Throughout the 2023 Adelaide Fringe, Steve Davis will be sharing tips about shows to investigate, especially South Australian grassroots shows, to help punters try something a little different.
The segment today, happened at 12:50pm with Richard Pascoe. Steve’s notes are below, covering these shows:
- Extra curricular
- Manbo
- Be a doll, won’t you?
- Stories through song – Sinatra edition
- The John Lennon Songbook In Concert
- BONES
Comedy Picks – Adelaide Fringe Form Guide
Extra curricular
Matthew Trainor and Libby Parker Trainor, who I believe were on FIVEaa a few weeks ago, have looked at the life teachers lead and they’ve mined it for comedy.
Depending upon who you talk to, the best teachers are overworked and underpaid, with a high burnout rate and a mandatory caffeine addiction.
It’s a show by teachers, for teachers, or anyone who has ever sat in a classroom.
It sounds like a lot of fun. Hopefully it won’t smell like your typical school, though!
It’s on tonight and tomorrow at Gluttony.
Manbo
In the small Yurt venue, behind the Migration Museum, Sam Dugmore is going all 80s on us as he explores action hero themes.
The show sounds and looks super tacky, but that’s what it has to be like for an authentic recreation of 80s culture!
It’s a dose of physical comedy with lots of audience engagement as this action hero has to face his worst nemesis … himself.
It’s on tonight and tomorrow night at 6.30 at The Yurt.
Theatre Picks – Adelaide Fringe Form Guide
Be a doll, won’t you?
Can something be beautiful and grotesque at the same time?
Ella Graham thinks so. Most of her art is described like that, including her one woman show which is on tonight and tomorrow night at The Mill in Angas Street.
It’s physical theatre in which Ellen takes you into the world of a woman working in the, shall we say, adult relaxation industry.
It’s a pretty gritty ride through the experience of working in that world, from the start where her beauty is rewarded to the end where she becomes quite distant from her identity and wrestles with the temptation of just making money from her own indifference to herself.
It sounds like an old Benny Hill skit in which a woman does a strip tease but then keeps going right down to her skeleton. That was pretty deep for Benny Hill, and Ella will go further, I’m sure.
Music Picks – Adelaide Fringe Form Guide
The John Lennon Songbook in concert
Last year I got to see the show, Lennon Through A Glass Onion, but this year, John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta and their band have a new show about John Lennon, The John Lennon Songbook In Concert.
Lennon was a very observant songwriter and his lyrics and melodies really gave the Beatles their edge.
Glass Onion was a theatrical show but this new one is more of a gig, with Walters and D’Arrietta having more freedom to interact with the audience.
This might just be the next best thing to having seen John Lennon live.
On The GC – Grand Central at The Arts Theatre.
Stories through song – Sinatra edition
I was lucky enough to hear a 9 piece orchestra in New York, led by a singer who was an almost identical copy of Frank Sinatra. As they belted through the songs, everybody was enthralled.
At The Gov, we’re in for something similar as Robert Jonathan James returns to present his aclaimed show, Stories Through Song – Sinatra Edition.
Robert takes us on a journey through the life, loves and laments of the legend, Frank Sinatra.
And while most of us know most of the this, this show promises to dig out some interesting insights and, of course, present them all wrapped up in classic cabaret style.
If you loved ‘The Chairman of the Board’, this should be a classy night.
It’s at 6.30 over the next three Saturdays at The Gov.
WILDCARD – Adelaide Fringe Form Guide
BONES
Addiction is everywhere. Some people are addicted to drugs and alcohol, most of us are addicted to social media, and some people are addicted to Richard Pascoe. And Richard, you are verging on becoming addicted to fitness.
Gluttony is hosting an intriguing dance production called BONES – and it seems to be a dance show that is not just for the dance crowd.
This very talented cast of South Australians, led by Fiona Smith, who performed in New York as part of the Fringe encore series back in 2017, have blended together movement and story wiht lighting and sound to shine a pretty fierce spotlight on all the ways we are addicted to things and other people.
This is an R-rated show, due to some mild language, sexual references, and nudity, so brace yourself for an “all in” experience.
It’s on at 10pm, Tuesday to Sunday.