School Dance by Windmill Theatre

By Caitlin Crowley

The team at Adelaide’s Windmill Theatre have served up one hell of a wild ride in the 70-minute theatrical award-winning production School Dance.

This is the story of three high school nobodies navigating the hell that is the Year 9 school dance. They’re officially losers but each in their own unique way: Jonathon (Jonathon Oxlade ) is a loser in denial, Luke (Luke Smiles) a loser with long hair and Matt (Matthew Whittet) is the worst kind of loser – an invisible one. The cast is rounded out by the hulking school bully Derek Sturgess (Jack Wetere) and Amber McMahon, who shines playing a variety of characters from all-knowing big sister Joanie, to the invisible Danica and the hot girl of every teenage boy’s dreams, Hannah.

There’s a cleverly written voice-over to introduce our characters and their stories. The cast are all gifted physical comedians and there are lots of randy teenage, gross out fart- joke, pick-a-nose sight gags. The narrative is a little slim, Matt’s starting to disappear and his mates have to save him, but the character comedy covers for it. There are moments of genuine pathos when we catch a glimpse of the boys’ home lives but the scenes of the world of invisible teens is a little obtuse and trippy and could do with a tighten up. However the ending is so fun and triumphant that it is impossible to leave the theatre feeling anything other than uplifted and humming Spandau Ballet tunes.

The finely choreographed BMX bike scene is a definite highlight and there’s an orgasm metaphor in there that rivals Meg Ryan’s efforts in When Harry Met Sally.

At a time when adults can’t keep their noses out of young adult novels and teenagers are donning side ponytails and channelling Molly Ringwald, School Dance seems to have driven a DeLorean directly into the zeitgeist. This is a show about 15 year-olds, so I made sure to take one with me, and she loved it.

Part coming-of-age tale, part children’s pantomime and part 80s daggy dance party this mash-up shouldn’t work playing to an audience to of grown-ups in the Arts Centre, but work it does – and so, so well. Take a teen and your dancing shoes for a super silly, fun night out.

School Dance is on at The Arts Centre – Playhouse

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/school-dance

Never Say Always

By Colin Flaherty

A sequel to the 2010 Midsumma show From Arsehole to Breakfast (fear not if you didn’t see it, the characters are easy enough to get acquainted with), Never Say Always sees a group of friends and family coming together for the commitment ceremony (although it’s deemed a marriage by all) between Steve (Daniel Madrigali) and Joe (Francisco Lopez) in Bali.

The Bali setting of this play ensures that humorous situations are plentiful. There is some fun to be had with some racy encounters and lots of scatological references about an unfortunate guest. They play up the comical conflicts and amusing moments of awkwardness, but many scenes appear to be merely excuses for the characters to talk about the upcoming nuptials in various exotic locales.

The cast do a good job at bringing the characters to life with Marcus Ingleby a particular stand out as the bitchy queen Nathan. Some of the actors have difficulty projecting their voices and this isn’t a huge issue in the intimate venue, but if you have hearing problems you would be advised to sit towards the front.

This is another situation of a play advertising itself as comedy but leaning too much towards drama. The script is rather heavy handed in covering the issue of same sex marriage. Although this is the crux of the performance it feels too didactic. There are quite a few humorous lines that get big laughs but on the whole the plot is rather serious. Thumbing its nose at comedic theatrical conventions the play ends on a tragic note. This is possibly keeping the door open for a follow up but it doesn’t leave the audience in a chipper mood.

It’s understandable that writer Warrick Glynn wants to reach a wide audience with his message of equal marriage rights, as opposed to preaching to the choir at Midsumma, but this show doesn’t exactly fit neatly into a Comedy Festival.

Never Say Always is on at Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/never-say-always

Khalad KHALAFALLA – DEVIOUS

By Luke Simmons

It wouldn’t matter whether he was performing to a 50 or 50,000 strong crowd, Khaled exudes the confidence to suggest his saunter on to the stage wouldn’t change one bit. The central theme of the hour long show is race and he uses his Egyptian roots to full effect.

He started off strongly with an educational – and hilarious – analysis of the events which occurred after the Taj Mahal was built. If it was to be remade in today’s age, Khalad’s point made it clear that no-one in the audience would put their hands up to build it!

Throughout the rest of the show, he didn’t veer very far away from the racial theme and used his full artillery of amusing accents for maximum laughs. He could be framed as a Chris Rock-like comic in the way he takes the piss out of the things that he hates about people from the Middle Eastern / African region.

Crowd involvement was a big part of the show as he plucked up conversation with almost every member (see: picked on) of the front row. He thinks very quickly on his feet and it was clear that he could use any sorts of details to destroy his target/s. Khalad is the king of banter.

Prior to closing out, he cut into an impromptu Usher song suggesting that he may be considering diversifying into pop as well. Or not. In any case, the parody song “worked” and it mixed up the show to nicely.
Yes, he’d be in the papers if he was not of Egyptian origin – but it’s just SO damn funny! And as he said, you leave your morals at the door when you see this cheeky man perform.

Without doubt, he’ll be expanding his base of material to ensure he doesn’t get pigeon holed as a “race comic” in the coming years. The guy’s a natural born comic who knows how to control the crowd, make them laugh and keep things running super smoothly. He almost won RAW comedy in 2011 and this performance suggests that we’ll see much more of Khaled on the comedy circuit in the years to come.

Khalad is performing Devious at the Trades Hall
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/devious-khaled-khalafalla

Kitty Flanagan Hello Kitty

By Luke Simmons

Complete with a silver lining backdrop, Kitty Flanagan walked out to rapturous applause from the packed and mostly-female crowd.  And rather than soak it in, she got straight down to business. The Hello Kitty show was a perfect platform for Flanagan to both vent and lament about life in general. In short, she nailed it.

She started by taking aim at the cabaret and burlesque “movement” with them being framed as second rate competitors to the live comedy scene. She made her point crystal clear and shared a number of hilarious personal experiences as both an MC and as a bored audience member. The story regarding the balloon-clad dancer who mistimed the application of her costume drew some of the biggest and loudest laughs on the night.

Flanagan gradually made her way to the key part of the show which has her explaining the dilemmas surrounding bringing a cat into her life. Who said there’s anything weird about 40 year old unmarried women with cats… Kitty does! During this part of the show, she demonstrated that she’s a clever comedian who knows how to milk a joke for all its worth.

Things turned contemporary as she then wove through a piss-taking tirade against lovey-dovey couples, babies, plane rides and today’s misguided youth. Her contention that rap used to be clean and wholesome is somewhat questionable (2 Live Crew were raw in the 80’s!). However, it didn’t get picked up by the smiling crowd.

To close the hour, her sister (Penny Flanagan) came on stage with her guitar and they took the audience through two expertly performed songs. If the year was 2000, she could easily have a hit on her hands with her tribute to noisy imbeciles. As for the song about religion, it was funny and (naughtily) offensive in equal measures!

It was a definite 9/10 performance from a seasoned pro who knows how to command control over the crowd. In terms of the subject content, she had men laughing and women crying throughout. Highly recommended for all!

Kitty Flanagan at the Athenaeum Theatre
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/hello-kitty-flanagan-kitty-flanagan

Don’t Peak at High School

By Caitlin Crowley

In 2012 Fiona Scott-Norman edited a collection of stories from well-known Australians about their experiences at school, Don’t Peak at High School from Bullied to A-List. It’s not only a noble idea but a wonderful read and for this year’s festival Scott-Norman has curated a show around the same theme.

Hares and Hyenas bookshop in Fitzroy has been converted to a smart little venue for the festival season and with comfy chairs, a well stocked bar and charming service one can only hope it becomes a permanent spot for live comedy and theatre.

There’s a rotating cast of comics enrolled in the Don’t Peak class of 2013. Opening night featured a mixed bag of tricks with clear highlights from the ever reliable Nelly Thomas and the wonderful Stella Young. Thomas talked about both being bullied and being the bully and performed a killer rap about a about the chicken Hawaiian pack.  Young touched on political madness gone wrong and on her own experiences at the hands of the “mean girls” from high school. It’s a rare talent who can deliver humour and pathos in such a brief set but Young absolutely nailed it, I was moved from laugh out loud to sucking back the tears in about ten minutes. Imaan Hadchiti delivered a solid performance with some good physical comedy.

When you have four performers to move through in an hour the role of the MC is super important. Unfortunately the MC for the evening, Jacq Tamlyn, was not up to the task on this occasion. Tamlyn’s upbringing and background appear to be packed full of rich material (crazy family, gender identity issues, high school tantrums) but Tamlyn has not been able to craft that material into a successful routine. This show needed an MC to maintain the momentum and move things along quickly but Tamlyn felt the need to perform material in between each act, stretching the show out unnecessarily and forcing it to go over time by 45 minutes. As the final performer, Scott-Norman didn’t stand a chance. Maybe she was concerned with the show running overtime or perhaps she wasn’t on form but her material about her experiences as a lonely teen at boarding school should have packed a lot more punch and the delivery was flat.

I took along a real-life High Schooler (the only one in the audience) and she really enjoyed it. There was a bit of colourful language and some adult themes but nothing she couldn’t handle and the performers interacted with her really warmly. With issues focused squarely on the vulnerable teen years and with a real lack of shows aimed squarely at that market it seemed like a missed opportunity not to promote this as a show for the oft-neglected 13-16 market.

This is a great idea for a show with some talented folk on board; unfortunately based on the performance I saw I can only grade it “Needs improvement.”

Political Asylum – Late Night Riot

By Elice Phillips

Political Asylum is a monthly line-up of great local political comedians. During the Melbourne International Comedy Festival they take up residence in Town Hall for one night only in their annual Late Night Riot.

The late night show played to a packed auditorium and it wasn’t hard to see why. Every single performer on the line-up was fantastic. Political Asylum regulars Aamer Rahman, Stella Young, Toby Halligan, Scott Abbot and John Brooks were all hilarious, covering topics from Abbott and Gillard to compulsory horse-riding classes for the disabled. Mathew Kenneally was an absolute standout among the regular crew. He’s quick-witted, his material is incredibly strong and he did a great job of hosting the show.

Nelly Thomas and Damien Callinan were special guests for the evening. Thomas amused with tales of remaining diplomatic while hosting talkback on Radio National. Callinan brought a touch of theatre to the proceedings, performing a meeting of the Horsham branch of Amnesty International. His characters were spot-on and painfully funny – his portrayal of a truly woeful ‘green poet’ was my highlight of the night.

The extra special surprise guest for the evening was the wonderful Rich Hall. His material wasn’t quite as politically-minded, but the audience absolutely loved him, cheering for him to stay on after his red ‘get off the stage’ light came on. Hall’s droll observations of Australia had people in stitches. His comparison of our coalition government to the store that does shoe repair and key cutting was particularly funny for its strange accuracy.

If Late Night Riot is any indication of the quality of the regular show in Brunswick, it deserves a packed house every month. These guys are serving up some of the most on-point and entertaining political humor around.

The Run for the festival is over but Political Asylum is on at the Brunswick Green the second Sunday of every month.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2013/season/shows/late-night-riot-political-asylum-s

http://www.politicalasylum.com.au/