What a great fringe festival! i’ve only been to three or four events but i’m sure i chose the best ones:

• Deceased Estate by Roundangle
• Don’t Cut my Fringe Straight at 3RRR
• the fully enjoyable dance-athon 6000 from the Town Bikes and known associates ..

oh the Town Bikes .. how ever did the world manage without them, way back in the 20th century?? That’s right, we had the Butt Funky troupe of mischief-makers. Along with their buddies .. the magical dj marieke, the hot slush puppies and more, they roused the crowd into a wet and wild state of krumpy frenzy. Yum.

( What’s this video .. a Town Bikes showreel? They are fun. i love them. )

Deceased Estate was insanely wonderful. Many old stories from the history of an East Brunswick house. Blindfolded sessions, of course, down the side of the house. Shadow theatre, hot milo and monsters in the backyard, a neighbourly dinner party in the front yard with the original family back in 1946.

Harry pours scotch for the gents and tells us he’s delighted that Chifley’s at the helm. The 1940’s couple freeze, as we flash forward to a teenager climbing out the window and listening to Joy Division on her walkman.

.. the live event at 3RRR was a thoroughly weird adventure. Pikelet and Qua were on the bill, so i’d thought it would be fun. Bum Creek started off the action with their bizarre journey into sound .. and the night looked promising. One guy had invented an instrument made out of old coils and springs .. he was hilarious and i wish i’d gotten a photograph.

Ah Melbourne – joy and delight and wonderful weirdness at every turn!

i am a huge fan of Roundangle theatre .. the multi-sensory works of Will and Jodie. eg Source/Sauce which was so good that it won many awards.

So it was a buzz to be drawn into their blindfolded conga line at hi vibes.

“Hey Will, how are you?” i said.
“Do you want to join our conga line?” he replied, “.. just put on this blindfold.”

The experience was pretty much my highlight of the day. Several people blindfolded, walking through that enormous crowd, joined only at the shoulders. Will sent directions from the back via hand-on-shoulder touch: stop, go, left or right. Crowds swarmed around us, murmuring and shouting ..

How could i resist booking a ticket for closing night of the play, Deceased Estate .. this saturday.

Here’s Jodie talking about the Source/Sauce experience.