Feb 14

Fringe Theatre: Post Mortem – Holden Street Theatres – 3K

By Peter Maddern

Post-Mortem is a play about teenage love; it’s promise, it’s tortures and its failures.

Nancy (Essie Barrow) and Alex (playwright Iskandar Sharazuddin) met at a University biology class dissecting a dead pig. From their anatomical failures there they learn new lessons on the topic as their love grows.

When we meet them they are attending, ten years on, the marriage of mutual good friends but even then the scars of their time together a decade before have not healed, the bitterness and misunderstandings are still raw and the questions that arose then still need answers.

The to and fro between the players is mixed with modern dance which both perform with aplomb.

The story itself all seems real enough even if a touch without captivating nuance. The delightful Barrow is perhaps a little too perfect, her manipulation of her crucial decisions as the fault of Alex requiring greater expressions of motive.

If they can be coaxed away from their devices, younger audiences will find this engaging fare without it ever being likely to shake them up.

Kryztoff Rating   3K

Feb 14

Fringe Theatre: Tartuffe – Holden Street Theatres – 3.5K

By Peter Maddern

Moliere’s classic is relocated to a 1940s Scotch living room and remodeled by Liz Lochwood into a rude, rhyming romp. So embedded is the work produced by the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in its setting that sur-titles are required for the less well equipped Antipodean ear.

All the cast revel in their roles; Harry Ward as the gullible Oregon, Andy Clark as the unctuous Tartuffe, Joyce Falconer as the loud Dorine and Nicola Ray as the defiant Elmire.

Squeezed into an hour this show seems a bit truncated; the set up not fully explained, the final twist a little underdeveloped. Still it makes for a fun hour at Holden Street and sustains Martha Lott’s excellent reputation for bringing fine work to our Fringe. The rhyme developed by writer Lochwood is also worth the price of admission.

Kryztoff Rating   3.5K

 

Nov 19

OzAsia Festival – Beirut Electro Parade – 3.5K

by Riccardo Barone

Focused on the Electronic Music scene, the producer Hadi Zeidan inspires the city of Adelaide with a rich selection of DJs and the most modern and contemporary soundscapes. The Nexus Arts Venue becomes ambassador of an unique space where different cultures meet each other; this is a real incentive to socialize, open our minds to a friendly night, surrounded with pleasant drinks, giving everyone the opportunity to transfigure our presence in Beirut’s The Ballroom Blitz, bathing ourselves in the Mediterraneo sensual avant-garde sounds.

The console featured all Lebanese Composers: Josef Junior Sfeir, Renata and Jad Atoui, which we remember his performances with John Zorn and his “Biosonics” project in collaboration with the Scientist Ivan Marazzi.

The Beirut Electronic Parade required a well crowded scenario (packed!) in order to shine at its best, but unfortunately that night was not the case. The dance floor was quite empty, and not because was “too early”.

Kryztoff rating: 3.5k

Nov 03

OzAsia Music – Symbiosis – 4K

By Ben Watson

The night opened with an incredible instrumental performance from Adelaide-based group, Didier Kumalo. For the first hour the 4-piece band showcased their musical prowess, encouraging the audience to move as they played a range of covers and original tracks.

Lead guitarist, Dylan Marshall, amazed the crowd through his impressive soloing. The band had a unique sound, influenced through the sounds of African jazz. The group provided a superb foundation for what was to follow later in the evening.

The latter half of the show saw vocalists DOBBY and Naomi Keyte team up to produce a selection of brand new, original work. The unlikely pair spent the week prior to the performance collaborating, electing to focus on a common passion of theirs: battling climate change.

Proudly indigenous, DOBBY is a talented young rapper, having some of his music featured nationally on Triple J. Naomi Keyte is a local singer with a beautiful voice.

Accompanied by three talented instrumentalists, the duo explored the notion of climate change through song, expressing their views on current environmental related affairs.

This performance was wonderful. A group of musically skilled individuals performed an array of new music preaching a topic they are passionate about. A very enjoyable evening at Nexus Arts.

 

Kryztoff Rating 4K

Nov 01

OZASIA MUSIC – Shik Shak Shok – Nexus Arts – 3K

 

 

 

 

By Belle Dunning

Hadi Zeidan’s ‘Shik Shak Shok’ is an immersion into a different world. As you step into the room, you’re met with dim lighting, cabaret-style tables, pulsating belly dance music and an already-crowded bar. The place was buzzing with people when we arrived, and had a good atmosphere. Although the description of the show had been fairly broad, clearly the concept of a Lebanese belly dance club set in 1980s Beirut had appealed to people.

The music was definitely the highlight – a fantastic blend of Lebanese belly dance and electronic music that captured your attention from the moment you walked in, and provided an energising backdrop for conversation without dominating the room. It was a credit to Zeidan’s work to collect countless Lebanese records from this era over the years. Projections of belly dancing scenes from Arabic films and the carefully curated Lebanese menu (we sampled the Arak Medu cocktail and several plates of hommus) only added to this.

The show had a clear creative vision and delivered on that, successfully capturing a moment in time and transporting the audience there. I did feel it was lacking something though – I think I had come expecting something more, perhaps some live belly dance performance, to really bring the ‘cabaret’ element of the show to life. 

Regardless, it was a unique experience, an enjoyable night out and I’m sure it inspired at least a few people to dig deeper into Lebanese culture and belly dance music!

Kryztoff Rating 3K

Oct 31

Arthur Hardy: The Forgotten Hero Of The Hills – 5K

by Riccardo Barone

Did Adelaide forget one of its most prominent and fundamental figures of the 19th century?
A man, migrated from Yorkshire (England), barrister, business man and maecenas: the Mount Lofty House has reasons to exist thanks to Arthur Hardy, its builder. we could go further listing all the important contributions this man gave to develop the city of Adelaide.
The Star Theatres does the honors of Peter Maddern’s show, directed by Malcolm Harslett with David Cronin, Julie Wilkins and Charles Herkes. The show focuses on the last life’s years of a man that has been worn-out by creditors and tuberculosis, cruel destiny of someone that played the main character for all his life in the Adelaide development scene.
You will love this adorable oldie, who makes time to receive his nephew while denying himself to formal visitors. A clear picture of his life and personality has been told through the dialogues with his nurse and his nephew. Sometimes his memories appear on the scene like a time machine, letting the other characters playing his part becoming orchestrator of the past. A past which is hard to forget, suddenly confused with reality inhabited with phantasms of love, a love that has already physically but not psychologically left his daily life boosted with drinks furtively and quickly sipped out of his nurse’s sight.
His nephew plays an important role in his life: the heir to the throne maybe? He is a young law student, finely dressed, by polite ways, which gives the old grandpa a reason to be pride of, turning on a light of hope into his tired heart that all has not been done for nothing.

Kryztoff rating: 5k

Oct 28

OZ ASIA 2019 – Totes Adorbs Hurricane – Nexus – 4.5K

Ohh Mr Hart!

By Peter Maddern

I can still recall as vividly as any show I’ve seen this year when Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker came to Adelaide for Oz Asia three years ago. Well, they’re back with undiminished energy,  colour and mess.  Clearly the Cleaning Union  at the Festival Theatre weren’t so impressed and so this year’s iteration is at Nexus but nothing is lost for the audience for that.

Still going long after the audience has left

Young Japanese performers  dressed as  taxi drivers, American footballers or nurses rush at you screaming and delighting in equal measure as water, confetti and tofu  spread out over the audience.  There’s dancing, prancing and little bare-chested nudity but between the chaos an order seeps through like water through your poncho up onto your bottom – gradually but you notice it.

It’s loud, very loud and its all very great fun. Indeed, it’s as much enjoyment one can have at the theatre without getting naked.

Kryztoff Rating   4.5K

Oct 26

OzAsia Theatre – Cuckoo – Jaha Koo – 4K

By Ben Watson

 

 

A beautifully vivid portrayal of the lifelong challenges tackled by South Korean born artist, Jaha Koo. Alongside his three Cuckoo-branded rice cookers (but otherwise a one-man show), Koo discusses the hardships faced by an entire generation of South Koreans following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The production commences with the first rice cooker completing the cooking cycle. As steam escapes, the gentle aroma of cooked rice permeates the air, progressively grabbing the audience’s attention as the scent diffuses throughout the theatre.

The topic of suicide is a recurring theme throughout the performance, including intimate stories containing close friends, a brave tribute to his lost loved ones. As a multi-talented creative, Koo additionally provides a collection of self-composed music alongside his storytelling.

The rice cooker is employed as an extended metaphor for Koo’s generational problems faced as a young South Korean. Cuckoo rice cookers are common place among households in South Korea, known for their pressure cooking methods. Koo compares the people of his generation as individual grains of rice, hard and resilient until put under too much heat and pressure. The fluffed rice is personified as the South Korean youth, financially burdened by the actions of the South Korean government and their decision to accept undesirable IMF bailout conditions over 20 years ago.

A majority of the show’s spoken word was in Korean, proficiently accompanied by English subtitles overlaying the gripping visuals. As Koo engages in dialogue with two of his technologically advanced Cuckoo kitchen appliances, footage of violent South Korean protests and historically relevant political events are displayed.

Overall, the performance is engaging to all senses: mesmerising visuals, an original score and a unique interpretation of the economic consequences resulting from South Korea’s solution to the 1997 financial crisis.

As the show contains morbid themes of suicide, recommended to all mature audiences.   

Kryztoff Rating 4K

Oct 23

OZASIA DANCE – What the Day Owes to the Night – Dunstan Playhouse – 4.5K

 

 

 

 

 

By Belle Dunning

Compagnie Hervé Koubi’s Australian premiere of ‘What the Day Owes to the Night’ is a mesmerising, high-energy exploration of culture, movement and human connection.

Koubi’s 12 male dancers deliver a unique blend of movement influenced by western and eastern styles of dance, including contemporary dance, ballet, acrobatics, capoeira and Sufi whirling. The subtle strength and ease of movement, and the intensity and pace of the performance across the whole hour, is astounding. It’s a sort of organised chaos. Added to this is a beautifully simple costume, and a music score which artfully interweaves Arabic, classical and electronic music. It’s truly beautiful to watch.

What the Day Owes to the Night is undoubtedly a very masculine and strong performance, by virtue of its cast and the elements of warrior culture and martial arts that infiltrate it, but it’s not at all aggressive. By contrast, a sense of calm cooperation prevails, as the dancers’ bodies weave around one another in complex movement patterns made possible through subtle communication and, clearly, hours of practice. And there are moments of complete vulnerability, softness and quiet that juxtapose beautifully against the rest of the performance. This struck me as something truly unique. Rarely in the western world do we see masculinity portrayed in this way.

I also found it interesting to observe the exploration of the individual versus the collective through this performance. Although all of the dancers are dressed the same and are often completing the same movements, perhaps because of this, you notice the individual differences in their bodies. The beautiful diversity of the human form. And yet, in their differences, they are also the same. Capable of the same strength, vulnerability and human connection. And each of them plays a vital role in a complex performance that wouldn’t otherwise be possible without their collective cooperation.

In Adelaide for only two nights, you have one more opportunity to see this truly unique and standout dance performance as part of the 2019 OzAsia Festival.

Kryztoff Rating 4.5K

Oct 21

OZASIA THEATRE – £¥€$ (LIES) – Space Theatre – 4K

 

 

 

 

 

By Belle Dunning

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to run a bank? To be responsible for unfathomably large sums of money, to influence the unseen financial market, to take risks on a global scale?

£¥€$ (LIES) gives you that chance. Together with the other people on your table, you get to run your own economy, which is part of a global market created by the other tables in the room. You’re not given any rules before you start, and your fate lies in the decisions you make, for better or worse. 

It’s all about trust, and how far you’re willing to go.

As you progress through the allotted time, you may find that the novelty of investing imaginary money, a misplaced confidence that everything is going well, slowly develops into a sense of unease. Who is really in control?

Ontroerend Goed delivers an absolutely unique and engaging theatre experience in this year’s OzAsia Festival, that will leave you questioning the foundations of the global economy. The inherent risk and fragility of a system that begins to take on a life of its own.

Kryztoff Rating 4K