The Magic Chicken; puppetry and physical comedy family theatre review

 Barnie Duncan and Trygve Wakenshaw star in the stage production The Magic Chicken. Image: Theatre Beating.

Comic Chefs by Linh

Award-winning New Zealand theatre company Theatre Beating has re-worked, re-designed and revived their original stage production The Magic Chicken for their Australian tour. The Magic Chicken was created in 2004 and toured New Zealand for a few years, receiving rave reviews. In 2014 during the school holidays, The Magic Chicken is in Australia to delight, surprise and entertain audiences from ages seven to a hundred and seven.

Barnie Duncan with Ethel the magic chicken (Oliver Smart) and her golden egg in the stage production The Magic Chicken. Image: Theatre Beating.

The Magic Chicken combines diverse styles of comedy from theatre and silent cinema; including slapstick, pantomime, puppetry and magic, with musical accompaniment by John Bell and Jeff Henderson which accentuates and compliments the actors’ gestures and emotions. This family theatre production has only a few words spoken during the entire play and is reminiscent of the physical comedy and humour of silent films featuring Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Barnie Duncan and Trygve Wakenshaw as the two chefs Toot and Collins with Ethel the chicken (Oliver Smart) in the stage production The Magic Chicken. Image: Theatre Beating.

In the play, two hapless and bungling chefs named Toot (Trygve Wakenshaw) and Collins (Barnie Duncan) are failing to attract customers, until a magic chicken who lays golden eggs, enters their cafe. Her name is Ethel (puppeteer Oliver Smart) and she is escaping the Evil Eric (Kai Smythe) who follows her into the café. Evil Eric fails to find Ethel and he leaves, but Ethel makes her way into the kitchen while Toot and Collins are busy preparing meals. The pair decide to adopt Ethel after growing fond of her, but a short time later, Evil Eric returns to have a meal. Hilarity ensues when the chefs attempt to save Ethel from Evil Eric as they fumble around in the kitchen, juggling pots and pans, tossing pizza dough and flour, sliding on and leaping under tables or diving in and out the oven.

Puppeteer extraordinaire Oliver Smart gives Ethel a hand backstage for the stage production The Magic Chicken. Image: Instagram.

Under the direction of Geoff Pinfield, this fifty-minute stage production is packed with visual gags, slow-motion action scenes, Drew McMillan’s magnificent score is wonderfully performed by John Bell and Jeff Henderson and the cast also give excellent performances. Trygve (pronounced Trig-vee) Wakenshaw and Barnie Duncan deftly handle all the physical comedy and their characters’ calamitous situations with aplomb; Kai Smythe is superb as the gruff and Neanderthal-like chicken-catcher Evil Eric; Ethel the chicken is endearing and plucky courtesy of the skilled hands and imagination of puppeteer Oliver Smart.

 

Kai Smythe backstage as Evil Eric for Adelaide's stage production The Magic Chicken. Image: Facebook.

The Magic Chicken is a gastro-nomic rib-tickling and laughter-inducing treat for everyone who enjoys comedy served up with brilliant comic timing and a dash of audience participation.

*Tour Details:

Where:

Adelaide season at the Dunstan Playhouse

When:

Tuesday 22 to Sunday 27 April 2014.

Two performances each day at 10am and 1pm.

Tickets:

Adults $25, Concession $22, Children $20.

Where:

Sydney season at the Sydney Opera House

When:

Wednesday 9 July to Sunday 13 July 2014.

Two performances each day at 11am and 1:30pm.

Tickets: 

Standard $30, Insiders (Sydney Opera House membership) $24.

*All tour dates and ticket prices are correct at the time of publishing.

2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival review; Peter Helliar’s World of Balls (preview)

Peter Helliar's World of Balls bounces into the 2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Image: Roger Cummins.


Ballsy Banter by Linh

Peter Helliar’s comedy show at last year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival, The Dreamboat Tour, dealt with personal topics and family matters. This year, Helliar returns with more things that stir up passion, frustration, and laughter – sport. It would be familiar territory for Helliar, as he recently completed a season of the sports-based comedy television quiz show The Trophy Room for ABC1, which received strong support from viewers. Peter Helliar’s World of Balls allows him to combine two of his loves in life, sport and comedy. Australians love their sport and Peter Helliar’s World of Balls is guaranteed to attract attention, even without the help of Helliar’s alter-ego Bryan ‘Strauchanie’ Strauchan.

Everything about Peter Helliar’s World of Balls is sporty, from the music playing while the audience streams into the venue (Pat Benatar’s All Fired Up and Chariots of Fire by Vangelis), to Helliar’s energetic and funny delivery of sports stars and their follies. Helliar kicks goals from start to finish in this show and keeps the audience enthralled with hilarious observations of past and present sporting scandals, controversies, triumphs and tragedies. There is no need to be an armchair expert on sport as Helliar provides quick explanations behind the stories and finds the humour embedded in the seriousness of some of the incidents. From gender and racial issues to politics, Helliar covers the extent of how sport can just as easily divide a nation as it can unite its people.

Helliar muses about the sporting dreams and devastation of Australian champions such as hurdler Sally Pearson, super-swimmer Geoff Huegill, rugby league’s John Hopoate, and freestyle skier Jacqui Cooper. Not all the sports mentioned in Helliar’s comedy show involves balls on the court/field/stadium or between men’s legs. Sometimes the balls represent an athlete’s courage/battle against the odds (he/she’s got balls), or figuratively represents a fantastic and exciting experience (we had a ball). Whichever way it’s interpreted, there is no doubt Peter Helliar’s World of Balls will leave you in stitches, particularly as he amusingly evokes the passion shared among many around the world who love their sport. Helliar carries the entire hour of stand up comedy with his usual panache and comedic creativity that clearly resonates with the audience, making Peter Helliar’s World of Balls a must-see.


Follow Peter Helliar on Twitter:
@pjhelliar

Like Peter Helliar on Facebook:
Peter Helliar Official Page




WHO: Peter Helliar’s World of Balls

WHAT: Stand up comedy performance, audience interaction

WHERE: The Umbrella Revolution in the Garden of Unearthly Delights

WHEN: Previews have concluded.
All shows begin at 8:15pm.

PRICE: Ticket prices vary according to dates (no concession):
$32: 22,23, 24 and 27 February
$35: 25 and 26 February

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour

2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival review; Ali McGregor-Something Old, Something New

Ali McGregor brings her show Something Old, Something New to the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Image: www.alimcgregor.com


Something Scintillating by Linh

Operatic soprano, cabaret/jazz/burlesque performer Ali McGregor is a frequent visitor to Adelaide, bringing her shows to the Adelaide Cabaret and Fringe Festivals in the past. After her critically-acclaimed show Jazz Cigarettes, Ali McGregor returns to Adelaide with her latest concoction of Something Old, Something New. McGregor could only squeeze in a weekend of two matinee performances due to her hectic schedule being a mum to her baby girl and currently is in the middle of rehearsals for the operetta The Merry Widow.

In McGregor’s sold-out show Jazz Cigarettes she was smoking hot, but in Something Old, Something New she is scintillating. Her show brings together some popular jazz standards with mash-ups of contemporary pop songs and blues. Between songs, Ali would engage with the audience in her current frustrations about being unprepared for the unusual wet weather in Adelaide, her love of blues singers such as Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and her childhood interpretations of songs which now, as an adult, still has a long-lasting effect on her.

McGregor’s opening number The Man I Love, is delivered with titillating sensuousness and could be a heartfelt dedication to her husband and comedian/presenter Adam Hills (who is stuck inside a hotel room nursing a dreadful cold), while her next song is a jazzed-up homage to Soft Cell’s hit Tainted Love. McGregor dedicated Little Girl Blues by Nina Simone, to her little girl, delivering the song with soothingly smooth vocals and tenderness.

Other highlights of her show include a Santana-inspired rendition of Madonna’s single La Isla Bonita; a wildly outrageous and sexed-up rendition of Britney Spears’ Oops I Did It Again; I Was Made For Loving You by Kiss gets the blues treatment, and a fantastic mash-up combining Fly Me To The Moon with Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive.

McGregor was superbly supported by a trio of masterful musicians, with Matthew Carey on the piano, lovely Alana Dawes keeping the harmonies flowing on the double bass and Barnabas Smith held the rhythm and beats on percussion/drums. Although this was a matinee show, there were still some younger audience members who enjoyed most of the eclectic range of songs. Something Old, Something New is another showcase for the wonderful vocals of the talented and gorgeous Ali McGregor who will soon be completing her album Jazz Cigarettes in the next few months.

The season for Something Old, Something New has concluded.




Visit Ali Mcgregor’s website:
Ali McGregor

Follow Ali McGregor on Twitter:
@thealimcgregor

Like Ali McGregor on Facebook:
Ali McGregor on Facebook

2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival review; Felicity Ward – Honestly (preview)

Hilariously Honest by Linh

Felicity Ward opens up and bares her soul in her new comedy show Honestly. Image: laughingstock.com.au

You may have been to Felicity Ward’s (The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, Good News Week) previous shows like Ugly As A Child or Felicity Ward Reads From The Book Of Moron, but in her latest comedy show, Honestly, Ward opens up her personal treasure chest of emotions and insecurities for laughs. Honestly, as her show title, possibly sums up her approach to life, love and laughter.
Ward’s show is a blend of stand-up comedy, characterisations, impersonations, music, singing and audience participation. Metaphorically stripping herself of all inhibitions, Ward shows she has all the self-confidence and comic ability to deliver laughs with plenty of flair and great comic timing. No story is too private to share and no-one is safe from her eagle eyes scanning the audience during her show.


Honestly is riotous fun and is as entertaining for the audience as it is cathartic for Ward about her personal moments of humiliation and rejection by a teenage crush, her skin-peeling experience, some handy advice from her family members, and the reason behind her skinny figure.
The highlights are when Ward tackles technology in creative and engaging ways with the audience. Expect some form of participation (a volunteer from the audience is required) in her anti-synthesised vocals segment in a backlash against the weird synthesised voice pioneered by Cher in her hit song Believe. The use of an iTunes app plus crazy lyrics by Ward as she duets with a willing participant is a fabulous spectacle.

Mostly during her show Honestly, we discover why Ward is the way she is and how she has come to accept her flaws and weaknesses. Honesty is the best policy and Ward shows it’s also a sure-fire method to generate laughter and not to take yourself too seriously. Your adventures at this year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival would be incomplete unless you include Felicity Ward’s Honestly on your itinerary.


Follow Felicity Ward on Twitter:
@felicityward



Be Felicity Ward’s fan/friend on Facebook:
Felicity Ward on Facebook


Buy Fringe Tickets:
Adelaide Fringe Ticketing




WHO: Felicity Ward - Honestly

WHAT: Comedy, music, interactive segments/audience participation

WHERE: Le Cascadeur in the Garden of Unearthly Delights

WHEN: All shows start at 7:30pm
Previews – 16, 17 February
Cheap Tuesdays: 22 February and 1, 8 March
Regular price shows: 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 February and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 March

PRICE: Cheap Tuesdays – All Shows $20
Regular Prices - Adults: $25
Concession: $20

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour

2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival; Sammy J and Randy in ‘Bin Night’ (preview)

Guarding Garbage By Linh

Sammy J and Randy present their latest comedy musical Bin Night at the 2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Image: laughingstock.com.au

Comedian, writer, musician Sammy J and his puppet partner Randy (with special appearances by puppeteer Heath McIvor) return to Adelaide to bring an extravaganza of original songs, clever quips and a story filled with intrigue, shocks and laughs in Bin Night.
Bin Night is a comedy musical where Sammy and Randy suspect someone has been dumping rubbish into their wheelie bin and they both hold an all night stake-out to catch the culprits they call bin bandits. Suspects include the little granny who lives down the street, the loner and Scientologist Mr Vincent and a possum. They have sophisticated technology (walkie talkies) to communicate with each other and even a hi-tech security system (very temperamental) to protect their household goods, but their surveillance plans go awry when Sammy and Randy are accidentally locked outside their house. While Sammy is put on hold by the security company, we discover some truths and lies they each keep from each other. It eventually becomes apparent that perhaps Sammy and Randy are hiding things from each other by dumping it in the bin. Randy’s love and yearning for a Peruvian lady, Sammy J’s passion for Belinda Carlisle and his suspicion of possums and the identity of the garbage dumper are revealed in spectacular fashion.



Sammy and Randy complement each other superbly and work together effectively as they smoothly weave in running jokes, visual and audio gags, and excellent segues from one incident to the next, along with Belinda Carlisle references, and Father Time and his life juice. They are quick to recover from verbal blunders, prop problems and technical failures using funny adlibs and improvisation. Preview shows can sometimes bring out the worst in some, but this comedy duo are at their funniest when things go wrong. There are special appearances from Heath McIvor in many different guises and the Creepy Shovel makes a cameo appearance.

Bin Night consists of a well-structured narrative with witty, fast-paced dialogue peppered with fun wordplay and even a segment of tongue-twisting exchanges between Sammy and Randy. Sammy even shows off some culinary skills that evoke laughter as the food flies off the plate and into the audience. Deliberate or not, it was a classy theatrical moment. The songs are not all random, but do relate to the characters’ situations and the plot, and Sammy and Randy’s duets are always humourous and brilliant.
Bin Night is another must-see show directed by Spicks And Specks team captain Alan Brough, and is worth more than one attendance.


Be Sammy J's fan/friend on Facebook:
Sammy J

Be Randy's fan/friend on Facebook:
Randy




WHO: Sammy J and Randy in Bin Night

WHAT: Puppetry, comedy, music, theatre

WHERE: Le Cascadeur in the Garden of Unearthly Delights

WHEN: All shows start at 8:45pm

Preview – (Cheap Tuesdays) 15 February
Cheap Tuesdays: 22 February and 1, 8 March
Regular price shows: 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 February and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 March

PRICE: Cheap Tuesdays – All Shows $20
Regular Prices - Adults: $25
Concession: $20

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour

Buy Fringe Tickets:
Adelaide Fringe Ticketing

2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival review; The Amazing Drumming Monkeys-Love The Planet (preview)

Puppet Palace at the Garden of Unearthly Delights. Image: Linh Chameleon.



Eco-friendly Entertainment by Linh

The Amazing Drumming Monkeys are a family favourite and have a family-friendly theme for every show. This year, the monkeys named Bongo (white monkey) and Congo (black monkey) take an environmental theme and incorporate it into their show through the stage setting and design, the fun tricks and interactive songs and dancing.

Tree planting, rainwater tanks, recycling and solar energy are part of the show’s environmentally friendly theme but the real appeal comes from the drumming monkeys’ enthusiasm and excitement about helping Mother Nature and fighting climate change.
One particular trick (catapulting a frog into a little pond) was indeed very tricky to perform and a mother/audience member named Michelle was happy to help re-load the frog several times. Bongo jokingly declared the same trick took 23 attempts in a show performed in Western Australia. Michelle again came to the rescue for Bongo and Congo in another trick involving a parachute. It’s moments such as these that make the show much more entertaining and the improvisations and adlibs from the monkeys are wonderfully delivered to keep the children interested and the adults in suspense.

DRUMMING DUO: Congo and Bongo drum up support for the environment in their show The Amazing Drumming Monkeys - Love The Planet at the 2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Image: Linh Chameleon.


The audience were sweating in the hot tent of the Puppet Palace, but Bongo and Congo’s drumming, singing and playful banter were enough to make everyone forget about the heat and enjoy themselves. However, perhaps some electric fans or air-conditioning would make some of the children less restless and fidgety between the singing, dancing and clapping segments.
The Amazing Drumming Monkeys - Love The Planet is an excellent show that’s affordable and entertaining for families and for anyone who loves to get in on the action and be part of the fun.


TRICKY TASK: Congo and Bongo prepare for the next trick in their show The Amazing Drumming Monkeys - Love The Planet at the 2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Image: Linh Chameleon.



WHO: The Amazing Drumming Monkeys-Love The Planet

WHAT: Puppetry, comedy, interactive song and dance

WHERE: The Puppet Palace at the Garden of Unearthly Delights

WHEN: Previews have concluded.
1pm shows: 19,26,27 February and 5,6 March.
4pm shows: 19 February and 5, 6 March.
6pm shows: 22,23,24,25,26,27 February and 5,6 March.

PRICE: Adults: $12
Concession: $10

RUNNING TIME: 30 minutes.

Buy Fringe Tickets:
Adelaide Fringe Ticketing

2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival

Fringe Frivolities by Linh

The 2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival officially opens on Friday 18 February following an exciting and spectacular Fringe Opening Night Parade through the city streets. However, previews of various shows begin this week and continue next week, with some favourites, some regulars and some new performers testing the discerning taste of audiences.

The Garden of Unearthly Delights is already open for business with food and drink stalls aplenty, the side shows are revved up and the eclectic array of talent performing are streaming through the gates and all over the Garden, into venues such as the Spiegeltent, the Umbrella Revolution and Le Cascadeur.
Get along early to the Garden and stay late into the night while the weather is cool and comfortable for some Fringe-ing.

2010 Adelaide Fringe Festival; Peter Helliar's Dreamboat Tour

Image: Token Artists.

Don’t be fooled by the title of Peter Helliar’s new stand up comedy show. There aren’t any nautical jokes or boating gags, but you can expect plenty of laughs.
Peter Helliar is best known for his ‘supporting’ role on rove. alongside Rove McManus for ten years, and has also worked in radio. He has recently completed writing, producing and starring in a romantic comedy film entitled I Love You Too which screens in Australia in May.

The Dreamboat Tour is Peter Helliar’s most personal show so far, and he has based it mostly on his memorably funnier moments with his family members. He speaks of hilarious, frustrating times such as trying to understand his lovely wife and how his inquisitive and gifted son appears more mature compared to Peter’s child-like nature.

He jokes about being a government supervisor on the lottery draws for Channel Seven, draws laughter from the audience when he uses performance techniques to enact some of his funniest experiences when trying to enjoy some down-time with mates.
During the show, Peter Helliar laments over the difference between a tea towel and a cloth, plugs his upcoming film by involving a few audience members, observes the delights of making, receiving and drinking a “cuppa”.

Peter Helliar’s Dreamboat Tour is a fantastically funny and riotously refreshing show with insights of a family man’s perspective on marriage, child-rearing and finding some time to see the blockbuster 3D film Avatar. It’s a genuinely laugh-out-loud hour of stand-up, theatrics and audience involvement from one of Australia’s best comedians.

Peter Helliar’s Dreamboat Tour runs from 22 – 28 February, in The Spiegeltent at The Garden Of Unearthly Delights.

Adelaide Fringe Festival - Rove McManus Stand Up Tour; comedy review

SOMETHING FISHY: Rove McManus fishes for laughs with his latest Adelaide Fringe comedy show.
Image: Token Artists

Comic Marvel by Linh

Thunderous drum beats in pitch darkness followed by an immediate burst of bright lights flooding the audience is how Rove McManus opens his latest stand up comedy show.

Rove McManus (real name John McManus) knows how to make an entrance and his self-titled Adelaide Fringe show highlights his witty nature and keen mental awareness of looking for opportunities to pounce on for laughs. Rove’s energetic and well-paced performance harpooning celebrities, politicians and technological advancements, sends the audience into fits of laughter.

Rove displays his personable side as he chats with audience members about nicknames or Adelaide’s record-breaking heatwave. Rove’s bemoaning of the heat bringing on heat rage and ways to stay cool while keeping your cool is comic gold. His bizarre and down-to-earth nature is evident as he’s bemused by other people’s dreams of fame and having their names in bright lights while he’s equally content with having his name in fish faeces.

Rove’s facial distortions, wild and effective movements and body language gives the show a theatrical vibe with sparks of spontaneity to keep the audience on their toes. Highlights include the classic Benny Hill sped up chase scenes complete with a short, bald and elderly man chasing a scantily clad woman on stage, his audio presentations of US President George W Bush’s numerous gaffes and Rove’s hip-swivelling rap song Baby Bump.

Rove McManus’ comic material reflects his individualistic comedic talents of making the mundane seem hysterical, while his natural ability of making the effort look effortless is admirable.

Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who; animated family film review (Advance Screening)

ANIMATED ANIMOSITY: Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey) and Kangaroo (voiced by Carol Burnett) agree to disagree in Horton Hears A Who!
Image: Twentieth Century Fox

Passionate Pachyderm by Linh

Horton Hears A Who! is a computer generated animated feature from the makers of the Ice Age films, and is based on Dr Seuss’ ‘Horton’ series of children’s books.

It’s the third Dr Seuss tale brought to the big screen following its predecessors, The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat. The previous two films were less successful live action films, yet Horton is an animated joy which delights the imagination and evokes the essence of Dr Seuss’ text.

The story tells of a friendly and imaginative elephant named Horton who hears a cry for help from a speck of dust floating through the air. Horton suspects there’s a community living on the speck that needs his help, but no-one would believe him. Horton then makes contact with an inhabitant of the speck and embarks on a journey to save his new found friends.

Although boasting some big names in the ensemble vocal cast, Horton Hears A Who! succeeds in exhibiting the personalities of the film’s characters more than the personalities behind the film’s characters.
Jim Carrey lends his voice to create a lovable and passionate Horton whose belief that “a person’s a person, no matter how small” makes him risk everything to save those too tiny for him to see, but loud enough for him to hear.
Steve Carell is aptly flustered and flabbergasted as the Mayor of Who-ville who has ninety seven children, a son who hasn’t spoken in years, and is under pressure from Who-ville’s Town Council who are waiting for him to slip up.
Carol Burnett plays Kangaroo to the hilt, as a strict and snobbish mother who fears imagination and creativity results in anarchy and chaos in her orderly structured life. She even refuses to allow her joey, Rudy (Josh Flitter) to leave her pouch.

Other notable performances are Will Arnett’s Vlad the eagle who’s a wannabe-supervillain; Isla Fisher’s loopy scatterbrain Dr Mary Lou Larue, the scientist helping the Mayor save Who-ville; Seth Rogen’s fleet footed Morton the mouse who is Horton’s best friend and Charles Osgood’s narration brings authority and sincerity to Dr Seuss’ rhyming verses.

A special treat is the teaser trailer for Ice Age 3 – Dawn of the Dinosaurs, preceding Horton Hears A Who!, which features Scrat scrambling about in pursuit of his acorn.

The story’s simple message of believing in and helping others strikes a chord with audiences of all ages, making Horton Hears A Who! an enjoyable film.

Mozart's The Impresario...in Vegas; comic opera

Adelaide sopranos Eleanor Blythman (top) and Jessica Dean.



'The Impresario' (Der Schauspieldirektor) is one of Mozart's rarely peformed operas, and has received different interpretations from previous performance companies. The one act comic opera being staged at The Opera Studio, has a new incarnation courtesy of artistic director Patrick Lim. This sparkling production has a contemporary spin and is set in a 1960s Las Vegas casino. Sung in German without surtitles and with English dialogue.


Double Diva Dilemma by Linh

'The Impresario' is a brilliant effort from artistic director Patrick Lim, who not only created a new setting for the opera, but also a new script in English. In the glitzy and fast paced environment of The Casino Salzburg, Patrick plays the Impresario, Preston Devereaux, whose job is not only to keep the punters happy, but also negotiate with two very difficult and duelling divas.

Patrick Lim is impressively suave with all the right words to charm the ladies into obedience and displays his tenor virtuosity in Care pupille (Beloved Pupil).

Soprano Eleanor Blythman plays the dippy diva with heart, Violet St. Clair, with bemusing naivety yet unyielding persistance. Her voice is richly supple in the beautiful aria Da Schlagt Die Abschiedsstunde (There Strikes The Parting Hour), and with Durch Zartlichkeit Und Schmeicheln (With Tenderness and Coaxing) Eleanor exquisitely produces a precise lightness in the voice that floats upwards with delicate ease.

Playing the flambouyant and no-nonsense diva Chloe La Rue, soprano Jessica Dean is impressive in her delivery of Bester Jungling (Best Youth) displaying a combination of flashy coloratura and dramatic vocal expression. Jessica shows comic charm during her rendition of S'altro Che Lacrime (If You Do Nothing But Cry) with luscious tonal textures in her vocal delivery.

All three voices combine to create an explosion of egos and vocal fireworks in Ich Bin Die Erste Sangerin (I Am The First Singer), with the sopranos competing to out sing each other, while the Impresario attempts to appease both divas.

Musical Director Anthony Hunt appears as Wesley Maxwell giving fine but brief support to the devious Impresario. He is also pianist and conductor to the string quartet which provided brilliant support throughout.

'The Impresario' features some of Mozart's highest soprano coloratura and combines dramatic qualities to the score and comedic charm in the libretto. The cast along with the orchestra under the musical direction of Anthony Hunt, presents another entertaining production.

Cabaret Festival - The Soubrettes; comedy

In comic opera, the soubrettes are the minor roles of chambermaids and servants, yet Tanya Kyriakou and Alice Carter show star quality as leading ladies in 'The Soubrettes'.

Fantastic Femmes by Linh

The sirens of satire and comedic chaos are back with a new set of songs and stories for this year's Cabaret Festival.

'The Soubrettes' are accompanied by the dashing William Poskitt on piano as they take the audience through an hour of lethal laughs and flirtatious fun.

Tanya Kyriakou plays the demure and dangerous brunette whose rendition of It's Not Easy Being Greek pokes fun at her ethnicity with a touch of poignancy.

Alice Carter shines as the bubbly blonde showing vocal diversity in You'll Do about being desperate to love any man who proposes.

The dynamic divas displayed glorious harmonising in the rebellious song I Wanna Be A Drug Addict and had the audience in fits of laughter with the anti-feminist anthem I Want A Man where Alice played keyboard with her stiletto heels.

Amidst a flurry of frock changes and wigs, the flirtatious pair warmed up the intimate Artspace venue with their bitchy banter, friendly audience participation and wickedly scathing commentaries on current issues and fashion trends.

Take care of your ticker while you watch 'The Soubrettes', as the lovely ladies may steal your heart with their comic charms and charisma.

Cabaret Festival - High Tea With Ida Barr; comedy

UK comedian, writer and musician Christopher Green returns as a familiar Cabaret Festival favourite to share more raunchy rhymes and hilarious anecdotes of the golden days at London's music hall in High Tea With Ida Barr.

More Than Tea And Scones by Linh

Following last year's successful Bingo shows, Miss Ida Barr invites Adelaideans to a free tea session flavoured with gangsta rap and hip hop numbers.

The Lyrics Lounge was full to capacity as crowds queued at the doors, while it was standing room only if you were lucky to get inside.

High Tea With Ida Barr is more than a leisurely sit-down-and-chat-over-tea experience, but a rigourous rapping and rhyming routine with Miss Ida Barr.

The veteran music hall pensioner shows she's still got the grooves to go with her moves as she struts onstage to original lyrics and music. You'll soon see that Ida's hip has enough hop to rival Missy Elliot and Beyonce!

Popular rap artists, Hollywood film actors and even local politics fail to escape the quick wit and lightning lips of Miss Ida Barr as she rocks through her rap medleys.

High Tea With Ida Barr shows how even seniors can get down and shake their groove thang along with the best of booty shakers. Miss Ida Barr reveals how 'bottoms up' is more than a drinking term, and even persuades you to do the 'Hokey Cokey'. However, it's also a fantastic opportunity for the talented Christopher Green to show how he can have fun in a frock while entertaining an excited Cabaret Festival crowd.

The Importance of Being Earnest - theatre review

The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild presents one of Oscar Wilde's witty, charming and complex social plays, with a talented cast.

The plot grows complex yet is enjoyable and culminates in further frustrations for a fitting finale.

The plot follows Jack who resides in the country yet calls himself Earnest while in the city and his friend from the city, Algernon, creates an invalid friend whom he uses as an excuse to avoid tiresome social obligations. Jack loves Gwendolyn who is Algernon's cousin and Algernon loves Jack's young ward, Cecily. Complications arise as both men pose as Earnest in order to marry their beloved.

Wilde About Earnest by Linh

The Importance of Being Earnest requires brilliant comic timing, masterful diction and a skilled interpretation to accurately convey Wilde's satirical social comedy of deception, love and identity.

Under the direction of June Barnes and Ann Weaver (making her directorial debut), The Importance of Being Earnest manages to combine all of the above to revive a favourite for regular theatre-goers while introducing a sparkling production to a new generation.

The ensemble cast is adept and comfortable in their roles giving impeccable performances throughout, with a few cast members working with the Theatre Guild for the first time.

Experienced stage actress Pam O'Grady makes her first appearance with the Theatre Guild as the irrepressible Lady Bracknell whose over-exaggerated aristocratic flair is played to the hilt. O'Grady gives Lady Bracknell the right amount of self-importance and snobbery all too prevalent in the aristocracy of the times and works her charms on the unsuspecting Jack Worthing.

Self confessed slave to theatre, David Thring, gives the gawkish yet affable Jack Worthing some spark and charm as the country boy who discovers his true identity while in pursuit of his beloved Gwendolyn. David's clarity in diction and nuances of expression superbly colours his character's foppishness.

Versatile performer Marieka Hambledon makes her Theatre Guild debut as the Victorian debutante Gwendolyn. Marieka brings out the headstrong vixen in Gwendolyn during scenes with Lady Bracknell and displays classy cattiness in her tea and insults scene with Cecily. Her clear diction, accent and hilarious hoity toity mannerisms makes Marieka a fine Gwendolyn and favourite among the audience.

Thrusting himself back onto the boards is Andrew Lawlor who is relishing the role of suave and irritatingly charming Algernon. Making general conversations with clever quips such as " the truth is rarely pure and never simple" Algernon exemplifies aristocratic hypocrisy and silliness. Andrew's simplistic matter of fact style in characterisation and delivery is consistent throughout, yet with more variety he would add more depth and intrigue to the deceptive Algernon.

After four years in Sydney, Abby Coleman returns to Adelaide with her Theatre Guild debut as Jack's 18 year old ward Cecily. Abby requires more work on her diction yet her performance as the virginal and wickedly enticing Cecily is delightful.

A wonderful support cast gave equally solid performances including Lindy LeCornu as Cecily's governess, Miss Prism, who is the key to unlocking the intricate plot. Gary George is the jovial Dr Chasuble who is intent on unlocking Miss Prism's heart. Even the servants play a part in the plot with Norman Athersmith as Jack's servant and John Sharpe's role as Algernon's servant, in coughing discreetly to announce a person's arrival or seemingly bemused at the behaviour of the upper class.

The Importance of Being Earnest is well staged in the intimate atmosphere of The Little Theatre, with Ole Wiebkin's stage/set design beautifully reflecting Wilde's aesthetic spirit of poetry, music , drama and visual arts.

The costumes are lavish with rich colours of burgundy for Lady Bracknell, blue, purple and white for Gwendolyn and Cecily in deep peach, with the aristocrats' attire complimented with dazzling jewels and stylish hats.

In earnest, this is a thoroughly entertaining production of Oscar Wilde's wittiest and satirical of plays, which reminds us all that the pun can be elevated to high art.

Fringe Comedy Cabaret - Tim Minchin; review

Tim Minchin returns to the Adelaide Fringe Festival with So Rock, a comedy cabaret show featuring politics, environmentally friendly tips, psychoanalysis and other funny bits with piano.

It's a laugh out loud hour of song, physical comedy and poetry performed with Tim's usual high energy, enthusiastic delivery.

Tim Minchin's So Rock is at The Umbrella Revolution in The Garden Of Unearthly Delights until March 31.


Muso with Magnetism by Linh

He may be small in stature, but Tim Minchin's charismatic and energetic presence fills the room with awe and excitement.

Tim's new show So Rock combines hilarious anecdotes, original music, and physical comedy ensuring plenty of laughs throughout.

With only a microphone and grand piano on stage, Tim combined the two in his routine while seamlessly moving from one to the other. Highlights include his heart felt and hilarious Peace Anthem For Palestine which Tim hopes can bring people closer, and the unaccompanied poem Angry had the audience in stitches as Tim displayed his penchant for dark, intelligent and articulate poetry. Tim further enthralled with a touch of Sondheim, a dash of Lloyd Webber and lashings of Freud in his upbeat song If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out.

Tim's sharp and witty lyrics slices throught the mundane depths of reality and pushes it into a dark but insightful realm of hilarity. If laughter is the best medicine then Tim has the ability to deliver in large doses.

Fringe comedy - Mark Watson; review

I saw comedian Mark Watson perform at the Nova and he was brilliant!

UK comedian Mark Watson is making his debut at the Adelaide Fringe this year, and is one of the most funniest and engaging performers. His very long show title I'm Worried That I'm Starting To Hate Almost Everyone In The World, doesn't even summarise the hilarity of the show.

He is crass, irritating and quick witted, yet you'll fall for his charm and biting humour.

Mark is also a published novelist, and is completing a screenplay of his book, Bullet Points.

Mark Watson:I'm Worried That I'm Starting To Hate Almost Everyone In The World is at Nova Cinemas until March 31.

Watson Hits The Mark by Linh

There is seldom a comedian who has a keen observation of everyday life and twists it to expose the absurdity of the human condition. Well... maybe Jerry Seinfeld, but others are equally adept. Especially Welshman Mark Watson.

In his show, Mark does more than the usual stand up routine. Armed with his mystery sack full of items representing one of the seven deadly sins, Mark enlists the assistance of audience members to pull an item out of the sack. His audience interaction extends further with someone timing his 'Sack of Sins' segment and another to make clapping noises if no-one laughs or claps at his jokes.

Mark is breath-taking as his jokes are delivered at a cracking pace; if you miss it, you missed a great gag, and he'll even point out that you did. His ardent use of the English language is combined with the Aussie vernacular and expletives to deliver jokes on public transport, people who wear suggestive slogans on shirts and what makes Aussies laugh that Britons find unfunny.

His thick and slick Welsh accent makes the jokes funnier, simply because as he says "accents are funny, if you're not laughing at the jokes, just laugh every time I speak."

I thoroughly enjoyed Mark Watson and his comedic style of lightning fast jokes and everyday observations, and I look forward to reading his book Bullet Points.

Fringe Comedy - Andrew McClelland review

Mixing More Than Laughs by Linh

Andrew McClelland is a Fringe veteran with previous sold out shows which received rave reviews. His shows on the history of pirates and a somewhat secret society have made him a familiar and favourite performer for Fringe-goers.

His latest offering Andrew McClelland's Mix Tape , combines dance, singing and hilarious anecdotes in creating an appropriate mix tape for your beloved.

His charming and affable personality keeps the show afloat, although at times the gags wear thin and some sink faster than a lead balloon.

Andrew's song selections cover most genres, except classical, folk and country, with audience participation in singing and song suggestions.

It's not one of his best shows, yet his physical gags and friendly disposition are enough to keep the audience engaged and entertained.

Andrew McClelland's Mix Tape is staged at The Garden Shed in the Garden Of Unearthly Delights until March 20.

Fringe Comedy -Bodaceia Brilliant and Ivanna Vavavoom; review

Super sexy Superspies by Linh

The world is soon to be a safer place from mass consumerism and crazy commercialism if Bodaceia Brilliant and Ivanna Vavavoom get their way.

In a funny, original and innovative production fusing music, comedy and sight gags, Samantha Culshaw (Bodaceia) and Judyth Satyn (Ivanna) portray the Russian Superspies in disguise who create useless anti-products in an attempt to wipe consumerism off the planet. They have orders from the 'Boss' to rid the world of greed and start the revolution to fight consumerism.

Bodaceia Brilliant and Ivanna Vavavoom On A Mission is full of high energy physical expression, weird accents and colourful costumes which the girls quickly change into on stage as part of their performance.

Highlights are the extraordinary products the pair create, including the Bubble Bum Gum (that literally gets blown out your nates) and the cleaning suit with the scourers strategically placed where the female erogenous zones are ("It makes cleaning so sensuous and sexy!").

The show is well staged as a secret hideout office and makeshift product testing lab.The lighting and music selection are appropriate with some ripping rapping from rap artist Cyril Hot, played with great gusto and radical appeal by Samantha Culshaw.

It's one of the most hilarious and fabulously Fringey shows; unconventional, cleverly devised and all in the true spirit of the Fringe Festival.

Bodaceia Brilliant and Ivanna Vavavoom On A Mission is at Higher Ground (Projection room) until March 24.

Fringe Comedy - Rod Quantock review

Having seen Rod Quantock on television shows such as Good News Week and the Melbourne Comedy Festival telecasts, it's an interesting experience to see him live on stage.

A cerebral, politically-minded comedian and social activist, Rod Quantock has plenty of layers that makes it difficult to see what makes him tick. After seeing his Fringe show Hand In Bloody Hand-The John and Janette Howard Story, there's much more to appreciate about his comedy and respect for his interest in social and political injustices.

Rod is performing his sit down-stand up-walk around comedy show at the Nova Cinema until March 18.

Raging Rod Rocks by Linh

The first thing you notice about Rod Quantock is his unkempt appearance, then his casual laid back demeanour with a friendly but cheeky persona.

He has sincerity that he exploits with a comedic charm to bring you to his comfort zone. One thing he doesn't like is latecomers to his show, so he 'punishes' them by intergrating them into his act. Anyone who appears in the venue after the advertised starting time are dragged to the front to form a choir. That's when the show and the fun really begins.

Rod's easy going nature and relaxed comedy style makes him approachable and believable, yet his ambiguity confuses and sustains the audience's interest. Beneath his cool and calm demeanour is a raging bull ready to attack any form of injustice or inequality he can joke about. He shares his accounts with the long arm of the law (police), also the longer and frustrating arm of the other law (lawyers) with clever quips and comedic swipes.

Some may not 'get' his sophisticated and intelligent comedy enough to laugh, yet Rod encourages them to maintain the rage at all costs. Why not laugh at authorities as you rebel against them?

There is plenty of audience interaction as Rod slides between the aisles seeking out 'victims', as well as picking people from the front rows to engage in conversation.

If you like to join in the fun and laugh at politicians, journalists, lawyers and police officers, then Rod Quantock can be of assistance.