What Did She Think?

What: Just Us Girls When: 21 - 29 September 2019 Where: Music Room, Trades Hall Created and performed by: Ellen Grimshaw and Alice Stewart Directed by: Milly Cooper and Sarah Vickery Lighting and sound by: Justin Gardam Alice Stewart and Ellen Grimshaw The Music Room at Trades Hall is being occupied by strong female performance makers this week with the show Just Us Girls . This is basically a VCA Masters programs takeover as directors and writers from the writing and directing program dominate the stage with overwhelming messages of female oppression and a plea for empowerment. The publicity blurb speaks to Just Us Girls being an absurdist work but that is not really correct. It is more accurately a post truth surrealist journey using performance body art (in the footsteps of the work of Maria Abramovic ). Coupled with Grimshaw 's stream of consciousness text, the show barely takes a moment to breath as it powers through a patriarchy which has no idea what it is to b

What: Aurora When: 18 September - 6 October 2019 Where: Royal Botanic Gardens Directed by: Kate Fryer Performed by: Sam Aldham, Matthew Brown, Jeremy Hopkins, Spenser Inwood, Adam Malone, Selene Messinis, Jillibalu Riley, Tara Silcock, and Shani Stephens Costumes by: Harriet Oxley Lighting by: Jenny Hector Projection by: Rhian Hinkley Stage Managed by: Sienna Dillon Sam Aldham, Jillibalu Riley, Josie Wardrope, Matthew Brown, Shani Stephens, and Jeremy Hopkins - photo by Mark Turner The Circus Oz big top is back and with it comes all the fun and frolicking which is synonymous with this company. Reinforcing it's natural world themes, the Royal Botanic Gardens is host to this season of their latest new work, Aurora . Reveling in the joy of being in their own natural habitat (the big top), the circus troupe engage with the story of extinction which is on everybody's mind at the moment.  Over one hundred thousand people marched in the streets of Melbourne

What: A Day In The Life When: 27 - 29 September 2019 Where: Wonderland Spiegeltent, The Paddock - Federation Square Written by: Bridget a’Beckett and Julia Davis Performed by: Bridget a’Beckett , Julia Davis, and Sharni Page Choreography by: Jessica Enes Costumes by: Kim Simon Sharni Page, Bridget A'Beckett, and Julia Davis Melbourne Fringe Festival is not just about grown ups. There is a lot of stuff out there for the little ones and Wonderland Speigeltent (behind ArtPlay at Federation Square ) is bringing a whole program of fun including the Musical Sprouts show A Day In The Life . Yella ( A'Beckett ), Blueno ( Davis ), and Reddy ( Page ) sing their way through some of life's greatest challenges such as brushing your teeth, cleaning your bedroom, and going to the toilet. With the help of the other kids in the audience, Yella learns these life skills and along they way they teach the children some basic music knowledge. Musical Sprouts are committed to c

What: Let MEOWT! When: 12 - 17 September 2019 Where: Rattlesnake Saloon Created and performed by: Catherine Holder and Laura Moran Catherine Holder and Laura Moran There is a crazy Fringe venue on downtown Lygon Street called the Rattlesnake Saloon which is straight out of a Spaghetti Western, and in the dance hall room at the the back is a secret stash of Melbourne Fringe performances taking place. The one I saw last night was the cute and funny Let MEOWT! I have been a fan of Holder's work for a while. Experiences she has created, such as Sonder and Blood Is Thicker Than Hummus , are clever, interactive and enriching. Let MEOWT! sees Holder creating a more traditional fourth wall type of show with Moran - although it is fair to say this is still not what anyone would call 'standard'. Holder and Moran play two cats - Cinnamon and Pepper respectively. Born from the same litter and growing up with the same human slave (who they call Mother) Cinnamon is the run

What: Standing Strong: Mudburra Man Album Launch When: 15 September 2019 Where: fortyfivedownstairs Featuring: Ray Dimakarri Dixon Moira Finucane, Mama Alto, Ray Dimakarri Dixon and Pierra Dennerstein - photo by Jodie Hutchinson Last night, riding on the waves of Finucane and Smith 's extraordinary show The Rapture Chapter II: Art vs Extinction , Ray Dimakarri Dixon launched his new album Standing Strong: Mudburra Man. The album is a collection of 8 wonderfully arranged and produced songs speaking to the struggles the Mudburra people are dealing with in the Northern Territory. It is a love song, a dirge, a call to arms. Most of all it is a collection of sublime beauty. Standing Strong is the result of a year long collaboration with Finucane and Smith. Whilst working on another project, Moira Finucane met Eleanor Dixon who them went on to introduce her to her father Ray. Father and daughter have been performing together for years as the group Rayella but when Finucane

What: The Rapture Chapter II: Art vs Extinction When: 4 - 29 September 2019 Where: fortyfivedownstairs Written by: Moira Finucane Directed by: Moira Finucane and Jackie Smith Performed by: Pierra Dennerstein, Ray Dimarrkari Dixon, Moira Finucane, Rachel Lewindon, and Mama Alto Lighting by: Jenny Hector Moira Finucane - photo by Jodie Hutchinson  In 2017 Finucane and Smith told us that The Rapture was here. They beckoned us to look around and act immediately. It is 2019 and we have done nothing at all. The Doomsday Clock is still at 2 minutes to midnight and Moira Finucane is back. In The Rapture Chapter II: Art vs Extinction she is telling us there is no more time to waste and she is not wasting any time doing it. We are back in the ice chapel of 2017 and Finucane enters as the fully annointed Snow Queen regalia after her tour of the Antarctica. What she found there, however, has released an urgency which eschews such frippery and throughout the show she strips away

What: Batmania Bus Tour When: 11 - 21 September 2019 Where: St Kilda Written and performed by: Elliott Gee, Raymond Martini, Indiah Mone, and Vidya Rajan Costumes by: Honor Wolff Vidya Rajan One thing we know about Melbourne because of all the plaques and street signs and monuments is a dude called John Batman was one of the white people who got here first. His legacy is the kind of gift that keeps on giving and The Very Good Looking Initiative invite you to a township named after his lordship just as he always wanted - Batmania! Batmania is having it's very own Expo this year at Theatre Works, and for the truly adventurous there is also a Batmania Bus Tour. I got to go on the bus tour and I can honestly say I saw a completely different side of the town I used to know as St Kilda. What side did I see? I have no idea, but I laughed so much I choked along the way. The Batmania Expo and Bus Tour are anti-theatre horror comedies. What does this mean? Who knows? What

What: Side A When: 15 - 29 September 2019 Where: Toy Library, Trades Hall Written and performed by: Amanda Santuccione Amanda Santuccione I first came across Santuccione two years ago in her debut solo show Twenty Minutes To Nine . Since then she has gone on to hone her performance skills and this year she brings another surprisingly personal and powerful story to the audiences at Trades Hall in Side A . The power in Santuccione's work is the well spring of authenticity and lived experience with which she gifts the audience in every performance. It also lies in her ability to not shy away from the pain, but to sit in it long enough for us to feel it and then move us forward to the strength and wisdom which comes from getting to the other side. Side A is perhaps a lighter piece overall, with the first half being almost a stand up comedy routine. This show, though, is built in 2 acts and whilst the first half has tiny hints of what is to come the power of the second act

What: The Subtle Art of Online Dating When: 9 - 15 September 2019 Where: Upstairs, The Butterfly Club Written by: Katie O'Connor Directed by: Kate Tomkins Performed by: Nerida Hannah, Katie O'Connor, Maddie Roberts and Bonnie Ryan-Rowe Bonnie Ryan-Rowe, Katie O'Connor, Nerida Hannah and Maddie Roberts Because we just can't get enough of it, this year's Fringe Festival brings us another painful yet funny stab at the vagaries and absurdities of romance by app in O'Connors new show. The Subtle Art Of Online Dating is playing upstairs at The Butterfly Club this week. The topic is not new, but it appears to be endlessly fascinating. Hasn't dating always been a key source of hilarity throughout history? In the tradition of shows such as Ghosted , Tinder Tales and Fuckboys: The Musical , The Subtle Art Of Online Dating pokes fun of and thrusts swords into our current obsession with trying to find love through pure strangers rather than risk getting