Melbourne Fringe Festival – Page 8

5 good reasons to see Just Us Girls – wHat’s a giRL?

1) It is ridiculously hilarious absolutely ridiculously funnier sillier greater more wonderful more liberating more freeing silly smart satirical contemporary dancing because I want to a love letter to feminists raising the bar in terms of celebrating female confidence and queerness breaking all the rules ridiculous darling!

2) Takes the absolute piss out of white male dominated industries and individuals, sexism, rape culture, and narcissism with a PUNK-I-DON’T-EVEN-CARE-WHATEVER attitude, as a revolt against white cis gendered men who try to put us in their place. We revolt with a smile not with anger.

3) Is an all female and non binary driven narrative.

4) Written by a graduate of the 2018 Master in Writing for Performance at the VCA, and was commissioned to be written earlier in the year (2019).

5) Will make you question what you are doing as an individual in terms of equality/inclusivity NOW and the future of equality

Just Us Girls – wHat’s a giRL? by Ellen Grimshaw is on at Trades Hall from Sept 21 – 29

https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/just-us-girls/

5 Good Reasons to see Kieran Bullock Builds IKEA Furniture and Talks To The Audience

1. Schadenfreude (the German word for taking joy in the misery in others)
Let’s be honest- your initial reaction is why on earth would you go and watch this show? But also, you know you kind of want to. Building IKEA furniture is a notorious enterprise at the best of times. But watching someone else stumble their way through the process? That could be a disaster. That could be very entertaining. What’s the Swedish word for schadenfreude?

2. You might get a free piece of furniture.
Kieran is 33 years old – he lives in the fully-furnished house. What’s he going to do with all that furniture? He’s building pieces for some friends, but that’s not every night. The rest of it might just go to a good home – maybe yours??

3. You might see a Guinness World Record set on Grand Final Eve.
Currently under consideration by Guinness, Kieran is planning to (officially or not) set a world record for the fastest to build the iconic BILLY bookcase. You know the BILLY? You’ve almost certainly lived in a house with one. The date for this ludicrous venture is Friday September 27th, which is the Grand Final Eve public holiday. A massive day off work with parades, world records, and football! UP THE (insert your team here)!!!

4. You won’t be disappointed.
Often your level of enjoyment is determined by the expectations you brings to the show. Where do you set the bar? What’s it about, and what should I expect? Questions like that. This show will, at the very least, meet your expectations. Kieran Bullock will build IKEA furniture and talk to you, the audience. EXPECTATIONS MET. But what else will happen? Could be literally anything. Could be fifty minutes of pure flat-pack carnage. Could be worth tuning in for.

5. It was good enough for Timeout, and the Fringe Festival launch party. But it could still be a disaster!
This show was listed on Timeout’s Top Picks of the Fringe list – what do they know that we don’t? Nothing! They just looked at the concept and liked it. So did Melbourne Fringe, who invited Kieran on stage to build a piece of furniture at the Fringe program launch party. With no talking, just building, Kieran assembled his first piece of IKEA furniture in a decade – the TYSIL bedside table. And it took an HOUR AND A HALF! His Fringe show is fifty minutes long. It could be disaster. But, just quietly, that might be the best bit!

Kieran Bullock Builds IKEA Furniture and Talks To The Audience at Trades Hall Sept 21 – 29

https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/kieran-bullock-builds-ikea-furniture-on-stage-and-talks-to-the-audience/

5 good reasons to see Tuck Shop Ladies – All Rhyme, No Reason

1. It’s not on Netflix… yet

2. You’ll probably get to sit next to someone really good looking (we often have really good looking people at our shows, you just might be one of them?)

3. You’ll get some stellar conversational talking points, like “Have you ever seen a baby pigeon? Or What makes you feel awkward?”

4. Otherwise, you might just be sleeping

5. You could win a prize (prizes not included).

Tuck Shop Ladies (Sam Lohs and Rosie Burgess) perform All Rhyme, No Reason at The Butterfly Club Sept 12 & 13 at 10pm

https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/tuck-shop-ladies-all-rhyme-no-reason/

5 Good Reasons to See Sweet & Sour Dilemmas by Brendan Wan

1. You’ll be surprised by the ending.

2. It’s not your typical migrant story.

3. Despite being an immigrant story, this show has universal appeal.

4. I’ll be teaching you how to make dumplings and you’ll learn the secrets of Sweet and Sour Pork.

5. It’s at 9:45pm at The Fringe Hub, so you can make a night of it and stay after seeing other great shows.

Brendan Wan performs Sweet & Sour Dilemmas at Trades Hall 12 – 20 Sept

https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/sweet-sour-dilemmas/

Melbourne Fringe Awards 2018

I hope everyone had a wonderful Melbourne Fringe this year. The best thing about Fringe is discovering performers who are being daring and brilliant. It’s always fun to pop into the Fringe Club too and discover a performer or show on stage who you may have overlooked in print.

Our congratulations to all the Award Winners and especially to comedy legend Bob Franklin. A jaw dropping show that had me crying with laughter.

I’m not listing all the Winners here, just the ones that may interest our niche readers. Though if you are especially keen on furniture (or any of the wide range of Fringe Arts), check out the website.

Best in Category Awards

Best Cabaret
Creatures of the Deep
Jude Perl: I Have A Face

Best Circus
Casting Off

Best Comedy
Bob Franklin – Yours Sincerely
Squirrel Review: https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=13209

Special Awards

Melbourne Fringe Living Legend Award
Susie Dee (actress, Director)

You may have seen Susie in Winners & Losers, Bad Eggs, Funky Squad or my favourite Australian short film Bonza
For more information on Suzie and a list of previous recipients,
please see here.

Venue of the Year
The Melba

Best Emerging Artist
Supported by Quealy Winemakers
Lou Wall’s Drag Race

People’s Choice Award

Baby Bi Bi Bi

Touring Awards

The QLD Tour Ready Award
Supported by Brisbane Comedy Festival
10 Things I Hate About Taming of the Shrew

The Summerhall Award
Supported by Summerhall, Edinburgh
My Best Dead Friend

The WA Tour Ready Award
Supported by FRINGE WORLD Festival
Cam Venn – Charles Horse Lays an Egg
Squirrel Review: https://www.squirrelcomedy.com/?p=12659

Artist Development Awards

Best Emerging Performance Ensemble
Supported by Theatre Network Australia
DOG SHOW

Best Emerging Producer
Supported by MILKE
Tom Backhaus – Dazza and Keif Go Viral

Queer Development and Mentorship Award
Supported by Midsumma Festival
Erin Pattison, Samantha Andrew & Annabel Larcombe – Baby Bi Bi Bi

For for the full list of Award Winners go to the Melbourne Fringe Website :
https://melbournefringe.com.au/festival-info/melbourne-fringe-awards/

Risk Taker – Tracey Mole

By Hooi Khaw

Tracey Mole debuts her show Risk Taker to a friendly audience with a comfortable ratio of friends and family, to punters. There is always the potential that these type of anecdotal shows by young, inexperienced performers will rely too heavily on the crutches of familiarity and in-jokes directed towards the audience members with the affiliation, but the few personal digs in the show are well crafted and easy to enjoy as a punter.

The structure of this show loosely relates to “Risk Taking”, in the framework of Mole’s personal stories. The story telling is extremely engaging, and Mole sprinkles in genuine moments of vulnerability amongst the jokes, the combination of which her crowd laps up. Her ability to make the stranger details from her life funny and amusing is a credit to this up-and-coming comedian.

Her comedy is wonderfully wry; at times absurd, at times bitter sweet. Mole takes the audience down the rabbit holes of her imagination, making humorous comments on these weird realities that she creates.

As a whole piece, it would have been satisfying if the show was tied together more thematically, however, this debut show should be applauded. It is the result of an incredible effort by Mole, whose sense of self and sense of comedy seem well defined and stage ready. In this show, her meta comments about not knowing how to use the mike stand, and not wrapping up the show smoothly come off as charming, and help to build the character. The jokes are well structured and delivered, and with further progress in execution, Mole could become a truly brilliant comedian.

Risk Taker was on at Errol’s & Co.
https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/risk-taker/