RAW: Fringe
“And the Little One Said”
Feb 28th
In her show, “And the Little One Said” Jess Love delivers a playful and convincing solo performance, filled with acrobatics, humour and more than one outrageous surprise for the audience!
Something a little out of the ordinary, this show is good for shock value, and with only a few props, but more than enough kookiness, Jess manages to single handedly capture the audience’s attention with her inventive theatrics.
Underpinned by an effective choice of lighting and music, this show is refreshingly well organized and prepped, contributing to a great atmosphere throughout.
Emma Hack’s Exotic & Native Mandala With Broadhurst Delights – Festival Theatre Foyer
Feb 28th
Internationally recognised multi-media artist, Emma Hack, displays a full array of her works over recent years in a captivating exhibition. Using body art as the starting point, she has created three unique photographic styles, the Broadhurst wall paper approach – models camouflaged with flora and holding fauna – the Mandala designs and panoramic bodies in the outback where her muses are painted up to give great effect to the landscape.
With each of the interior wallpapers taking between 8 and 14 hours to work up, these images are testament to her patience, determination and vision. The desert photos come from a five day trip from the Gawler Ranges to Ceduna with both models and Cirkidz acrobats. One can only imagine the trepidation for these extras as they set off and the demands they would encounter from Hack and the elements.
These are great works often inpsiring complete amazement and creating a sense of respect for the effort involved. A must see.
Kryztoff Rating 5K
Frock On – Heron Kirkmoe – Miss Gladys
Feb 28th
The front window of Miss Gladys in Rundle St is the setting for a mixed media presentation of dresses and accesories. Interesting moments exist with ‘Catch of the Day’ the most fascinating – a black dress covered in vintage newspaper clippings from the 1970s.
Kryztoff Rating 2.5K
Into The Fringe – Gary Cockburn – Cibo – Rundle St
Feb 28th
Gary Cockburn’s images from the 2009 Fringe are worthy of not only a visit but a far greater presentation. From 15,000 photos, here are about 20 that capture all sorts of moments – rehearsals, the prop room, audience reactions, getting the lighting right, even an actual performance. The images are beautifully shot, capturing decisive moments in colour with wonderful use of light and emotion. With such a massive project set for himself the temptation must have been strong to just find something interesting, snap and move on to the next event. Not so for Cockburn, as these are carefully thought out across a range of venues and styles. One can only hope the Fringe itself will look to acquire many of these images as a faithful record of its 2009 festival and present widely. Enjoy the Cibo coffee while viewing.
Kryztoff Rating 5K
Ferris Wheels & Fairy Floss – Cassie Flanagan and John Willanski – Exeter Hotel
Feb 28th
This 2 part exhibition is images of the travelling show ground – Cassie Flanagan’s colourful photos and John Willanski’s computer generated silhouettes and ink drawings. The former are dominated by images of a cowboy and fairy floss hat, the best of which is ‘Watching the Acrobats’. The latter are highlighted by white on black on white figures of ‘The Jester’, ‘the Acrobats’ and the ‘Trumpet Player’. Not the best.
Kryztoff Rating 2K
RAW: The Sapphires
Feb 28th
The Sapphires is Australia’s theatrical answer to the American film Dreamgirls.
Set in the late 60s, four indigineous sisters, Gail, Kay, Cynthia and Julie, with powerful, soulful voices embark on a tour in Vietnam, entertaining the troops. Predictably, there are a number of love interests, references to drugs, racism and the War.
Sure the plot is thin at times, and the nods to complex issues, like racial tension, the Vietnam War, lack real substance, but that’s not what The Sapphires is all about. It’s all about fun. It’s a great crowd-pleaser.
Christine Anu, Casey Donovan, Kylie Farmer and Hollie Andrew sparkle as The Sapphires – their soulful vocals fill the Scott Theatre. Hear those fantastic vocalists sing motown classics, including Aretha’s R-E-S-P-E-C-T and I Heard It Through The Grapevine and much, much more.
As part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, shimmy on down to the Scott Theatre.
Kryztoff Rating: 4K
>> Check out more interviews, videos, feature articles and polished previews in our latest Fringe Guide, http://www.kryztoff.com/fringe
RAW: The Servant of Two Masters
Feb 27th
The Servant of Two Masters presented by the Adelaide University Fringe Club is a slightly confusing but nevertheless entertaining story. Showing at the Armoury Lawns behind the Adelaide Museum, the talented cast rely on voice projection to enable the audience to hear. It was at times difficult to hear what each character was saying, therefore, making it a little hard to follow what was happening in the plot. With entertaining pauses, audience acknowledgments and a great enthusiastic cast, the play had the audience laughing the majority of the way through. Shown in a beautiful location, the cast made use of the Museum’s stairs and balcony to add an element of surprise. Although a little long, the soap opera come comedy had me laughing and smiling.
Kryztoff Rating: 2.5K
>> Check out moe interviews, videos, feature articles and polished previews in our latest Fringe Guide, http://www.kryztoff.com/fringe
RAW: Sam Simmons- Fail
Feb 27th
Sam Simmons is an oddball.
Original, nostalgic and random are words that describe his fringe show Fail. The show jumps around with Sam dancing one minute and reading a story from a Heinmann Atlas the next.
The show is slightly autobiographical and fans of Simmons will be able to recognise his ‘where did that come from?!’ humour. However, those not familiar with Sam’s work on Triple J and ABC may become a little confused.
The show features one very attractive cabbage, vintage slides and lists of things Sam has failed at. Audiences are even able to leave the show with ideas on how to cure boredom, such as inner mind quiz shows and one very special game titled ‘carpet or floor.’ If you find Sam Simmons’ other work hilarious, then you’ll love this hour long show.
Kryztoff Rating: 4K
>> Check out more interviews, videos, feature articles and polished previews in our latest Fringe Guide, http://www.kryztoff.com/fringe
RAW: I Need Your Love
Feb 27th
Contemporary dancers from The Melbourne Dance Theatre performed a lovely piece at the hot Fringe venue Arcade Lane. The dancers conveyed all things associated with love: loneliness, sadness, vulnerability, beauty, abuse, violence and passion.
The versatility and flexibility of the troupe of 9 ensures that these messages are resoundingly clear, even to the uninitiated. Also expect beautiful balance poses and some spectacular dives to some world music – not a single English word.
Lighting cues were occasionally slightly amiss. The audio was sometimes mingled with sounds from outside the Theatre and occasionally distorted. However, the dancers drew the focus away from these shortcomings rather successfully.
Only on until Sunday 28th February, the troupe from the Melbourne Dance Theatre are well worth checking out.
Kryztoff Rating: 3.5K
>> Check out more interviews, videos, feature articles and polished previews in our latest Fringe Guide, http://www.kryztoff.com/fringe