Category Archives: comedy

HOT: Songs from the 86 Tram, Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne

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songs from the 86 tram, lithuanian club, 44 errol street north melbourne

Docklands and Bundoora. That’s a pretty big contrast. And perfect comedy material for a fringe festival hit from The Bedroom Philosopher, Songs from the 86 Tram.

The 86 is my home tram and I can tell you it’s a carriage of character compared to my former tram (No 8 to Toorak – homogenous and perfectly groomed). Justin Heazlewood, the self-described love child of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, sings the story of the 86s (‘we are tramily!’) interspersed with occasional monologues from the mumbling tram driver, some cheerful tram ‘dings’ and the beep-beep sound of a Metcard being validated.

Heazlewood expresses the thoughts and feelings of the lonely granny, new immigrant, broken-hearted bogan, pretentious music funkster, drug-addled couples and ‘new media’ types in witty and poignant lyrics, covering a variety of musical styles from hip hop to low-fi folk to pub rock mostly with just a guitar. The show has some very funny moments and some patches of low energy, much like the up and down route of the 86. If you’re a Melburnian you’ll love it.

For reviews of other shows at the Lithuanian Club, check out Arj Barker and Tale of the Golden Lease.

HOT: Metrosketchuals, Glasshouse Hotel, 51 Gipps St, Collingwood

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Metrosketchual‘s write-up described them as ‘the best live sketch show of the festival’ -The Pun. And despite my initial misgivings (out-of-the-way venue, never heard of them, offering me free tickets), the two guys (one of whom had an uncanny resemblance to comedian Jack Black, which gave them a head start already) delivered a hilarious show. This was comedy for comedy’s sake – no deeper subtext, no socio–eco-political undertones – just two blokes having fun on stage, acting out funny scenarios with a slick use of music, video, lights and silly puns. I still get the giggles when I think about the hysterical pedestrian-walk dance to Rolling Stones’ Scorpio. The small audience in the back room of the cosy Glasshouse Hotel did not stop laughing for the hour, and that’s the best you can ask.

HOT: Who’s That Chik?, Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

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Candy Bowers wanted all the critics to introduce their reviews by saying that Who’s That Chik? features ‘a girl in skin tight dance pants’. So if you’re expecting crisp white linen suits and the perfect diction of God of Carnage, you’re in the wrong theatre.

Candy B’s self-written, autobiographical show is billed as ‘a hip hop tale of a brown girl with big dreams’. I’m not much of a hip hop-er (RM recently had to explain Snoop talk to me….off the hizzle, for shizzle) so I didn’t really know whether I’d like the show or not. Which just proves why we should always try something new, for this brash show is high-energy, high-colour fun and Candy is an outspoken and bold talent.

The show starts with a humourous video of Candy giving some lip to Cate Blanchett, who has dared to ask Candy to collaborate with her. Candy says no – her solo show is going to blow the Sydney Theatre Company out of the water.

While the rest of the show involves audience call-and-response, booty shaking and a hilarious impression of Lionel Ritchie, the singing, dancing and hip hop beats are all a vehicle for Blasian (black-Asian-Caucasian) Candy to reflect on the melange of cultures in her family and express her political beliefs about the ‘whiteness’ of Australian performing arts. We all know that the Asian chick on Neighbours represents token diversity and any moment she’s going to get wacked from the storyline. When will a Sudanese family move into Ramsay Street? Why doesn’t prime time TV reflect the cultural diversity you see in Footscray, Maribynong and Campbelltown?

For me, the story that struck home the most was her describing her childhood growing up in suburban Dandenong, keenly aware of being different. Her memories and even her photographs reflected my childhood experiences – of being the standout Asian kid in ballet group photos, with dead straight black hair that would never fall into ringlets and passing as a German maid, Captain Logan’s English wife and a bushranger on stage.

Whether you agree or disagree with her politics, the show is uplifting and inspiring and happy. This is mostly due to the Candy’s humour and exuberance and the obvious passion with which she’s written and performed her story. It’s no mean feat that she’s able to hold the audience’s attention on her own for 90 minutes. And at the end of it, everyone – black, white, yellow, old and young – gets up to dance! It’s a joyful moment.

Thanks to the Arts Centre for inviting me to the show.

  • Who’s That Chik?

HOT: Ridiculusmus Play Readings, La Mama, 205 Faraday St, Carlton

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Ridiculusmus play readings Goodbye Princess Melbourne Fringe Festival La Mama 205 Faraday Street Carlton

La Mama is an intimate one-room shoebox tucked away in Carlton, and it’s a terrible/wonderful theatre space. Terrible if you’re stuck with a boring show, as there’s nowhere to hide, snooze or make a hasty escape. Wonderful if you’re sharing the space with a witty, invigorating production, as the sense of intimacy really feels like you’re witness to an exciting secret.

UK theatre duo Ridiculusmus have brought their works-in-progress Goodbye Princes, Total Football and A Conversation About Comedy to La Mama as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. David Woods and Jon Haynes are my comedic heroes ever since I saw their hysterical, my face-is-going-to-fall-off-I’m-laughing-so-hard version of The Importance of Being Earnest, where the two of them played every character. In London I also saw their 15th anniversary retrospective season at the Barbican containing more works of their rapid-fire, ping-pong conversations. These guys are so funny that even when they were saying something innocuous to me like ‘Thanks for coming’ I’d feel a fit of giggles coming on.

The most thrilling aspect of their short season at La Mama was that they invited members of the public to read Goodbye Princes as part of an Elizabethan style play reading, meaning you were given only your part and then had to read/act it along with a bunch of strangers you’d never met . You have no idea how excited I was to be selected as ‘Blogger 1’ because Ridiculusmus had read my blog!

Ridiculusmus play readings Goodbye Princess Melbourne Fringe Festival La Mama 205 Faraday Street Carlton

Our evening started off with David and Jon reading an excerpt from their two-hander Total Football, a play inspired a young kid (and presumably football fanatic) Charlie Wootton (who was in the audience). The script was typical Ridiculusmus – a snappy cross-fire of banter weaving in and out of a clutch of vaguely connected tangents, from football fans to Churchill to the Olympic Committee to British identity.

Then the cast of about 43 people (ranging from an amateur actor to an arts administrator to a story-teller to me) started to read Goodbye Princess. I had the benefit of a full script and this was my second reading, so I had some idea of where it was going. I’m sure most members of the audience had no idea what was going on, as characters played other characters played other characters and the dialogue jumbled and bounced back and forth in what seemed to be a play commissioned by Mohammed Al Fayed to reveal the truth about the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed. Clearly everyone enjoyed just going along for the ride and the intimate setting made it feel like we were all part of one big party, with the cast and the audience all hooting with laughter at the dialogue, the sometimes haphazard delivery and the unexpected interjections from people who looked like audience members but who were not.

Ridiculusmus are doing one more play reading tonight – the complete version of Total Football and A Conversation About Comedy. If you can make it, go see it – I guarantee a good time!

You can ead Theatrenotes’ review here and Australian Stage’s review here.

HOT: Tale of the Golden Lease, Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melb

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Melbourne Fringe Festival #3: Tale of the Golden Lease by four blokes in jeans, otherwise known as Vigilantelope.

While the rest of Melbourne was getting celebrating/commiserating over the grand final, I sat in a dark room at the Lithuanian Club and got transported to heaven, hell, the prehistoric era and a fish and chip shop. Tale of the Golden Lease is a wild story about the race between God and Satan to find the lease for Earth and thus control the fate of humans, all before (Father) time runs out. Naturally such an important religious topic involved a couple of Olympics opening ceremony-style dance numbers, hasty costume changes, boom-boom puns, midgets, funny accents and a very convincing impression of the slobbering hounds of hell.

Tale of the Golden Lease is an impressively imaginative low-fi production, the kind of independent theatre that fringe does best. It sold out at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, so you can expect tickets to be HOT for this run too.

HOT: Arj Barker, Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne

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Melbourne Fringe Festival #2: Arj Barker is a favourite act among Australian comedy audiences (helped no doubt by his role as Dave in Flight of the Conchords) so it makes sense that he would test out his new material on our friendly shores. So as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival he’s put together a show entitled ‘Keeper or Crapper’– basically, an exercise in helping him decide which jokes to keep and which jokes to chuck in the bin.

Even though the show is unpolished, not every joke flies and there are pockets of dead energy, Barker is still very, very funny. His shouty, skewed and seemingly ad lib observations on snakes, having your own apartment and Star Wars prove why he’s been able to make comedy his career for the last 15 or so years. Will he sell out his shows? Yes – so get in quick.

HOT Alert: Week of 21 September 2009

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Apparently this week there’s some sort of football grand final happening? I will be one of maybe two people in Melbourne nowhere near the MCG or a big screen TV:

This week’s photo is a shot from last week’s Don’t Ban the Can, part of the Croft Alley Project. I only got to see the alley for about 30 seconds and I couldn’t really justify a post, so here’s the pic.

Don't Ban the Can, Croft Alley Project Melbourne

HOT: Mayumana, The Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Southbank

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Mayumana is a 85 minutes of  all-singing, all-dancing, slapstick energy and it’s inevitable that it will be compared to the last all-singing, all-dancing , slapstick show that Melbourne hosted, Cirque de Soleil.

The difference with Mayumana is that the thumping rhythm of the show is provided by the acoustic properties of the body and a series of unusual props. So much of the beat comes from the troupe drumming on plastic buckets, steel cans and wheelie bins, slapping their thighs, arms and chests, stamping their feet, breathing down long plastic tubes like a didgeridoo and even dancing and leaping with glow-in-the-dark flippers.

Much of the broad-strokes comedy fell a bit flat with me (more suitable for young uns I think) and the show’s not particularly innovative or groundbreaking – but you’ve got to admire the precision, vibrancy and evident enjoyment of the percussionists.

HOT: August: Osage County, Playhouse Theatre, Southbank

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Every single one of my London theatre buddies went to see the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s multi-award winning August: Osage County at the National Theatre, so I was excited to discover that I wouldn’t miss out after all as it was included in the 2009 repertory of the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Tracy Lett’s darkly funny story has been called ‘a Great American Play’ in the vein of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. It certainly doesn’t hide from confrontational issues, including suicide, drug addiction, infidelity, paedophilia and child abuse. The multi-generational sprawl of storylines is heightened by the impressive three-level set, a cross-section of what you’d imagine to be a typical American family home. For over three hours, the members of the dysfunctional Weston family climb, stumble, destroy and storm out of the house as they live out their petty dramas, screaming confrontations, tender moments and the gradual unveiling of family skeletons.

The cast are uniformly excellent and create memorable characters. Robin Nevin is incredible as the stumbling, drug-addled matriach Violet, who has basically given up on keeping any semblance of holding it together. Her riveting stage presence is impressivly supported by Jane Menelaus as one of the Violet’s daughters, Barbara, who looks like she will fall into her mother’s path of savagery and drug dependance. The only false note is the oddly superfluous character of Johnna, the Native American hired help who goes about her housekeeping with a distant serenity – perhaps she is supposed to represent the calm eye in the familial storm.

August: Osage County is a dramatic and biting play which makes for an exciting night of theatre – go and see it.

HOT: Avenue Q, Comedy Theatre, 240 Exhibition St, Melbourne

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A comedy musical with puppets? Don’t start groaning – the Tony Award winning Avenue Q is cheesy, cheeky, a little bit dirty and it’s certainly not for kids. Admittedly it doesn’t try too hard for laughs (who’s not going to laugh at puppets having wild sex?), the songs are catchy without being memorable and there was a bizarre pseudo-cameo involving Gary Coleman from Diff’rent Strokes, but all in all the most impressive part of the show was the ability of the on-stage puppeteers to draw the focus away from themselves and project human gestures and emotions on a bunch of floppy, googley-eyed muppets.