Reviews

Villains: A Dizney in Drag Fantasy

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024. The Hairy Godmothers. The Moa at Gluttony, Rymill Park, Adelaide. Feb 27 to Mar 16, 2024

Villains: A Dizney in Drag Fantasy is the Schmigadoon of the Disney franchise. Though I should point out, this production is not connected with Disney Films in any way. The songs sound like the Disney songs we love, but the lyrics bear no relationship whatsoever.

CUSP

Presented by Small Flock. Adelaide Fringe: The Jade. 3 – 11 March 2024

The husky vocals of Jamie Alexandra wisp around the double bass player standing in the centre of the room, and this qualified sexologist promises to ignite conversations and cultivate a safe space for positive sexuality. We’re told this will be the education we should have already had.

A Girl

Presented by C J Productions and Rek Kieron. Adelaide Fringe: Star Theatres. 1 – 5 March 2024

A young Indian woman marries, enjoys her life as part of a loving couple, until there is pressure from her mother-in-law, and then her husband, to conform to the expectations of the ‘family’. It’s a shocking story – in part because it’s inspired by events happening right now – told in a series of vignettes. Three generations of women show how the patriarchal culture is still ingrained, and how short-sighted it is not to realise its inevitable outcomes.

Dark Side of St. Peters

Presented by Oily Rag Theatre. Adelaide Fringe: Streets of St. Peters. 27 February – 16 March 2024

Following sold out seasons walking the streets of Kensington, Bowden, and Parkside, this year’s street theatre from Oily Rag Theatre is in the lush suburb of St. Peters. Its wide streets and big houses give some clue to their age from the early developments of the Adelaide eastern suburbs, but it is through the stories from Milly and Tilly that we get a richer knowledge of the history of the area’s buildings and their inhabitants.

Milked

By Simon Longman. The 9th Floor Productions. Fortyfivedownstairs. 28 February – 10 March 2024

In rural Herefordshire, the landscape is beautiful, but it won’t provide you with a job, let alone a future.  That’s the prospect that faces twenty-somethings Paul (William McKenna) and his mate Snowy (Laurence Boxhall) in this blackly comic, poignant, sometimes absurd, almost surreal play that is about many things but centrally a friendship. 

Brooklyn Rider - The 4 Elements

Perth Festival. Perth Concert Hall. 1 March 2024

The Brooklyn Rider string quartet was set to perform in Australia a few years ago, but travel restrictions meant their first Australian performance of their collection called The 4 Elements had to wait until this year.

This week, modern classical music fans must have felt they were in New York (where the quartet formed nearly 20 years ago), Berlin, Paris, or London, being able to see curated musical pieces evoking Air, Water, Fire and Earth, performed live on stage.

Leather Lungs: Shut Up and Sing

Ben Anderson Presents. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024. The Lark at Gluttony, Rymill Park, Adelaide. Feb 27 to Mar 17, 2024

The average male singing voice spans just over two octaves, but Jason Chasland has no average voice. At four octaves Jason, or ‘Leather Lungs’,  joins the renowned company of Mariah Carey and Dimash Qudaibergen (who has 7 octaves), and proceeds to tear up the stage of The Lark!

Yentl

By Gary Abrahams, Elise Esther Hearst, and Galit Klas, based on the short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Presented by Kadimah Yiddish Theatre. Directed by Gary Abrahams. Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank, Vic. 29 February - 17 March 2024.

This is a visually stunning, inspiring, and witty stage adaptation of this iconic story. The separation of sex, body and mind underpins the dialogue, action, and the staging. The set design has a haunting chiaroscuro, quasi-German expressionist effect. The smoke-filled backgrounds combined with the stony natural environment in the foreground create a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

Trail’s End

Presented by Jannali Jones. Adelaide Fringe: Marion Cultural Centre & Goodwood Theatre and Studios. 16 February - 3 March 2024

Brothers Sam and Jamie are out in the bush, on a walking trip to a waterfall, where they’ll honour their late mother. Jamie has brought his GPS, his guitar – he can’t go a week without practising – and a bag of M&Ms. Sam is much more prepared but carries a secret in his backpack.

Dry Land

By Ruby Rae Spiegel. Presented by flatpack. Theatre Works, Explosives Factory, Inkerman Street, St Kilda. 28 February – 9 March 2024

Ruby Rae Spiegel’s Dry Land (2014) is the story of a friendship – a turbulent, difficult, advance-then-retreat, accept-then-reject, insult-then-beg, needy, cruel-then-kind, touching but shocking, and very hard-earned friendship. 

Amy (Luce Wirthensohn) and Ester (Cassidy Dunn) are in their final year at a Florida high school, and in the swim team.  In the pool, it’s simple and safe, there are rules, you train hard, you swim in a straight line, and the aim is to win. On dry land, things are not so clear.  

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