Birdcage Thursdays - Theatre Review

What: Birdcage Thursdays
When: 2 November - 12 November 2017
Where: fortyfivedownstairs
Written by: Sandra Fiona Long
Directed by: Caitlin Dullard
Performed by: Sophia Constantine, Sandra Fiona Long, and Genevieve Picot
Set by: Joanne Mott
Lighting by: Rebecca Etchell
Sound by: Raya Slavin

Sophia Constantine and Genevieve Picot

Theatre is being kicked and dragged into the 21st century by original thinkers and people (mainly women in my opinion...) who are eschewing the standard tropes of narrative dominated story telling, moving beyond affective performance making devices, and going straight to the heart of experiences with what I like to call post-truth theatre. Sandra Fiona Long is one of these intrepid trail blazers and tales such as Birdcage Thursdays, playing at fortyfivedownstairs this week, which embody script and performance as equal partners is leading the charge.

Long's writing is deceptive in that, on the page, they appear finely crafted hyper-realistic portraitures without the obvious driving energies of 'dramatic action'. I always say when you look at a play you have to understand who wrote it and Birdcage Thursdays is the perfect example. Long is a writer, performer, director and you have to understand that as she crafts the play she is imagining a world so much greater than dialogue and all you have to do is see this play to understand the fullness and exquisite craftsmanship Long brings to the theatre form.

Birdcage Thursdays does have narrative. It is the tale of a woman who has boxed herself into her retirement complex just as life has boxed her in to an endless retirement of craft projects and hobbies. She is on the verge of being kicked out because of her tendency to overcompensate, self-indulge, and hoard and her over-achieving daughter has to 'sort' her mother out. This is not a self-less tale. If the mother is kicked out it is the daughter who will have to deal with the consequences, and the mother must - on at least some level - know this is her mechanism for getting attention. Neverless it is a real problem, there is real threat, and the consequences impact the lowest and most significant level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Need.

Throw into the mix a cockatiel whose mating partner is dead just as Helene's (Genevieve Picot) husband is dead, and who is fated to live out it's final years trapped in a cage alone just as Helene is trapped in amongst her boxes, and you have the ingredients for a story mired in pathos if handled by anyone of less skill than Long. Switching between the alienation of using numbers instead of character names, giving every character a name, and also having a narrator/chorus/co-participant this play breaks all the boundaries to get at the real, totally subjective, often absurd heart of these intense family dynamics and circumstances.

In order to realise writing of this type of newness and boldness it is important for the director to really understand the artist. Caitlin Dullard has known and worked with Long over many years including as Long's assistant director at DVA Theatre. The trust and collaboration is evident as some truly unexpected and yet powerful performance choices have been made. In particular the style of oration for the Narrator resembles a 45rpm record being played at 33rpm. This is a bold choice because traditionally the narrator is objectified and non-partisan. As well as commenting on the warping of time in moments of intense personal experience, the Narrator (Long) also sees and communicates with Helene. They are both (all three) taking this journey together, telling this story supported by each other, and experiencing these moments as human beings sharing this world.

The rapport and connection between Picot and Long is so intensely beautiful it almost makes your heart want to stop beating. The moments are brief, but the sense of togetherness and support is as essential to the tale as any of the more overt blocking or dialogue.

Sophia Constantine is a wonderfully energetic foil to Picot's stillness. Constantly circling the stage she is as much the reason for her mother's fort as she is earnestly trying to help her mother escape it. Constantine doesn't quite match the other two in character nuance, but her physicality is key to the work and as the cockatiel she is mesmerising.

What really lifts Birdcage Thursdays into a whole other stratosphere though, is the work between Long and Raya Slavin. Being a vocalist herself, Long has worked with Slavin to make the voice a part of the aural architecture of the world. Using spoken world, humming, sound processing, and composition the soundscape of this adventure adds layers of texture, truth, and unreality to the finely wrought architecture of the characters.

Birdcage Thursdays is beautifully majestic. It is work of now, not of yesterday. If you only understand realism and/or post-dramatics you will not appreciate this play. If you are able to even glimpse the era of post-truth you will understand and a new sense of the world will open up to you. It is personal, experiential, real, and fiction all at the same time. Are you ready for it?

4.5 Stars

The Comic Psychic - Comedy Review

What: The Comic Psychic - Are You There Michael Jackson?
Where: The Butterfly Club
When: 1-5 November 2017
Performed by: Bernadette Mirabelli

Bernadette Mirabelli

We often talk about seeing and hearing diverse voices on stage, but after watching The Comic Psychic it occurred to me that there is one voice we see and hear little of - the middle age immigrant woman. Laughing along with Bernadette Mirabelli's puns and pop culture humour I had the best 45 minutes in a long time at The Butterfly Club last night.

I have spoken before about how much I enjoy evenings of 'dad humour' comedy - how gentle they are as you cackle benignly with the corny joke heard a million times before. With The Comic Psychic I realised I had missed the wry, dry wit of the mum/grandma keenly observing life in a self-deprecating manner and working her way through a bottle of gin or vodka.

For our psychic Madame Elbac, the choice was vodka. Her five vegetables a day are the brands of potato which make up the contents of her tumbler and she is not going to let her repetiteur Herbie (or Herpes as she prefers to call him) judge her for it.

Elbac is cable backwards, and Madame Elbac is a conduit between the spirit world and our material world. Elbac has cleared the kitchen table of dishes, replacing them with a crystal ball and she has decided to touch base with Michael Jackson and check in on him. Unfortunately her communications highway is as effective as our NBN so we meet a few other Micheal's along the way.

With an eagerness boardering on naivette, a powerful singing voice, a no-nonsense awareness of the world, and an accent which will instantly remind of bright sunny kitchens with yummy food in the oven The Comic Psychic doesn't break new ground but ut had me laughing all the way through. The tone of the show is relaxed and inclusive and with a cocktail in hand you can't go wrong with this one.

2.5 Stars

Tchekov At The House Of Special Purpose - Theatre Review

What: Tchekov At The House Of Special Purpose
When: 25 October - 5 November 2017
Where: La Mama Courthouse
Written by: R. Johns
Directed by: Alex Menglet
Performed by: Maria Paula Afanador, Alice Blatt, Carolyn Bock, Milijana Cancar, Jim Daly, Greg Fryer, Huw Jennings, Adam May, Asleen Mauthoor, Meg Spencer, Peter Stratford, and Yvette Turner.
Set by: Peter Mumford
Costume by: Michael Mumford
Lighting by: Shane Grant
Sound and Stage Management by: Millie Levakis-Lucas

Maria Paula Afandor and Huw Jennings

There was a time, a time long ago, when the world was different. It was a world full of beautiful objects and great despair. Something had to change. Something had to be lost. And so we kept what we couldn't live without and gave up the beautiful object. Tchekov At The House Of Special Purpose playing now at La Mama Courthouse marks that moment the deed was done. The Romanovs of Russia were executed and an uglier and yet far more dynamic (if confused) world was released.

Ipatiev House was the last residence of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Ironically this residence had the same name as the Monastery where the Romanov dynasty ascended to the the throne. And thus the circle was complete. It is a shame this wasn't referenced in the play because it would have given the work  a meta frame which it desperately needs.

Instead the play focuses on the final moments of their life, the experience of diminishment and social change the focus rather than any hint of cause or consequence. It is a singular moment in time when what was has become petrified and the only way to move it is to destroy it.

Ipatiev House became designated as 'The House Of Special Purpose' for the Ural branch of the Communist Party. We know now what that purpose was. It must be horrific to know you will die but know not when. The Tsar (Daly)  and his wife Alexandra (Bock) must undoubtedly have known they would not leave this place alive, but what of their four daughters?

Olga (Batt), Tatiana (Spencer), Maria (Turner), and of course Anastasia (Mauthoor) were only young women. For them the dream of a future had to be kept alive.

This is how we come to Tchekov. Johns likens the four daughters to The Three Sisters in Tchekov's world. Rather than harking back to an idealised memory of Moscow, these girls cannot let go of their trinkets of privilege - none of them can. So while they starve and freeze and gather layers of dust and grime over their royal bodies Tatiana insists they rehearse the Tchekov play. Just asTchekov's Olga, Maria, and Irina never return to Moscow, this play will never be performed and the Romanov girls will never return to the world.

Johns does a magnificent job of blending and matching much of the Tchekovian style to her play. Some beautiful character detail between the three older Romanovs to the Tchekov's sisters takes place, with Anastasia matched to the character of Andrei. There was a Romanov son but Johns chooses to leave him out except through references - probably because there was not place in the conceit because of the extra (and most famous) daughter.

The family cook and doctor were incarcerated with them which was a perfect link to Tchekov, and the Soviet guards round out this fan fiction play. With this cast Johns is able to play with Tchekov's style and structure as well as his melancholy - although for me it fell more into a Gorky-esque tone as the script lacks the humour and absurdity Tchekov brought to his play(s).

This is where Menglet hits his stride as director. Menglet brings the authenticity to this play. His cultural aesthetic understands where the humour in the pathos is - a facet of Tchekov so often overlooked in western post-Stanislavski theatre making. He can see the absurd and is not afraid to face it because without it we cannot understand why and how these people can stay alive.

On the flip side though, at times the additions of dance and play he inserted really get in the way and stand out as not connected to the writing. Of course, this is always the tension when a story is told which is not your own. For me the problem is in the play. This Russian tale is not John's story and Menglet is trying to layer in truth. It works enough to make the play beautiful but does not innately meld.

Menglet doesn't do everything right though. There is another play written in England in 2009 of very similar name and exact topic. That play was criticised for having no meta-purpose and Johns' play fairs no better. Menglet tries to layer in issues of equality but there is no content to work with so these forays end up dangling dangerously in the breeze.

Usually I would just say it doesn't work but in his efforts Menglet makes a horrific mistake in casting. Fryer is one of the best actors to ever have graced our stages and he does a magnificent job with the material he is given but at one point I was silently screaming at the play to not do what it was about to do. Cast as the unwaveringly loyal Cook, Fryer is placed in a position where the only non-white actor in the cast is the loyal servant and then to make matters worse he is stripped and covered with white flour! I still have a hollow feeling thinking about it. If this was perspectivised in any way it would be different, but for me this was a horrific thing to do without more care and intention in modern Australia.

Aside from this tragic error, overall it is a fine cast who work well as an ensemble. Daly and Brock match each other well in their despair and insanity. I was strongly reminded of the parents in Pride And Prejudice - the retreating, idealised father and the neurotic mother. The sisters are a beautiful group of "porcelain dolls" trapped between childhood and the realities of being an adult.

In the program Menglet talks about how important it was to have the guards portrayed by two strong women. Again, there is nothing in the script to support or deny a gender commentary  so it is a decision which neither adds nor detracts from the story. I do note that the doctor (Stratford) spends the entire show in a wheelchair so this could have been a great opportunity for a disabled actor...

Whilst I cannot endorse Tchekov At The House Of Special Purpose because of the casting, it is stunning as a piece of theatrical beauty. The conceit behind the writing works, Menglet's aesthetic brings beauty and the production elements (especially Mumford's dresses for the girls) support the story completely.

2.5 Stars

Small Acts Of Love - Cabaret Review

What: Small Acts Of Love
When: 19 - 22 October 2017
Where: The Butterfly Club
Written by: Fiona Scarlett
Directed by: Sarah Vickery
Performed by: Angus Grey and Fiona Scarlett

Fiona Scarlett

I seem to have been following Fiona Scarlett's career quite by accident over the last few years and I have to say it has been a pleasure every step of the way. Beginning in 2015 with impressive vocals in Insomnia at La Mama, our paths crossed several times at The Owl and Cat Theatre where I was blown away by her acting. In Small Acts Of Love I got to see her combine drama and song in this wonderfully depressing cabaret about love shortening our life expectancy.

With the fey elegance of Leslie Caron, the presence and power of Shirley MacLaine, and the mesmeric vocals of Edith Piaf when Scarlett told us love kills I couldn't wait for the tale to unfold. Starting the show ensconced on a throne, ukulele in hand, and crooning 'Burning Ring Of Fire' it was anyone's guess where the show was heading. Scarlett cleared it up quickly though with the simple statement "Love kills".

Learning from the experiences of historical greats such as Tristan and Isolde, and Romeo and Juliet Scarlett concisely makes her argument. She also laments her incorrigible habit of ending romances amicably which is great for her life expectancy but not much help to a method actor.

Never fear though, because Scarlett has a plan. In the absence of any significant enough real painful breakups, Scarlett has decided to use the world of song to journey through a variety of pain and unrequited love in the hope she can shortcut her way to truth in acting. Accompanied by Angus Grey on the piano - repetiteur extraordinaire and very funny mime as well - Scarlett puts down the uke and everything starts to look very cabaret predictable. Sometimes, though, the cabaret form can blow you away. These times are when the artist truly has all the skills to bring the audience with her.

Scarlett has created a range of characters and one of my favourites is her French amore. Donning a beret and splayed across a bentwood chair she launches into 'Jezebel' - in French!!! The whole performance left me speechless and in no doubt about the awesome abilities of this Melbourne performer.

Switching between French and English a few times Scarlett explores the devastations, betrayals, frustrations, and humour of the trials and tribulations encountered when love comes to its end. I constantly found myself torn between closing my eyes and listening to the song and watching Scarlett perform. I didn't want to miss any of the experience!

Riffing off the concept of the Eternity Snake towards the end Scarlett turns down the lights, and bares her soul drawing tears from the audience with her words and with her song. Small Acts Of Love is a wonderful carpet ride which laughs at painful truths and shows us we are not alone. We are all part of a never ending line of people who have loved and lost...and died...

4.5 Stars

The Melbourne Monologues - Theatre Review

What: The Melbourne Monologues
When: 17 - 22 October 2017
Where: La Mama Courthouse
Written by: Louise Baxter, Katie Lee, Anita Sanders, Bruce Shearer, Adele Shelly and Carmen Saarelaht
Directed by Elizabeth Walley
Performed by: Alec Gilbert, Cosima Gilbert, Celia Handscombe, Ruth Katerelos, Jack McGorlick, and Karissa Taylor
Lighting by: Adelaide Harney
Stage Management by: Mazz Ryan

Karissa Taylor in 'The Bystander is the Gatekeeper' - photo by John Edwards

Melbourne Writers Theatre(MWT) was the founding company at La Mama Courthouse and it is great to see both the company and its relationship with the venue live on with their annual season of The Melbourne Monologues. Presenting six monologues written by local artists, this season follows their short play season Six Degrees In Melbourne.

MWT is committed to supporting and developing Melbourne writers and whilst they rarely fully produce plays, public presentations of these kinds are essential building blocks in the craft of storytelling. Taking advantage of this opportunity in 2017 are six exciting writers with varying styles and a range of intriguing explorations.

Kicking of the night was Katie Lee's 'To Understand' performed by Ruth Katerelos. 'To Understand' sees Katerelos trying to come to terms with death a mere 48 days after the loss. Anyone who has experienced such a loss knows that 48 days is merely the beginning. This monologue is intriguing because most writers either look at the issue from the immediate perspective or with a greater distance of time. What Lee presents in this monologue is the anguish as meaning is sought where there is no meaning. Understanding is sought where none will be coming. The quote of the night for me comes from this work: "Hope exists when you are trapped." Katerelos was suitably somber but to give the piece more life she needs to find the restlessness and discomfort in the grief processing.

Stage stalwart Alec Gilbert was next with Carmen Saarelaht's 'No Feet'. This is a dangerous monologue and only an actor with the incredible depth, range, and understanding of Gilbert could deliver it and tread respectfully over the minefields inherent in the work. Trying to explain and contextualise body dismorphia, Saarelaht dares to consider it along with transgender issues. It is through Gilbert's ability to find the truth of the pain and then let the audience in to understand that this monologue reaches the realms of enlightenment.

The MWT seasons have been a bit of a Gilbert Fest this year, but this only means good things for audiences. Hot off the heels of a great performance in Six Degrees In Melbourne Cosima Gilbert is back to bring us Adele Shelley's 'Girls' School Delight's'. At only 14 years of age herself, Gilbert was a shoe in to play A, B, C, and D in this high school romp. Exploring the personalities of 4 teenage girls in the class room this monologue is hilarious if somewhat cliché. The teenage girl as a clown is prominent in our society as we saw in How To Kill The Queen of Pop. I was disappointed to not see more depth to the portrayal and Gilbert needs to find more definition between B and D, but the piece is a phenomenal achievement and the audience showed their appreciation.

In stark contract we see saw Jack McGorlick portray a young apprentice in Bruce Shearer's 'Garry' delivered with great earnestness and respect. Ironically, I felt McGorlick needed to explore the character's paranoia more to bring out comic elements.

The next monologue was a piece I admit I just didn't understand. Anita Sander's 'The Bystander is the Gatekeeper' was completely over my head, set as it was in the world of computer programing and hacking. A morality tale about standing aside and not speaking out and wonderfully performed by Karissa Taylor, I just don't know enough about coding to understand the work.

Ending the night was 'Fairy Dust' by Louise Baxter. Performed with great delicacy by Celia Handscombe this beautiful monologue was a perfect ending to an enchanted evening - complete with a final spray of flutter!

The Melbourne Monologues was a wonderful evening. What a monologue gives us over a full play is the understanding that life is all perspective. Nothing exemplifies this more than 'No Feet'.

3 Stars

Rhythmic Kaleidoscope - Dance Review

What: Rhythmic Kaleidoscope
When: 6 October 2017
Where: Irving Hall

Imogen Moore and Joe Meldrum

This year is the 6th year for the Australian Tap Dance Festival (ATDF) and Melbourne has been immersed in a week of tap dancing and shoe shuffling workshops and residencies. All of the energy and achievements were highlighted this weekend at their gala event Rhythmic Kaleidoscope.

ATDF is the only festival of it's kind in Australasian so our most successful national and international dancers eagerly take up the opportunity to undertake residencies and run workshops under its umbrella. Local dancers get to indulge in experiences which broaden their skills and expand their understanding of the art form.

The great thing about tap dance is its incredible democracy. It is not a dance form which suffers gender definition. You do not have to be super slim, super supple, or super strong. It lives outside the strict pedagogies of most other dance forms - although it requires just as much rigour and technique! It is also a form which can be danced at 6 years of age as well as 60. And, as we saw in Rhythmic Kaleidoscope, it is a dance form which is inclusive and can mutate with times.

After all, what is tap? It is using the body (mostly the feet) to create aural percussion. Tap dance is about sound and rhythm foremost so it takes a keen ear as well as amazing muscle control and isolation.

Because Rhythmic Kaleidoscope was the festival showcase, the overall skill and talents of the performers was a bit patchy as workshop participants demonstrated skills they had been working on over the week, but when the visiting artists did their solo pieces it became clear that we were seeing some of the world's best on this tiny stage in Armadale.

The evening was cleverly curated with the first act focussing on the tradition and applications of tap in film and music videos, such as 'A Fine Romance' and 'Smooth Criminal'.  The second part of the evening - the most powerful section - was about where the artform is going and hints at the possibilities yet to be foreseen.

Shane Preston kicked off the soloists and he showed us the suave art of the Gene Kelly's days. It was a lovely laconic tilt to the greats of the golden days of Hollywood. Darren Disney was one of the original 'Tap Dogs' but as he danced it was actually 'Lord Of The Dance' which came to mind for me. That is perhaps not as odd as it sounds as Dein Perry and Michael Flatley were contemporaries.

Thomas Egan is a contemporary 'Tap Dog' and he totally blew my mind with his ability to control the tempo of his tapping. Speeding up and slowing down with perfect rhythm you could see he was listening to what he was creating as much as he was feeling and dancing it.

The second act was a celebration of improvisation and all the ways tap dance can be used to create art and we had some of the world's greatest tap artists here to demonstrate. Thomas Waddleton calls himself "music maker, tap dancer, and story teller" and tonight he showed us what he means. Coming out on stage with a banjo, he took a seat and sang an improvised song about confessions before getting up and exploring the rhythms and sounds he could make with his feet. Echo had been set on the tap mics and it was as if Waddleton was live sampling his tap and building rhythm upon rhythm.

Nathaniel Hancock and Ritchie Miller got the juices flowing with a exhilarating duet. Ah, those 'Tap Dogs'!

There is no denying, though, the performer of the evening was the exquisite and transcendent Roxane Butterfly. Her tapping is pure art. Opening with a contemporary performance including AV montage Butterfly showed us that tap dance can be slap dance if you take off your shoes and it is just as amazing and a holds a fascinating set of harmonics and resonances - not dissimilar to playing a hand drum. She then dances a more traditional and graceful duet with Ruben James on piano before heading into a durational duel with Newton Peres on the slap board.

Tap Dance has a lot in common with Hip Hop in that it is inclusive and it's strong jazz links give it the ability to be completely individual whilst also being part of a communal whole. In fact, the hybrid tap/hip hop 'Hit 'Em High' choreographed by Brianna Taylor showed just how modern tap dance is.

Experiencing tap dance is a unique experience because you feel the rhythms created by the dancer and travel a physical journey with them. If you think 'Anything Goes' is the height of the art form just wait until you see everything else it can be under the exploration of great artists such as Egan and Butterfly!

2.5 Stars

Echo - Theatre Review

What: Echo
When: 27 September - 1 October 2017
Where: La Mama Courthouse
Written and performed by: Amber Hart and Christie Rohr
Lighting by: Julian Adams

Christie Rohr

The newest entrant in the conversation of being female in Australia at the moment is Echo, playing at La Mama Courthouse. A show hovering somewhere between testimonial and social cliche it is the rawness of knowing these experiences are real for Christie Rohr and Amber Hart which lifts it out of the banal.

These two women have been friends for years. Both have a long and diverse performance making background spanning decades (although they really don't look that old!). They have the rather unusual bond of both experienced unplanned pregnancy and both deciding to keep the child.

Hart starts us off, talking about the experience of choice. To have or not to have, that is the question. None of the conundrums are new. Ever since free love and contraception became the norm women have been struggling with these questions and coming to a range of diverse conclusions. Whilst Hart adds nothing new to the conversation it is important for us all to understand that nothing has been resolved and every time pregnancy occurs, these questions must be struggled through. It never gets easier and it never can get easier.

Rohr echoes Hart's dilemma but her story goes much, much deeper and brings up the issue of abuse. What happens when the birthing question is influenced and manipulated by an abuser?

Rohr is intensely honest to the point of extreme pain for her and the audience. She does not shy away from her culpability but she also stands strong in the belief she has done the best she can.

Again, this story is far too common. In Rohr's tale though, we can make change. We can act to change circumstances. We can work harder to recognise abuse and refuse to tolerate it. We can remove the mythology young women are raised with which says we must have a man no matter what and any many who will stick around is better than no man at all.

Everything we know about social health proves this wrong and it is time we started teaching young girls and women of their intrinsic worth so that men cannot get away with this behaviour and women won't join in the game as if it was normal and okay. Let's break the generational cycle and let the children born of these circumstances know there is a different choice.

The ideas in Echo are strong and the staging ticks a lot of acceptable boxes. Adam's lighting works well and lifts some moments out of the ordinary although there were some scenes when actors were completely unlit which confused me.  Av is used especially effectively and anyone who has taken out an intervention order will fee the impact of what Rohr does with this.

The biggest problem with this show is pace. What in Rohr's performance seems restrained and measured comes across like a 45 vinyl single playing at 33 & 1/3 in Hart's scenes.

Echo is not a bad night of theatre but it does lack dynamics and needs more development on it's meta-statement. I don't know if this particular play has much more forward momentum but I will be interested to see what this pair come up with next.

2 Stars

Virgin Bloody Mary - Theatre Review

What: Virgin Bloody Mary
When: 22 - 26 September 2017
Where: Errol's Cafe
Created and performed by: Nadia Collins

Nadia Collins

It's not often I get hit by a spit ball as I enter a theatre. In fact, it has never happened - until now. Nadia Collins sets the tone for this humanist look at what it is to live up to/be the Virgin Mary from the moment we enter the theatre in this fun-filled yet terrifying romp through the life and times of the religious archetype of the perfect woman in Virgin Bloody Mary.

Collins' Mary begins her incarnation as a mischievous but obedient young girl, angelic yet playful. Invoking the innocence of an angel with her rosary beads and halo Mary puts down her straw and spit balls to welcome everyone into the theatre with the communion of bread and wine which quickly gets out of hand as she extends the offering to cheese, crackers, celery, cucumbers, etc.

Frantically eager to please, Collins develops a frenetic energy as her eagerness to do the right thing gets majorly out of control. This is our first hint of where the evening is going to head. With a phone instruction from God to be fruitful and multiply, Mary finds herself confused between devil sperm and holy sperm. What could possibly go wrong?

Collins is a mime artist and Virgin Bloody Mary is a complex and interactive show which demonstrates her mime and clowning skills to their full extent. Collins shows just how impossible it is to live with the consequences of an immaculate conception and to live up the an angelic benchmark using only her body - which is being used and abused by a violent patriarchy. With a stage (and body) covered with blood and strewn with a broken baby doll and a detroyed rosary which has turned into an instrument of death and destruction, a confused and bereft Mary turns to her God at the end and says 'oops'.

This all sounds very serious, but Collin's feminist take on the maternal archetype is hilarious. Framed by an earnest attempt to be good and do God's bidding it is impossible to not laugh at her desperate attempts - until the shivers kick in when you realise she was doomed to fail from the very beginning. In the business world there is this idea of 'setting people up to succeed'. Collins clearly demonstrate the female archetypes set women up to fail.

Collins has great skill but is still in development. It is hard enough getting and audience to understand how to interact when a performer speaks. For Collins the task is ten times harder in mime. She does it well and most times the intention is understood eventually, but it is this side of her craft which still needs to be explored.

Having said that, I don't know when I had such a fulfilling night of theatre. It had huge laughs. It had food and wine (yes we all get to indulge), and it had great ideas and important commentary. If you get the chance to see Virgin Bloody Mary don't miss it. Just be prepared for the unexpected. After all, I never dreamed I would be the father of demon spawn and yet...

3.5 Stars

Bookcrastinators Anonymous - Cabaret Review

What: Brookcrastinators Anonymous
When: 21 - 26 September 2017
Where: Errol's & Co.
Written by: Jacqueline Whiting
Directed by: Eidann Glover
Musical Direction by: David McNamara
Composition by: Ryan Smedley
Performed by: Eidann Glover and Jacqueline Whiting

Jacqueline Whiting

In Bookcrastinators Anonymous I have found my soul home. Like me, Whiting has not finished a book in two years. Recognising a need greater than her own, she has owned up to her social obligations and started a support group for us lost souls and we meet in the upstairs venue at Errol's Café at The Melbourne Fringe.

Like any good novel, Bookcrastinators Anonymous is a epic tale. The hero is us, the grail is to finish a book, and the obstacles are everything which gets in our way including badly written novels, authors who die before finishing their series', and longings for a simpler time.

Wrapped in a dressing gown, hair still damp from the shower and lots of blankets and pillows around to snuggle into,  Whiting tries to create an inviting environment as we enter although there is some trepidation as Glover goes around putting name tags on us all. Somehow, the word anonymous loses its meaning once we all wear our name...

Unlike so many interactive shows though, this is as threatening as anything gets. Noone throws things at us or manhandles us unlike other performances which insist on imposing on the audience. We do get opportunities to speak our truths but the questioning stops as soon as it hits a roadblock rather than trying to plunder through. After all, you have to bottom out for yourself before you can begin the path to recovery!

After trying to make us comfortable by starting the show with a song you might expect to hear leading into story time on Play School we discover that perhaps one of Whiting's biggest obstacles is her sidekick, Glover. Glover is a 'film person' and completely lacking an empathetic awareness of the pain and confusion a true bibliophile suffers at the idea of an unfinished book.

Whiting is a bit of a fantasy nut (as am I) and she talks about what it is which makes a book so engrossing as a child. Do you remember those books you couldn't put down and which caused your mum to send out a search party to find you after three days? Whiting was lost in worlds of brave heroines and magic trials. It wasn't the characters going on the journey. In her dreams it was Jacqueline The Brave and the song 'Daggers and Arrows' is one of the great anthems of the show.

A brief visit to the misery which is the reading of Fifty Shades of Grey lead us to the second great musical number of the show, 'Chick Lit'. The Grey novels were supposed to be female erotica but Whiting lets everyone into the secret all young girls know. The way to really get wet is through romance novels which contain a surprising amount of very intriguing description and innuendo - and have the benefit of being well written as any truly competitive iterary genre has.

Brookcrastinators Anonymous is a show full of laughs, truths, and interactive games. It is feel good fun which, for me, was so accurate in describing my love/hate relationships with books and being in a room with others with the same affliction was positively uncanny. By the pre-show reading is The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. Good luck with that!

Whiting's singing is a bit pitchy although I suspect some of that was first night nerves because she developed more vocal confidence as the show moved forward. It doesn't matter because it kind of adds to the 'we are all just fellow flawed human beings' sense which comes with support groups.

The best way to enjoy this evening is to bring up a pre-show drink from the café, admit to yourself all the books you have yet to read, and then after the show head downstairs for dinner and talk through your book horror stories with your mates. Pain is always easier to bare when it is shared, which is what Bookcrastinators Anonymous is all about.

3 Stars

How To Kill The Queen Of Pop - Theatre Review

What: How To Kill The Queen Of Pop
When: 15 - 30 September 2017
Where: Studio 1, Arts House
Written by: Tom Halls, Adam Ibrahim and Samuel Russo
Performed by: Simone French, Tom Halls, Adam Ibrahim and Samuel Russo
Costumes by: Penny D'Aloia
Sound by: Jo Buchan
Makeup by: Samantha Pearce

Samuel French, Tom Halls, and Adam Ibrahim

How To Kill The Queen Of Pop is a hilarious queer reimagining of some behind the scenes happenings during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Playing until the end of the month at Arts House this clowning romp and roasting of our very own girl-next-door pop diva, Vanessa Amorosi, won't give you a minute to breathe as you laugh the night away.

I suspect French and Halls have a secret obsession with the 2000 Olympics because last year I saw them at The Butterfly Club doing another farcical satire around the Olympic mascots in What's Yours Is Mine. This time around, Halls has pinned his eagle eyed gaze on Australia's least glam pop star ever and the team spend the hour long show having wonderful drag fun with how down home and unassuming Amorosi was in the beginning.

The show begins with video footage of a street interview Amorosi did where a reporter caught her coming out of the stadium after an opening games rehearsal. She was wearing the least glamorous tracksuit in the history of the world and bangs (a fringe) long before they became chic. Her first mega hit 'Absolutely Everybody' was rocking everyone's world and was to be a part of the opening ceremony.

Enter Tami (Russo), Tiffanee (Halls), and Tulfah (Ibrahim). These three fashion icons, also known as the T-Boners, are school chums of Amorosi and let her join the group. They fancy themselves as a super diva singing group but everything changes when Amorosi dumps them for a solo chance in the spotlight. How To Kill The Queen Of Pop is glitter infused revenge porn which travels at a cracking paste which can only lead to a train wreck of stadium proportions.

These four performers have established a constant career of working together in various combinations since training at VCA and the precision with which they perform shows just how in sync they are. How To Kill The Queen Of Pop is clowning of the highest calibre and sets a new standard for the art form.

My only reservations about the show is the portrayal of the female. When the show started I thought I was in for a fun and fantastic trans romp and was all set to go. I realised a little while in though, that the men were not playing trans or drag - they were playing actual women/girls - and that's when I started having reservations.

Yes, I get the clowning and don't deny they did it well but I found myself wondering about the privilege on display with regard to portraying women in this manner. Why? What is being revealed? Does what is being portrayed move us forward as a society or backwards? Does the freedom of the queer voice on stage come at the detriment of the female on stage?

Having said that, I confess to having laughed the night away and was surrounded by a room full of zealous audience members. It has been a long time since I have been in a theatre space where the audience were actually willing to express their response to the show in a way everyone could see and hear. It was almost more exciting than an ANZAC Day football match!

The topic might be aging but the fun is as lively as ever and queer theatre is hot right now. I dare you to try and not sing along to Amorosi's earworm anthems as the show progresses...and I am seriously getting one of those little crop sweaters Tami and Tulfah are wearing!

4.5 Stars

Sonder - Event Review

What: Sonder
When: 19 - 24 September 2017
Where: No Vacancy Gallery Project Space, Federation Square
Created and guided by: Catherine Holder

Catherine Holder

The Melbourne Fringe Festival motto is 'everything is art'. We could debate that forever (and have been) but when events such as Sonder come along it is enough to make even the most sceptical consider changing their position. Taking place in the No Vacancy Gallery Project Space in The Atrium at Federation Square, this 15 minute escape is a massage for the soul anybody can slip into their day.

Holder has created an environment which immediately shifts us into a relaxing spa experience. Completely interactive and highly sensorial the waft of incense will be immediately recognisable to anyone who has indulged in a Swedish massage or facial experience. Combine that with  a soft white environment draped with netting, voile and chiffons and a box office receptionist in day spa attire and I could feel myself slipping into a relaxed mode expecting to be coddled and tended and beautified. My expectations were met, but not how I thought they would be.

Being truly interactive means we have to participate, but the point of Sonder is to explore 'notions of comfort, connection, vulnerability and the everyday'. The genius of the space Holder has given us is we get to create our own safe space any way we want before we are asked to connect.

Connection is a scary word - especially when it is with a stranger. Holder cleverly breaks down the barriers one by one over fifteen minutes until our guards come down and we allow ourselves to truly relax for one short moment in the day. As a result we get to truly see and be seen which is one of the most surprisingly refreshing experiences I have ever had.

Sonder runs as one-on-one sessions which last 15 minutes throughout the day for the lunch crowd and after work sojourn. Cheaper than a massage and far more effective, this experience will impact you for hours and give you back the energy you need to finish off the work day or head out to a long night of Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Seriously, pop in. You will not regret Sonder and because it is an exclusive experience it is one others will be jealous of when you tell them about it. Sonder means the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. In Holder's Sonder she acknowledges this, sees it, and shares your vivid and complex life for one brief and intimate moment in a busy world. My only regret is I didn't want it to end...and yet it was just enough!

5 Stars