Lost in Translation@ the Rhino Room

Review by the Lonely Archaeologist.

Lost in Translation at the Rhino Room of the Adelaide Fringe, 2024.

The Rhino Room is home to some of the best comedy to be found in Adelaide and this Fringe Festival it was host to the aptly named show Lost in Translation. The premise of which involves taking an infamous, cult film script, chewing it through an online translator…a lot and then read the results live on stage, actors in character in under an hour – with the kicker that guest stars read the scripts on stage for the first time. I went to see the Twilight edition on 29th February (as I’m an expert in vampires due to a misspent academic youth.)

I personally wondered how an idea as shambolic as this would make a good showing and was expecting a good time but something chaotic without any narrative coherence compared the the original story of Bella and Edward, but the team at Braw Media have proved my instincts as a reviewer entirely wrong. It’s hard to compare it to a lot of other comedy styles given it is so unique and a product of the internet age.

The sheer fun of occasion included the the improv actors they have recruited for these performances bouncing off each other in addition to the goodwill of the audience participating in the artistic process, but the subversive critique of the popular culture and the young adult genre in general, made this night memorable for all the wrong and right reasons. This is one both for those who love certain films line by precious line to those who enjoy a broader sparkling vampire movie parody.

Baby got fang, 3.5 stars!

Remaining shows of Lost in Translation at the Rhino Room at the Adelaide Fringe Festival includes:

Wed 6 Mar: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Thurs 7 Mar: Pirates of the Caribbean
Fri 8 Mar: Titanic
Sat 9 Mar: Twilight
Sun 10 Mar: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Tues 12 Mar: Jurassic Park
Wed 13 Mar: Chicken Run
Thurs 14 Mar: Back to the Future
Fri 15 Mar: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Sat 16 Mar: LOTR: The Two Towers

Tickets can be bought at:

(https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/lost-in-translation-af2024)

The Lost in Translation podcast can be subscribed to on a variety of platforms at (https://lostintranslation.com.au/subscribe/)

Decadence and Debauchery@ Nineteen Ten

Review by the Lonely Archaeologist

ACTs finest burlesque performancers in Decadence and Debauchery by Jazida Productions

For those of us who live and breathe the Adelaide Fringe as the festive season of our year, there is a point when we hit the peak Fringe experience. This is me peak Fringe: I have fringed as much as a lady can just half way over middle of the festival. Last weekend, I failed at flyering outside in the East End, I killed it as comedy front of house in the West End. I went to Nineteen Ten for the third night in a row for a burlesque show. I caught the dodgy night bus home. There’s a guy sleeping on the roof of his car out the front of my house and people camping in both my backyard and kitchen. My blisters have grown blisters. I have lost my voice. I am exhausted.

But I have so many friends in the Fringe ecosystem that I will go see their productions and appearances as that supportive friend known “for being loud in the front row.” By the time I went to see Jazida Productions show, Decadence and Debauchery, I was very much over the idea of being out late and seeing yet another burlesque show. When you’ve seen some fabulous tits and arse in the superb roof top bar the two days prior, you think “Do I need a third day of jiggly sparkly goodness?” I’m here to tell you, why, yes, you do!

I have to say that the good dynamics provided by these consummate performers actually cut through my fatigue & ennui and actually raised the roof off in energising the room. The show is a variety entertainment format so you get everything from old world class, to cheeky comedy burlesque in a martini glass to sexy Bollywood burlesque—something I’ve never seen before. (I was there to see the divine Carmel Calvin serenade the audience about desire and devouring…) The audience loved every act and were very supportive of each other and the performers as we were invited to participate in games. What I will state that, as a bit of a burlesque enthusiast, is that there was a universally high technical skill of in every one of these entirely original performances. They made fan dancing look effortless as group, the costumes were dazzling as the dancers and that they were giving it their all and then some more at 11pm at night. I want to say thanks to these starlets for making my night memorable and getting me through the midway point of the Adelaide Fringe.

They shook my tail feathers! These birds of paradise get 4 stars!

Decadence and Debauchery is showing at Nineteen Ten for performances from 14th-17th March 2024 at the Adelaide Fringe.

(https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/decadence-and-debauchery-af2024)

Ollie Horn: Comedy for Toxic People (and their friends) @ the Austral.

Reviewed by the Lonely Archaeologist.

Ollie Horn’s Comedy for Toxic People (and their friends)

They say never work with children or animals, I might add Ollie Horn to that list. Ollie is a seasoned veteran comic hailing from the United Kingdom who has blessed crowds at the Adelaide Fringe with his unique blend of comedy, unhealthy relationships and audience harassment. Ollie truly has established a toxic atmosphere where his fast humour and sly, nasty wit thrives. If you like to heckle at stand up comics, do I have the show for you!

This show has been described by another comedian as Ollie being a horndog who is trying to get pussy for an hour that you paid for and from my experience, that’s a fair assessment of this show. Ollie manages to incite the audience into participating in the show through his unique blend of self victimisation as a bachelor looking for love, breast inspections, insulting crowd goers and his swaggering, swinging hips to the strains of Rush by Troye Sivane.

It’s a wee bit nippy in here, 5 stars.

Ollie Horn: Comedy for Toxic People (and their friends) is at the Austral during the Adelaide Fringe from 1st-16th March 2024.

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/ollie-horn-comedy-for-toxic-people-and-their-friends-af2024

Disclaimer: I promised Ollie a 5 star review for showing me both his nipples during the premiere show. This sexual harassment has nothing to do with the fact he actually gave a 5 star show. Just saying folks.

Jeromaia Detto: MUSH @ the Bally, Gluttony

By the Lonely Archaeologist.

Jeromaia Detto, clown maestro presenting Mush at 2024 Adelaide Fringe Festival.

One of the magical aspects of being in the city during the Adelaide Fringe is that you are presented with a feast of entertaining choices from local and international artists to see. And just sometimes you come upon a jewel of a show through sheer serendipity. I came upon Jeromaia Detto flyering away on my way to a different show that afternoon and decided on a whim to see Mush. And whimsical it turned out to be! Detto is a multi award nominated comedian and recently received a weekly award from the Adelaide Fringe through his marvellous blend of clowning, theatre games and improv.

The show is an hour of imagination and delightful play for adults who still love to indulge their inner child at in the Bally in Gluttony. The performance is an immersive experience and relies on crowd participation, Detto had a great rapport with the audience, drawing even the most the reluctant of theatregoers into the fun the night I saw his show. It really is a sublime hour of meaningless fun that still manages to feed the soul something nourishing and satisfying.

Upon swift wings, 5 stars.

Mush can be seen at 9th March 2024 at Gluttony.

(https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/jeromaia-detto-mush-af2024)

10000 Views and Nothing to Lose at the Piglet (Gluttony).

By the Lonely Archaeologist.

Stella Kappos and Jackson Grant have nothing to lose at the Adelaide Fringe.

Fringe festivals hold a special place in my heart as a reviewer because of how year after year, you get to watch the rising stars grow in their talent, finesse and creativity in the unpredictable stew of arts a fringe festival is. The joy of 10 000 Views is that it really is experimental and absurd comedy that is fresh and exciting with room to grow in all the right directions in the future.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the world premiere at Gluttony (on 20th February 2024) but it was time well spent supporting local Adelaide comedians, Stella Kappos and Jackson Grant. The hour is a pleasant buzz of feel good humour and I enjoyed the contrasting styles of Jackson’s story telling ramble compared to Stella’s quirky, spitfire randomness.

The performance split their 45 minutes show into two sets, the delightful journey of Grant railing against modern technology as someone Gen Y and the sublime Stella who exists in a slightly different reality removed from the one I inhabit in the multiverse. These two show that a comedian living by their wits, with just a sense humour and a microphone can indeed compete with the big tent productions at the Adelaide Fringe.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain (through voyeurism), 4 stars.

10000 Views and Nothing to Lose runs 20th February to 8th March 2024 @ Gluttony.

(https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/10000-views-and-nothing-to-lose-af2024)

Dr Vien MD: Florida’s #1 Surgeon/Comedian @ Stamford Plaza.

By the Lonely Archaelogist.

Dr Vien at the Stamford Lounge on 17th February 2024 (picture kindly supplied by the artist.)

They say laughter is the best medicine and they’d be right when talking about Florida’s leading Ear, Nose and Throat doctor by day, comedian by night, the legendary Dr Vien. Dr Vien’s bedside manner is part relatable self deprecating humour and part a dry sparkling wit. This is a relevant dialogue in a world where the social barriers are more fluid and dynamic than ever as we all become something slash something else. Where people are searching for meaning and purpose, Dr Vien is honest, thoughtful and funny.

A theme of this Fringe’s comedy seems to be the exploration of identity and it was an oddly satisfying form of people watching as we learned about Laotian culture through the migrant eyes of the child Dr Vien in America, the battle of a career in medicine and Dr Vien’s saintly wife. Dr Vien claims that life has broken him but the difference between a cure and a poison is simply in the substance dose and Dr Vien is a tonic for the soul in any measure.

I watch too much Grey’s Anatomy, 4 stars!

Dr Vien MD: Florida’s #1 Surgeon/Comedian is showing at the Executive lounge at Stamford Plaza Adelaide from 21st-25th February 2024

(https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/dr-vien-md-florida-s-1-surgeon-comedian-af2024)

Brendan Goh: People Like Us by at Dramalama (Rhino Room)

Brendan Goh seen at the world premiere of People Like Us (16th February 2024)

Review by the Lonely Archaeologist.

Fringe festivals occupy a special place in the artistic and creative tree of life where they are a proving ground for new talent and rising stars to catch a big break. I am happy to say that Brendan Goh is one of the brightest, young, multicultural comedic voices in Australia with his deft storytelling and comedy.

People Like Us took us on the journey of Goh as an outsider in his own country (as “a non-government approved queer” in Malaysia) and balancing that against the traditional expectations of his Chinese ancestry. It lent itself to a raw authenticity that showed itself in the narrative of what it means to find self love when your identity challenges the status quo, even when that status quo is the rainbow dazzling Other.

There is a vulnerable quality to Brendan’s storytelling that is refreshing because it is not over produced and over delivered as some stand up comedy can be. I’ve learned a lot about queer culture through the subversive wit of Goh and I look forward to seeing where he goes from here.

Oops, I did it again, 4.5 stars.

People Like Us runs 20th and 21st February 2024 at the Adelaide Fringe:

[https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/brendan-goh-people-like-us-af2024]

Alchemy of the Muse @ The Garage International Adelaide Town Hall

By the Lonely Archaeologist.

‘Alchemy of the Muse’ is an invitation to visit the temple of the divine feminine, an understanding of ancient mythology through the locus of Middle Eastern dance told by eight extraordinary women. I am the daughter of a dancer who feels the magical threads of rhythm, beat and feet in her soul. I have inherited the fascination with the dreamland of light, the frisson of music, the sweep of lush costumes and technical expertise in movement that a golden performance can weave into a truly transcendent state of being. Alchemy of the Muse is all that and more.

I found ‘Alchemy of the Muse’ to be a truly creative and enchanting endeavour (by the Divine Elements Belly Dance Company and Bellydance Arabesque) at the best kept secret venue in the city, the Garage International, tucked right behind the imposing Adelaide town hall. From the very first dance, I felt in the poetry and storytelling at the very core of my existence. This is a place where the mythology of the Otherworldly comes alive with poetry, humour, tragedy and ferocity.

Fringe festivals are that wonderful liminal space where inspiration roams free of established artistic elites and is chased by creative experiences that risk it all. ‘Alchemy of the Muse’ may seem like a humble dance performance in the Adelaide Fringe, but it was a rich and colourful tapestry of old stories interlaced into a ballet that told the tales of the Greek goddesses. This show is for those who love the old lore and for those who live and breathe dance though there is a broader appeal for those who just enjoy a good performance.

Modern bellydance is an artistic form that is charged with feminine energy & an empowered artistic space. It is said belly dance grew from the Ancient Greek and Middle Eastern traditions that celebrated women and their bodies; there was a large presence from the Adelaide belly dance community which was particularly heartening and impressive to see the local support the artists have gathered.

Those are some twinkling toes, 5 stars.

Alchemy of the Muse is showing 2nd and 16th March 2024.

(https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/alchemy-of-the-muse-af2024)

ImproCity and Chronically Ill Prepared at Prompt Creative Centre.

Chronically Ill-Prepared premiering at the Adelaide Fringe in 2024.

Adelaide improv comedy legends, ImproCity, (known from their successful Fringe shows, Galactic Trek and House of the Bogan) hosts a monthly improv cabaret event for improv artists, theatre geeks and the curious at Prompt Creative Centre. Full disclosure before things begin, I am that feared and respected being, the front of house for Improcity and so perhaps I’m biased. Yet since this is a feature about improvised theatre and not a review, please make your own mind up if this is something you might like try out for yourself.

Improvised theatre is a deliciously murky and chaotic genre to review because by its very nature, the art form is unpredictable and relies heavily on the relationship of players ability to connect & riff off each other and the individual actor’s knowledge of the genre they are acting in. The ImproCity cabaret event is a mixture of indulging in theatre games and then hosting special guests who are working with raw long form material for proof of concept art in the second half.

Last night (9th February 2024), we held the monthly games and the following experimental theatre recital (and social occasion) for ImproCity. The theatre games are a combination of the short form improvised drama you played in high school combined with the sense of humour you developed as you survived to adulthood. Steve Brady, the host and founder of ImproCity, aims to create a safe space for players, but as it is a spontaneous act of creativity among strangers, sometimes things can get weird and definitely politically incorrect at times, so having a sense of humour if not a thick skin certainly helps.

It’s hard because you are just sometimes really sensitive about something and someone will single it out as if they have zeroed in on your vulnerability to make fun of. For example, I am missing one of my front teeth and last time, a complete stranger pointed it out, I was hard pressed not to offer him the experience of giving him a matching gappy smile. I’ve found that I’m definitely more confident since starting improvised theatre because it relies on quick thinking and team work along with getting comfortable being up on stage — with a supportive audience at Prompt. The improvised exercises are a great way to build on transferable skills for the workplace, they’re not just silly games for a Friday night!

The second half of the event is the cabaret where local improv and sketch comedy shows are invited to get their raw material on a stage and workshop it on stage in front of a crowd. I cannot emphasise how useful this is to a cast and crew of a show in gauging how material is working from audience reactions — as actors we tend to play for laughs, an easy way to see if what we are doing gets a good reaction.

Last night, the guest cabaret spot was filled with Chronically Ill-Prepared, directed by up and coming improv maestro, Kate Gallagher. The improvised theatre show is a Fringe fund recipient and is played from the perspective of those bringing their lived experience of disability and chronic illness to the stage. I love that this has becoming something of a conversation in the art of the Fringe performances I’ve been lucky enough to preview.

The real test of a successful improvised performance is that can it still be relatable and interesting when the unscripted takes a turn towards drama rather than comedy? The answer last night was yes, that the actors in Chronically Ill-Prepared were able to deliver a compelling piece of theatre that was somber yet touching. Everything fell together in some admirable team work with every piece of the production falling into place from the concept, the acting and with the lighting & sound production values (which is also an improvised soundtrack!)

For those interested in trying out improvised theatre, in addition to the monthly cabaret at ImproCity, there are classes offered by On The Fly improv (https://www.ontheflyimpro.com). Chronically Ill-Prepared runs for the Adelaide Fringe during 18th-21st February 2024 at Prompt Creative and is rated M.

Feature by Clara Santilli, The Lonely Archaeologist, 10/02/2024. (Disclaimer: I received no remuneration or benefits in writing this feature from lmproCity, Chronically Ill Prepared or On The Fly!)

Fringe Friends -a very friendly Fringe Preview Show at Prompt Creative Centre.

Very friendly fringe friends (left to right):
Jacob Jackman, Libby & Matt, Nona Mona and Bill Egan.

I had the pleasure of attending a fringe preview at the Prompt Creative Centre tonight. The event was entitled “Fringe Friends- a very friendly Fringe preview” featuring the comedic talent of Jacob Jackman (Mr Comedy) , Libby & Matt (Fashionably Late), Nona Mona (My First Pearl Necklace) and Bill Egan (Self Help Yourself with Bill Egan.)

I had someone ask me the extremely sensible question of what is a Fringe show preview. Think of it as an artistic crash test where the comics take some time out to work out some of kinks in their material in front of a crowd before they originate a show. As just an audience member (the reviewer hat was off), it was great to let my hair down and just immerse myself in the laughter and good vibes of my fellow crowd mates. We were a merry bunch indeed!

I think part of this is the Prompt Creative atmosphere that talented comic goddess and best selling author, Libby Trainor Parker (Endo Days), cultivates at her venue. It is an accessible and extremely inclusive environment. The drinks are limited by the size of the venue but Libby is a creative mixologist with some truly random soft drinks in addition to the cola.

The night was launched by Libby and Matt helping us to find “our flame mate” which now has me watching Escaping From Twin Flames on Netflix as I write this. Also it reminded me of that time I joined a cult sect in my teen years. I also got to enjoy my flame mate in Libby with the rap song, “Sick Bitch” about her chronic illness. I am truly grateful that people are creating art around disability and making it something okay to talk about.

Local comic legend, Jacob Jackman, was next on stage and showed why he was the recipient of a fringe grant by keeping cool under pressure. I really enjoy his character work and his ability to go with the ebbs and flows of where a performance journey goes. Yet he stays cool and witty. He is a master of the art of stand-up and genuinely I’m looking forward to seeing Mr Comedy.

Nona Mona is a phenomenal talent and her comedic range and character work are second to none with her moving effortlessly between satire, to black humour to the risqué in the space of half an hour. She can change the mood of a room with the drop of a helmet or a tissue. I will be eagerly waiting to see her show, My First Pearl Necklace.

The final artist, Bill Egan, is one of my favourite local comics in the Adelaide scene. He has a sly wit and has mastered the art of self help therapy speak while telling absurd stories in a very playful, loquacious manner. He isn’t afraid to mix it up between the light and dark side of comedy, after all the incongruity between tragedy and comedy is who is doing the suffering! I definitely intend to see Self Help Yourself.

Clara Santilli (The Lonely Archaeologist), 04/02/2024