i’ve seen another amazing fringe show. Having a good season so far.
Candy Bowers in Who’s that Chik? (“A hip hop tale of a brown girl with big dreams”)..
Neon Toast opens in darkness.. but i won’t tell you why. Let’s just say the lighting arrives unexpectedly.
There are plenty of surprises in this delightful piece from Brunswick trio Eleanor Riley, Kerrily Aitchison and Rachael Dyson-McGregor.
A series of diverse dance pieces touching on life in a bakery, urban dating, the thrill of the chase. Such a beautiful sense of nostalgia in some of the scenes. Although there’s no time setting, it feels like the past, with jazz from the twenties and a bath before dinner. Gorgeous humour in the words and movement. Sifting flour through socks as all three women move so gracefully.
i really enjoyed this show.
Anytime Place has a strong record for astounding performance.. and Neon Toast builds on that tradition.
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Links:
First Chorus is part of the Melbourne fringe festival, this time featuring in
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Plus, from the Victoria hotel event in August:
The choir i’ve been singing with had our big big night.. seven original songs by the songwriters in the choir. Songs in genres including folk, pop, jazz, operatic and gothic-epic, the arrangements all worked by Virginia Bott the amaazing musical director.
i wish i could put up the video right now, but it’ll take ages to be ready. i’ve heard the bootleg recording came out well.
The first show was electric and intense.. while the second was more sedate, laidback, and somehow harder work. Probably because we were already exhausted. As Lou said, it was as though we had a whole season, from opening to closing night .. in the same evening.
The Victoria Hotel has really picked up its game, reshaping into a kitschie Melbourne style classic. Upside-down lampshades hanging from the ceiling.. which any self-respecting Melbourne bar must have.. since the Night Cat started the tradition back in ooh 1990-something.
Really great to be involved in such a dynamic and powerful performance, eh!
Lovely people.
“You are invited to join Sanctum Theatre and Fenestra Productions in celebrating the 233rd anniversary of Adam Smith’s seminal work, Wealth of Nations as part of this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. The ship may be sinking, the ‘invisible hand’ might have lost its grip on the invisible wheel, but there is an alternative. For two weekends in September Sanctum and Fenestra break away from the globular economic system to realise Smith’s ideal of a true and unfettered market on a small patch of turf in Brunswick – ‘Wall Street on Barkly’.”
Lachlan read us the Business Age yesterday, because the economical journalists there had noticed the number 233 in connection with Adam Smith. They suspect theatrical shenanigans. They would be correct: here comes the Nut Economy. The roller coaster of free trade.
Here are some photos from the previous incarnation back in May ’09
Oh and here’s the official publicity line: ‘Merchants of mania, hawkers of hubris, snake oil salesmen and peddlers of useless pendants’ peddle their wares in the Wealth of Nations market place. Do you have anything to offer? Come up with a product and a pitch, fill in a Trader’s Application form, get in for free and earn your peanuts to buy drinks for the evening. Get your Trader’s Application form from Sanctum Theatre.
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS!!
Each night will feature a different band and guest performer. Bands include:
Wed 8 Oct — Don’t cut my fringe straight please .. was totally intriguing and mostly enjoyable. 12 artists playing live to air over 2 hours was a very ambitious idea for the Dance Cadaverous lady (Sophie B) .. and it was well worth the mad pins and needles you get from sitting on a hard floor and twisting in five different directions.
Bum Creek set a really good tone for the night. They are utterly weird, yet strangely good fun. Noises and growling merge with instrumental random-ness to produce a nice kind of bizarre. Kind of like Bad Taste by Peter Jackson. Horror music.
At the end of their set they switched over by pulling the jack out of the amp .. and the next guy plugged in. Some artists i could have listened to for much longer, while others were unbearable at the two minute mark.
Most fascinating instrument of the night went to the guy who’d built a box out of metal springs and coils. There’s no way i could describe either his action or the sound that emerged .. it was entertaining.
Pikelet i love. Great loops, driving rhythms .. endlessly creative. Qua brought people to life with some dancey beats.
It was fun watching the host attempting to give each band their two minute warning .. most artists were fully absorbed in the experience, so she would have to creep up quietly and make a play for eye contact. Everything went smoothly.
Until the final segment, where everyone jammed together. This was ugly .. and got the most walk-outs. Intriguing, entertaining, but just noisy. i stayed out the distance, to test my endurance.
PS: Qua and Pikelet are playing with Mountains in the Sky, 8th November at the Corner. gray is playing with Qua, plus it’s my birthday – who wants to come along? (now here’s a test to see if anyone’s reading ;-]
What a great fringe festival! i’ve only been to three or four events but i’m sure i chose the best ones:
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!
