denied.

Ireland-Reeves was able to see first hand how closing down businesses, such as the sauna he had worked at, impacted the local area.

“Since my place has closed down I’ve heard that sex trafficking has gone up in the area and public cruising has gone through the roof.

These are things you don’t think about – our business created a safe space for sex work.

We worked with the NHS so people could get tested and be safe having sex and be educated. A lot of the people that came to our sauna were ‘straight men’ – they were men who had sex with men, but totally secret from their heteronormative day life.”

first time with this work. “This is a somewhat cathartic experience. I am getting a lot of things off my chest – a lot of my opinions and experiences – and I want to share that and I want people to affirm that back with their own experiences.

“That’s something I love specifically about the gay community – there are so many amazing stories, especially in the older gay community. Older gay guys have the most amazing stories about things they’ve experienced, things they’ve done that were illegal back in the day.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Sauna Boy The Warehouse Theatre until 24 February

Features

Image courtesy of Gavin Roach

But Ireland-Reeve’s work promises to be anything but dry and political. “I’ve tried not to hold back. I don’t want to be shocking for the sake of it, but I want to portray things as openly as they were when I worked there. The things you see are just normal on a daily basis and I share that in a way I would speak with colleagues – as openly as I have seen things.

“I tell the stories really candidly, without getting bogged down in the disgusting minutia of it all. I try to do it no-holds-barred, that’s how I like to tell all stories really – from a place of truth and not just pornographic titillation, but ‘This is what happens, this is how it is’ and this was just the norm.”

There is something beautiful about the connection that’s created when drawing on personal experiences within theatre, something Ireland-Reeves is exploring for the

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In Numbers: Hamlet The melancholy Prince of Denmark arrives at Holden Street Theatres for 15 minute performances. Time to start counting

1: Ghost.

75: Percentage of the play written in verse.

2: The setting of Elsinore Castle is a place where “everything seems double”; doubling is a recurring motif in the play.

242: The run time in minutes of Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 film; the gigantic length is proportional to the thespian’s ego.

3: “Words, words, words.” Scholarly Hamlet’s ‘mad’ reply when asked what he’s been reading.

Try it at your next book group.

341: The number of speeches Hamlet gives, approximately 37% of the play.

4: Hours Hamlet spends walking around depressed in the lobby, according to his girlfriend’s dad.

7: Soliloquies (although “To be, or not to be” may not be a soliloquy at all, if Hamlet is intending to be overheard as part of his revenge plan).

8: Deaths. Not including Hamlet’s dad – he’s already a ghost.

1000: “natural shocks that flesh is heir to”.

1599: The year the play was probably written.

A peak year for Shakespeare who may have written As You Like It, Julius Caesar and Henry V during the same period.

∞: Number of jokes Yorick has at his disposal when he wasn’t a skull in a graveyard. “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him... a fellow of infinite jest.”

20: Scenes.

25: Percentage of the play written in prose.

30: Hamlet’s age.

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SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Hamlet in 15 Minutes Holden Street Theatres until 17 March

A Stab at Truth

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Safari Street Creative’s Spencer Scholz shares the concept behind their latest dark comedy Words: Alana Pahor f all the world’s a stage, all its people are playing the journalist. Citizen content creation is at an all-time high, and it is challenging the very definition of ‘truth’ in the media.

It’s an issue that intrigues Spencer Scholz, who co-founded local theatre company Safari Street Creative with his partner Sam Riley.

Scholz says their latest theatre production, Stabbing The Ghost, is based on the idea of how we define truth in the current media landscape.

“I always wanted to write something about the media and how it works today compared to what it might have been like 50 years ago,” he says.

“Nowadays, we’re all kind of journalists because of our access to social media. [Stabbing The Ghost] is based around the idea of what journalism and media has become to compete with the rise of social media and content creators.”

Scholz points out that newsrooms are shrinking; the once-bustling spaces now

“We’re all kind of journalists because of our access to social media”

Image: courtesy of Safari Street Creative

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more closely resemble ghost towns, with publications cutting staff and relying more on freelance writers.

And, in their constant battle to be heard among the millions of voices on social media, some journalists are prioritising engagement over substance when it comes to making content. “Stabbing The Ghost is really looking at these journalists and content creators who are jaded and more oriented towards the networking side of things… that element of journalism can be all-consuming and pull you [away] from its creative and fulfilling elements.”

The two-person play, acted by Scholz and Riley, features journalist Owen confronting Image: courtesy of Safari Street Creative

ghostwriter Tahlia, who has been brought in to re-write one of Owen’s pieces. “It basically starts a cat and mouse game between the two of them as to why she’s there to rewrite it,” Scholz says.

While there’s no actual ghost in the production there’s plenty of figurative ghost-stabbing to be had. “There’s the more figurative meaning that Tahlia is a ghostwriter and Owen is attacking the ghostwriter, or ‘stabbing the ghost’. But also, it’s the sense that Owen’s writing a piece which is about a surface level issue. He’s creating outrage rather than getting to the solution of the problem… stabbing the ghost is the idea of attacking issues that aren’t necessarily there.”

Social media has indeed turned into a battle of who can shout the loudest and angriest. For Scholz, the masses of ‘outrage culture’ content we consume daily are making us apathetic towards important causes.

“Media [has become] more about consuming the outrage or the issue rather than actually doing something about it,” he says. “How can we navigate solutions when there is so much content, when we see so much of it to the point we become apathetic towards it?”

As for an answer, Scholz wants the audience to decide for themselves how they perceive truth and ethics in the media. “When I write characters, particularly two-handers like this, I like to let them embody different sides of the argument,” he says. “Both characters [disagree about] what we should be keeping private and what we should be putting out into the public realm, in terms of how we perceive truth in the media.

“The audience can pull out different sides of the argument and see where they sit at the end of it, which is the joy of writing shows like this.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

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Stabbing the Ghost Holden Street Theatres until 3 March

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Folk Tales The Folk Foragers violinist Helen Morriss discusses how her show plays an important role in the breaking down of musical barriers Words: Dani Bozoski

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fter graduating with a Bachelor of Music Performance from the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide, violinist Helen Morriss did what many artists do: took a break. It is a perpetual state for many creatives; to seek occupational freedom and then feel confined by the expectations accompanying that freedom. For Morriss, it is an important part of her creation to remind herself and her audience that music is to be enjoyed and participated in, and not seen as a chore.

“I picked up the violin when I was five years old. My parents didn’t think I’d keep going with it but I’m 26 now and going strong. I played all through school, and then I studied it at university. After that I took a little bit of a break from music because I actually found it a little bit intense and I just needed to have a breather from it.

“Then I got back together with some people that I went to the Conservatorium with and we

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all started playing, and it was a magic moment because we all just wanted to enjoy music again. We just wanted to play for people without the pressure of having to get it absolutely, 100 percent right all of the time, which is a pressure instilled in you when you study music at that level.”

Using music to break down traditional barriers is not only a goal of Morriss’, but also of her group The Folk Foragers.

The group comprises Morriss and Nadia Paine on violin, Rachel Hicks on viola and Sally McLoughlin on cello. Together, the four use their traditional instruments to play modern genres and cross musical margins. Their show Dancing Through The Ages bends time and place by journeying through music with their unique folk sound.

The show takes the audience on a chronological ride, exploring genres like traditional European, classical, Western 60s pop, and songs from the present day, with the goal of examining “music from different decades, and see how that music is significant in terms of historical events, and look at the way society has progressed.

“We’re taking our audience on a journey by looking at different life events and looking at how that related to music at the time. Most of the folk music we focus on is European,

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members, and they play what they want to play, audiences are encouraged to listen to what they want to listen to and expand music tastes as diversely as one would the shows watched on Netflix.

“We don’t want to always put ourselves in that concert context where it’s an exclusive experience. Our focus is really on getting our music out there in the community and getting it out in a way that is accessible for everyone to be a part of and enjoy.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Dancing Through The Ages The Jade 2 & 10 Mar

Features

Image: courtesy of Helen Morriss

so in that respect it already has a repertoire prepared, and I think that’s where a lot of our folk tradition comes from.”

The show also encourages the audience to expand their music consumption, using song exploration to showcase the importance of accessibility in art.

“The reason we don’t focus on classical music so much is because it’s a very hierarchical way of playing. That ties in with the folk culture of our music as well. We’re kind of like, ‘Hey, I’m passing the tune to you now. You can play what you want to play,’ and that’s what’s at the centre of the pieces we choose to play.”

Morriss also recognises how this notion applies to those listening to the show – just as the tune is being passed between band

Paying tribute to one of music’s most influential voices, Sarah Louise-Young talks about her evenings without childhood icon Kate Bush Words: Charlotte Whincup

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arah-Louise Young was five years old when British superstar Kate Bush performed her chart-topping debut single ‘Wuthering Heights’ on the BBC’s Top of the Pops in 1978. “I remember dancing around the living room, trying to do the dance moves. And my eldest brother – I’ve got four older brothers – had the poster.

It’s a very famous poster of her in this leotard, showing more nipple than she had realised until she saw her picture on a bus.” She was captivated by Bush’s eyes and beautiful face.

“I’d walk past his door and see her face and hear the music,” she recalls. However, Young wasn’t able to fully appreciate the power of Bush until she was old enough to purchase her own record player. “I feel like the music just

“My experience of Kate Bush fans is they are the most open, friendly, generous, spirited people”

kind of got absorbed into my body… but she’s kind of been the soundtrack to my life.”

She is “almost jealous” of younger fans who are only just discovering Bush’s discography.

“I’d love to go back in time and listen to [The Kick Inside (1978)] for the first time,” Young says. Unlike some fans online who are miffed by her 2022 cultural resurgence, due to the inclusion of ‘Running Up That Hill’ in Season 4 of Netflix’s Stranger Things, Young fervently welcomes the new fanbase. “I haven’t yet encountered that in real-life. My experience of Kate Bush fans is they are the most open, friendly, generous, spirited people. They just get excited that someone else loves her music,” she says.

“Her music is literally saving someone’s life.

It was just such a wonderful fusion of those two things. So for me, I think it can only be a positive thing.”

The idea for An Evening Without Kate Bush, co-created with Russell Lucas, came about in 2014, when they were wrapping up their West End production Julie Madly Deeply, dedicated to actress Julie Andrews. “There was something in the room that was greater than anything we could just perform at an audience.

So that got us interested in the relationship between the fans,” Young explains.

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The two Bush fans’ discussion then shifted to how “most of them have never seen [the musician] live”, as her last concert appearance occurred in 1979. Then, unexpectedly, Bush announced her 22-night residency, Before the Dawn, at the Hammersmith Apollo, causing the duo to halt their plans for a few years. “We were worried that people would think we were being parasitic.”

Regarding the production’s title, Young says, “It’s like she’s always there, because her music’s always there, but she, the artist, isn’t.

And so what is the experience of the fans when the person they love is not physically present? How do they celebrate? How do we pay tribute in our own lives to the music?”

Young believes Bush still resonates with audiences because of her ability to evolve and think deeply about the human condition. “She sang about climate change before people were talking about it. She did a song about a man who falls in love with a computer to the extent that he has lost touch with his family before the internet was invented.”

Finally, what if Bush was there?

“I think it might be too much for [the audience], she’d have to come in such heavy disguise that I don’t think they would be able to focus.” She adds: “I would love to just meet her as an ordinary woman with a profoundly exceptional talent. It would be nice to have a cup of tea with her. Maybe some toast and Marmite and talk about birds or something else because I think that’s who she is. I don’t think she would be comfortable with adoration.”

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SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Cabaret

An Evening Without Kate Bush The Garden of Unearthly Delights until 2 March

festmag.com

Photo: Kieran Humphreys

Best of Three The trio of Bisexual Intellectuals discuss their comedic chaotic cabaret and the importance of joyful bisexual representation Words: Mahala Gainer 78

Cabaret

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he idea of Bisexual Intellectuals began as a joke as the three best friends and professional performers Jemma Allen, Rosie Russell and Millicent Sarre shared their experiences of living as bisexual women.

“It definitely started as a joke,” says Russell.

“A lot of the ideas as seeds that are now songs in the show came from jokes that we just kind of exacerbated until we had full blown musical numbers on them.”

When they first pitched the show, they hoped that others would see the potential they saw in the idea. “At that point most of what we had was conceptual things based on jokes and we had to kind of polish them and present them and be like we think it’s funny and we promise we will take it somewhere if you trust us. Check in in three to four months and it will be funny.”

Once they received a Fringe Festival grant, their silly bond, jokes between friends, and artistic talent led to writing a show covering a broad spectrum from EDM, rap, German, harmonies, choreography and comedy to so much more.

Representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in the media and the arts often focuses on difficulty surrounding a lack of acceptance from others, loss or personal struggles. Sarre, Allen and Russell wanted to create a show that was relatable but represented the pride and joy of being bisexual. They wanted a show where the audience would leave feeling joyful.

“The show is really about queer joy and its place in the canon, representing the fact that there is levity and enjoyment and pride without focusing on queer trauma or historic tragedy within the gay community. It is pretty much all levity… there is a very, very comedic line throughout – even though we do discuss a range of adversities and issues, it’s all done through a very light-hearted tone,” Russell says.

Sarre says the audience should expect chaos, silliness and absurdity along with lots of artistic merit. All three women laugh as they try to explain what to expect from the performance but they all agree that you should prepare yourself to giggle until you cry. They also hope that you’ll leave humming a new favourite

song, namely ‘Lesbian Boyfriend’, which the trio hope enters the “cultural lexicon” to describe bisexual women dating effeminate men.

“We’re three women who are really happy to be bi, really proud to be bi, living good lives and exploring these subjects without any shame" Rosie Russell

The three all share an important and similar sense of humour but each individually brings their own skills and quirks to the show. Allen laughs as she states she “derails the most things” and describes Sarre as “the leader that holds the group together” while her and Russell “run around creating extra chaos”.

Sarre, Allen and Russell hope to see more of this sort of bisexual representation in the media and arts. “I wish there was so much more bisexual representation everywhere like this show. We’re three women who are really happy to be bi, really proud to be bi, living good lives and exploring these subjects without any shame,” Russell notes.

This is unlikely to be the last the audience sees of these silly and energetic performers as Sarre teases potential future collaborations and a possible tour.

“The three of us just work so well together that I have no doubt that this is definitely the first of many future collaborations.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Bisexual Intellectuals Gluttony until 25 Feb

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Amanda Kitchen and Chih-Ling Mei discuss challenging gender stereotypes in circus Words: Laura Desmond

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any roles and disciplines in circus are often divided by gender – men on the base of a human pyramid, or women in the air doing silks and lycra. Amanda Kitchen’s Girl Talk is being developed here in Adelaide and pairs circus apparatus with women’s stories to illustrate gender bias in society. Chih-Ling Mei’s #since1994 stems from her personal experience growing up in a traditional Taiwanese family and analysing how these cultural norms shaped her self-worth and identity.

“As a woman, how can I be myself?"

Chih-Ling Mei

A great difference between the two, however, is the use of sound and vocalised language. In #since1994, there are no speaking voices but a theme of power is carried through the musical score. “In the beginning [of development] the ​​design was more soft and moderate – there was no conflict or showing of female power,” Mei says. The company then found another music designer, a transgender woman. “She can make comments on different sexuality [through her score] and can give female power so we can draw this picture through the music and highlight the female performers on the stage.”

Conversely, Amanda Kitchen has pulled speech and quotes to help highlight her

themes with striking clarity. “I’ve taken text from people like [US Senator] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who said ‘I wasn’t brought up by my parents to be abused by men’. I’ve also sourced quotes from Hannah Gadsby and also from a man that transitioned into a woman and lost their job,” Kitchen explains. “There’s a whole scene that just lists statistics, such as women couldn’t have their own bank account until this age, or if they were married they couldn’t do this or that. That one in three women in their lifetime will be abused.”

Kitchen has also included the voice of a young girl, which is conveyed on stage with a male performer acting as the girl. “We interviewed a little girl about what was important to her and the male is doing her actions with the voiceover,” she says. These voiceovers were key to development from the show’s inception.

“The original idea was to use verbatim to use real stories with circus,” Kitchen says. “They’ve done it a bit more in dance, like Lloyd Newson did it, Kate Champion has done it when she had her company Force Majeure but it’s not really been done in circus so it’s still an experiment.”

Rather than drawing on the experiences of others, Mei has created #since1994 to explore her personal struggles growing up as a female in Taiwan. “In a traditional Asian family, parents will prefer male [children] over women so this makes women more restricted and more limited to do what they want to do,” Mei says.

“At the age of 13, I did not think that I met society’s expectations. I was not as beautiful as

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Ring Leaders

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Photo: How Chen #since1994

my mum or my grandmother which made me think I was different to other women.”

“As a woman, how can I be myself? When I was a teenager I was facing a lot of problems with not liking myself and many other women don’t like themselves,” Mei says. “This is the Asian culture – we need to meet our parents and social expectations. This show is a gate to get out of this structure.”

Collaboration was a key component of the creation of Girl Talk and Kitchen ensured that her performers were well involved in the process. “I had all the text and I sat them down and went through all the different topics,” she says. “We discussed what they thought they liked or what they wanted to work on and so each scene has a different vibe to it.”

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Although #since1994 comes from Mei’s experience, the performers have also influenced her work. “One of our performers is a transgender performer who has identified as female but is now moving towards being gender fluid,” Mei explains. “This made me think about who is a woman? What makes women women? This opened the door for the other performers to think differently.”

SHOW VENUE:

SHOW VENUE:

#Since1994 Fool’s Paradise until 17 March Girl Talk Gluttony until 3 March

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Photo: Jasmine Rule

Art as Therapy Stand-up Sam Kissajukian’s state of mind is state of the art Words: Laura Desmond 84

Visual Arts & Design

85 Features

“D

o you have bipolar?” Sam Kissajukian asks me.

In a second, the interviewee becomes the interviewer.

“I think I probably do?”

And it’s true, although I haven’t been diagnosed. I’ve not been diagnosed with anything, formally. It’s not from lack of trying; but lack of resources, or lack of interest perhaps.

My first major manic episode started in the second half of 2022 and lasted roughly six months. Week after week of excessive drinking, excessive expenditure, running on an average of three hours sleep and for almost the entire period of time, feeling like I was on top of the world. As blurry as the whole episode seems now, I certainly didn’t consider it could be mania while I was in it.

Sam Kissajukian had a much more creatively productive manic episode of a roughly similar length of time. Although, somewhat self-induced. “I decided I wanted to paint my psychology and my subconscious, so, stupidly, I flipped my sleep cycle every day by 12 hours so when I was awake I could dream, and when I was asleep I’d be conscious. I could transcribe my dreams and paint them.”

This triggered a full blown manic episode and for six months, Kissajukian produced painting after painting – on a grand scale and somewhat haphazardly. “I don’t do sketches or anything, I just paint and if I manage to pull it off it’s great. There’s something very intimidating about painting, especially a big blank canvas.”

And this abandonment of fear resulted in 300 paintings in the first 12 months of painting. At his own admission, some great, some not. But always authentic. “I’m not trying to be an artist, I’m just trying to not, not be me – I’m trying to protect that and just be a human being. I think that’s what people resonate with – the humanity in a work.”

For someone who has only recently picked up a paintbrush, Kissajukian has already won awards in Melbourne and Sydney for 300 Paintings, the precursor for the two events at Adelaide Fringe this season. This year’s Adelaide

season we get to enjoy another layer to Kissajukian’s work – a 25x3m LED screen, curved around the artist as he performs his tie-in stand-up act. Images of the art are displayed as they are discussed with a particular type of levity generally reserved for those artists with lived experiences of mental illness.

“I find [creating art] very amusing. I think of it like a lens, you take information in from the outside world through all your senses and it gets processed through your ego, your trauma and everything, the way that you see the world and your psychology, your mind makes a plan and your physical body creates something that is a reflection of your interpretation of the world through your lens.”

Kissajukian doesn’t shy away from his bipolar diagnosis in his visual art or stand-up.

He has come to recognise the impact it has on his understanding of self. “I get these waves and when I’m in a manic mind, my personality

Museum of Modernia

Space Museum

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Photo: David Li

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“Your physical body creates something that is a reflection of your interpretation of the world”

shifts where I can think very quickly – I’m energetic, I’m fun, I’m buoyant, and I know the rules of that personality. When I’m depressed, I know the rules of that personality as well.”

Having distinct ‘personalities’ like this can make emotions and events difficult to process. Just as my manic state remains a blur in my non-manic mind, so too does Kissajukian interact with different memories and feelings as he flows between. “My memories get processed differently because there’s me in the middle, there’s me manic, and there’s me depressed. I have experienced long periods of my life in each of those states so now there’s a disharmony in my personality and I have memories that are associated with each state. It’s really hard for me to process reality because I’m always transitioning between spaces.”

And transitioning between spaces is an important element to the show – bringing verbal and visual to create an idea which communicates to a wider audience. “I think through verbal communication you can point to a truth and through visual communication you can point to a truth but it’s never the truth. I think through pairing the two together you can get more specifically at what that truth might be.”

As someone with anxiety, I understand how avoidance becomes a coping mechanism – ignoring to-do-lists, waving at deadlines as they pass by, or rationally understanding the importance of achieving a task, but being unable to achieve said task. But for those who haven’t experienced mental illness, it may be hard to understand these paralysing and self-destructive feelings.

“I discuss in my stand-up and my art the very intangible state of bipolar and my emotive cycles. How do I pair them in a way that I can specifically talk about the relationship between anxiety and avoidance and how it leads to depressive states? How can I explain to people that don’t have mental illness what a bipolar manic episode feels like?”

As heavy as the content may be, Kissajukian isn’t out to scare his audiences. “The show is about breaking down bipolar but in a really fun way – you could say it was horrible, you also did a lot of fun things.” In many ways, it’s celebrating and poking fun at what can be achieved in spite of a mental illness diagnosis.

And rather than leaving audiences shellshocked from the experience, Kissajukian aims to have his crowds leave empowered and understood.

“I’m an ambassador for SANE Australia and I work very closely with them. I’m talking about very intense experiences of mental illness and I try to make it fun. My show isn’t just talking about these things but talking about how to talk about them. Showing how it’s okay and it can be funny, even though it’s serious, but that we can discuss it and there are resources.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME: SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Paintings of Modernia The Light Room Studio at ILA until 16 March Museum of Modernia The Light Room Studio at ILA until 17 March

Musician and comedian Chris Turner discusses nurturing childhood aspirations, in adults as well as kids Words: Ben Venables

C

hris Turner is chatting over a video call from his studio when an enormous furry interloper purrs across the screen. “This is Colonel,” he says. “He’s a ragamuffin; a mix of ragdoll with Maine coon and English short hair. They’re friendly and doggish. They’re also massive.”

Turner wants to talk about how the music in his new comedy show is connected to the very room he’s speaking in, but the studio is also special to his magnificent cat. “This is one of his favourite rooms because it’s from Covid-times when I was doing virtual shows. It’s a sound-

proof booth. It’s covered in carpet because it’s soundproof. He loves to come in here, climb up the side and get stuck at the top.”

Regrettably, Colonel doesn’t climb the walls today. Instead he’s the soul of discretion, burying his head into the crook of Turner’s elbow for the rest of the call.

It’s been eight years since Turner was in Adelaide. Originally from Manchester, UK, he’s now based in New York. In 2022, he became the first comic to perform a Las Vegas residency with Cirque du Soleil. “America has expanded

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Photo: Michael Scott Evans

Childhood Dreams

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my comedy horizons,” he says. “I was able to do freestyle rap in an environment that appreciated it and understood it.”

As a comedian, Turner is pleasingly hard to categorise. His shows can be thoughtful, silly and musical at the same time. Performing to Fringe audiences, comedy clubs and Vegas draws on all of his skills. “When I’ve done shows in Vegas you have to hit them with the razzle-dazzle. But I’ve also toured in Vegas, to comedy clubs, where it’s more about storytelling. My last show, Vegas Baby, was nominally about being part of Cirque du Soleil while having a newborn baby.”

Fatherhood continues to inspire the two shows he now brings to Adelaide, a musical comedy Childish (in which Turner is joined by a live band) and The Family-Friendly Stand-Up Show. “The jokes in Childish about fatherhood are coming from both sides,” he says. “It’s more about what it is like to be a child and what it is like to have parents. I talk about my dad and about his dad… I’m aware not everyone has a kid but everyone has been a kid.

And our dreams, the things we wanted to be, seems a better way to talk about it.”

There’s recognition, gratitude, in Turner’s voice towards the encouragement his dad gave him when he wanted to pursue music and comedy. “My dad didn’t do what he wanted to do. He worked in a petrol station because his dad owned a petrol station and said ‘I’ve bought a second petrol station. You’re running this petrol station now.’ So my dad left school at 15 to run a petrol station. But he was instrumental, driving me to comedy shows, because he’d say ‘You should become a comedian’.”

“Kids love anti-humour”

Photo: Will DeVito

And it’s the encouragement, not the specific dreams that Turner hopes Childish explores for both adults and children, whatever their hopes or whatever they’ve ended up doing: “It’s not a trite message, to be like ‘follow your dreams’. Because maybe you didn’t follow the path you wanted. I’m saying you can still remember the things that brought you this kind of excitement when you were a kid.”

Turner knows what adults can learn from children. “I’ve done ten years of family-friendly comedy shows. Ten years of crowd work asking kids what they want to be.” He also knows The Family-Friendly Stand-Up Show will have the more discerning crowd. “It’s harder to make kids laugh in a show. It took me a while to learn the type of jokes they want. Kids don’t like cracker jokes. If you ask a kid to tell you a joke it often won’t make sense. They love anti-humour. They’re a tough audience.”

SHOW VENUE: TIME: SHOW VENUE: TIME:

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Childish Gluttony until 17 March The Family-Friendly Stand-Up Show Gluttony until 17 March

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1.

Adelaide College of the Arts

2.

Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE)

3.

Adelaide Festival Centre

4.

Adelaide Town Hall

5.

Art Gallery of South Australia

6.

Bicentennial Conservatory

7.

Dunstan Playhouse

8.

Fool's Paradise

9.

The Garden of Unearthly Delights

10. Gluttony 11. Goodwood Theatre and Studios 12. Her Majesty's Theatre 13. Holden Street Theatres 14. The Howling Owl 15. ILA 16. Mary's Poppin 17. Migration Museum 18. My Lover Cindi 19. Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden 20. Rhino Room 21. Samstag Museum of Art 22. South Australian Museum 23. Tainmuntilla (Park 11) 24. Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute 25. The University of Adelaide 26. The Warehouse Theatre

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Map

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Budget to Boujee Food and drink recommendations for whatever you have in your wallet

Image: courtesy of the Big Easy Group Bandit Pizza and Wine

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Cityguide

Carton Deli 62 Pulteney St Just off of Rundle Mall you’ll find Carton Deli, boasting fresh sandos with influences from Japan to France. If you need a little pick me up, grab a coffee. If the weather’s nice, they’re the perfect treats to take around the corner to the Botanic Gardens for a picnic.

Bandit Pizza and Wine 248 Unley Rd Traditional hand-stretched Neapolitan pizza in the heart of Unley. Make your way south on Monday nights to score $30 bottomless pizzas with a range of vego, vegan and carnivore options to please everyone. If you’re feeling boujee, add a round of oysters to the table, or peruse the incredible wine list including

Italian and French imports and course, Korean fried chicken. a wide range of local natties.

Expect sticky fingers.

Ban Ban Bar & Chicken 145 Franklin St Korean fried chicken has been having a moment for a while, and the OG Franklin Street location of Ban Ban was one of the first of its kind in Adelaide.

There are now four locations across the city and suburbs but the full experience is on Franklin Street. Grab cocktail jugs, soju, Spam fries and of

Icarus Wine Bar 23 Peel St Peel Street is a longstanding hot spot for late night drinks and nibbles and newcomer Icarus Wine Bar fits in beautifully. Grab some small plates with influences from across the Mediterranean for a light dinner, or get into their large plates and sides for a totally satisfying session. Pair

with a classic cocktail or a bottle of vino to round out the experience.

Longplay Bistro 131 Pirie St From the hospo masterminds who gave Adelaide Clever Little Tailor and Pink Moon Saloon comes a decadent yet relaxed dining experience.

The vibes are immaculate with a DJ spinning vinyl through service and some of the most knowledgeable waitstaff to

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Photo: Kelsey Zafiridis Icarus Wine Bar

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Photo: Kelsey Zafiridis

guide you through the food and beverage offerings.

tapas, mains with Basque cheesecake Bibo Bar and Eatery and crema 97 King William St catalana to If you need something light in close. Expect some new between shows or alongside a taste discoveries! glass of wine, Bibo Bar and Eatery have you covered. A focus Allegra Dining Room on local producers ensures L1/125 Gilles St the freshest charcuterie If you’re not a good one for boards highlighting some making decisions, Allegra is incredible South Australian a perfect option. To dine at cheese, olives and smallAllegra is to put full trust in goods. If you need something the chefs – their set menu bigger to get you through the varies daily based on the night, grab some larger share seasonal produce available plates. Choose from pasta, and the only guarantee is that terrine, tacos and arepas. Cre- it is 100% plant-based. The ate your own degustation. intimate 28 seat restaurant is the ideal place to enjoy and Niña Restaurant explore the excitement of 38 Rosina St vegan fare.

Travel to Spain for the night at Niña with a selection of au- Bistro Français thentic tapas dishes including 144A King William Rd patata bravas, chicken pintxo If you’re hunting for classic French cuisine, look no further. and escabeche. If you’ve got time, check out their Ñom Ñom There’s nothing new on this menu, there’s no boundary set menu to cruise through 96

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Icarus Wine Bar

pushing – just high quality dishes including ratatouille, confit duck, escargots and crème brûlée. If you’re having a hard time choosing, their $90 feed me option will have you feeling satisfied in no time.

Restaurant Botanic Plane Tree Dr For a night unlike any other, head to Australia’s Best Restaurant (no, seriously) and indulge in a four hour tasting experience. Restaurant Botanic forage from the Botanic Gardens to fill their plates with over 26 ‘flavour combinations’.

If you’re into your wine, you can go for a paired cellar wine experience featuring Champagne, Premier and Grand Cru Burgundy and limited release bottles from across Australia.

Drinking and Nightlife

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Jamie Alexandra, Adelaide’s professional provocateur and designated (classy) ratbag, tells us the best places to date and where to party

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Photo: Morgan Sette

here’s nothing more enticing than when February comes around and the city catches on fire (it’s also my birthday month, hello Aquarius girl!). This Fringe season is all about sex! It’s about dating, intentional communication, trying new things and making new connections. It is the perfect breeding ground (pardon my pun) for new experiences.

But where do we go?

Proof Wine Bar 9a Anster Street This is hands down my favourite bar. They make incredible cocktails paired with the best gourmet toasties you’ll ever eat. Best staff in this sexy little city.

LOC Bottle Bar 6 Hindmarsh Square I’m a slut for a good natural wine, and LOC is also a great date spot. It’s casual, yet chic.

Drink a few natty wines in the sun before moseying down to see a show in the East End. Good Gilbert 135b Goodwood Road, Goodwood Another die-hard favourite spot for me. They’ve just won best wine bar in Australia with their perfect combination of elegance and casualness.

You’ll automatically be cooler when drinking here.

CUSP

Sanctuary Fringe Venue Helen Mayo Park Consider this your new Fringe party location. It’s located down the Torrens River – a short five minute walk from the CBD. You can buy tickets via the FringeTIX website and it is running every weekend during Fringe!

Sugar Night Club Unit 1/274 Rundle St Adelaide’s coolest club. It’s conveniently located on Rundle Street, smack bang in the hustle and bustle of

Fringe. It’s also a great place to meet hotties.

The Stag Hotel 299 Rundle St I’ve had some of my favourite Fringe nights at the Stag Hotel after 11pm. It honestly pops off. They always book fun performers to do late night slots – you’ll see plenty of drag queens and bands.

100% recommend.

SHOW VENUE:

CUSP by Jamie Alexandra The Jade until 11 March

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The Last Word:

FRANKLY

The cabaret queen drives us to a late lunch between pumps at her local service station

ven the City of Churches can’t keep the devil at bay. Hell exists, and the gates open at 3.30pm inside the West Terrace servo.

It’s busy. But you don’t stress – it was purpose built with five counters. Sike! They’re all staffed by Steve. He’s 42 – 28 when he clocked in – and he will not let you pay for your fuel at the same counter you order coffee. What did you think this was? A convenient pitstop? Get a grip!

Maybe you’d like a delicious Subway roll, prepared for you by (you guessed it) Steve.

For those of you into everything exclusive, icy and designer, there’s a special sauce available at only this time. Steve’s perspiration. Recommend pairing with the teriyaki chicken.

Enjoy your meal in one of the many rigid chairs. These chairs are subject to availability as a local startup harvesting organs operates out of these booths Monday through Thursday.

Please keep this in mind. You can’t taste it.

Everything is Lynx Africa.

They’re here: the hordes of teenagers micro-dosing adulthood by spending their free time doing something arguably unenjoyable.

The sun beats through the window, bounces off a pair of Red Bull-branded Dealers and takes your arm clean off. It would be nice to mourn that, but who’s got time – there’s ham and cheese flavoured peanuts legitimately for sale.

Civilisations have come and gone. Steve’s on a pension. You’ve developed varicose veins.

No one knows how to pay for their fuel.

You try counter three. You pitiful fool. That one’s for selling hotdogs.

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The Last Word

Photo: Alexis Desaulniers-Lea

E

FRANKLY

By the time you escape, your licence has expired. Now you’re on foot, severed arm in tow. Wouldn’t recommend.

Perfectly acceptable servo at other times of the day! Just don’t use the hand soap – smells like ass.

SHOW TIME:

DOOM BOX A CABARET BY FRANKLY My Lover Cindi until 23 February

adelaidefringe.com.au