Barking Gecko and Opera Australia
Book by John Marsden and Shaun Tan
Adapted and directed by John Sheedy
Composed by Kate Miller-Heidke
Libretto by Lally Katz
Musical director and arranger Iain Grandage
Designed by Gabriela Tylesova
Lighting designer Trent Suidgeest
Sound designer Michael Waters
Performed by Kate Miller-Heidke, Hollie Andrew, Jessica Hitchcock, Lisa Maza, Marcus Corowa, David Leha, Kanen Breen, Nicholas Jones, Christopher Hillier, Simon Meadow and Robert Mitchell
Music by Iain Grandage, Callum G’Froerer, Kier Nuttall, Veronique Serrett and Dan Witton
Heath Ledger Theatre
Until February 16
(★ ★ ★ ½)
We’ve recently seen major stage treatments of the pivotal event in the history of our continent, the collision of its indigenous inhabitants with European colonisers. Now we have The Rabbits.
In the book upon which it is based, John Marsden and Shaun Tan parallel the overrunning of native animals by introduced species with the inexorable spread of colonising humans across the continent.
Perth’s Barking Gecko and Opera Australia are a natural combination to bring The Rabbits to the stage, and the result is very largely successful.
For all of us, the terrible story buried before and beneath our entitled lives needs telling and retelling, and The Rabbits, despite some flaws, is a significant contributor to that process.
Link here to the complete review in The West Australian
Performed by Jonas and Esther Slanzi
Big Top
11 – 19 Feb
(★★★★)
ZWÄI, the circus of Jonas and Esther Slanzi, is dedicated to their artform’s aesthetic, rather than its spectacle.
ZWÄI means “two” in their native Swiss-German. In a series of simple, graceful routines, using the bare minimum of equipment, a rope between two suspended pulleys, a small table and ten green bottles (sitting on the floor), the Slanzis play out an even-tempered story of teasing and enchantment – anything you can do, I can do better – between a couple.
Esther is an angel on a rope, slim, delicate and composed; Jonas, too, is no ordinary acrobat/strongman, with his pale skin and high forehead, he looks like a Werner Herzog character.
Link here to the complete review in The West Australian
Peter Combe
Circus Theatre
Friday 13 Feb
In her review of Peter Combe’s daytime show for ungrown-ups, our Kate Prendergast perfectly caught the irresistibly silly magic than brews when Combe and kids get together. In an inspired bit of programming, the Fringe had him back later – much later –when the tackers would definitely, absolutely be asleep (and not able to laugh at us), for another spin through his fantastic repertoire, this time for adults.
I realised, as I listened to Combe doing his only cover, George Harrison’s sweet, limpid Here Comes The Sun, that, like The Beatles, it’s a much stronger and deeper connection than mere nostalgia that brought these grown-ups back to hear these songs again.
For them, Peter Combe and his music have never made way for other toys.
Link here to the complete review in The West Australian, and here for Kate Prendergast's review of Combe's kids' show.
Written and performed by Claire Lovering
The Blue Room
February 10 - 12
(★ ★ ★ ★)
Claire Lovering emerged from WAAPA as the dux of her class in 2011, and made an immediate impact in four Black Swan productions. Then she vamoosed, to Sydney, as they do.
She’s back, with a little one-hander called River, and it’s a terrific, touching character piece that’s an early Fringe highlight.
Lovering’s writing (workshopped and dramaturged by Sarah Giles) is assured, balanced, observant and insightful. She controls its pace and temperature with great maturity, and brings it home with a sweet, beautiful performance. I can think of nothing to criticise.
There are going to be encore performances from February 10 – 12. Check the Fringe World website for details.
Link here to the complete review in The West Australian
Two solo shows visiting Perth for Fringe World come with strong pedigrees and big wraps, but neither set the house on fire.
CONCRETE: heartbeat (★★★)
kdmindustries
Created and performed by Mark Haslam
PICA Studio
Until 14 Feb
One of the great joys of my distant childhood was a View-Master stereoscope and the crude but magical 3D images on its reels.
Mark Haslam’s CONCRETE: heartbeat shares that enchantment, but when the visuals were absent, or static, Haslam’s words and performance lacked the intensity to make the piece truly compelling.
Yours the Face (★★½)
By Fleur Kilpatrick
Quiet Little Fox
Directed by Sarah Walker and Robert Reid
Performed by Roderick Cairns
The Blue Room
Until 7 Feb
Yours the Face is the story of an affair between an Australian photographer and an American model in London, both played by WAAPA graduate Roderick Cairns.
It’s a disappointment, despite Cairns’s impressive talent and skilful direction by Sarah Walker, who also designed the photo-shoot set, and Robert Reid. The story meanders through hackneyed high-life scenarios to tedious sexual adventures and a fiery twist too soggy to ignite.
Link here to the complete review of both shows in The West Australian
The indie stars at The Last Great Hunt have made a serious splash at this year’s Fringe, reviving two hits, Elephents and Bruce, and unveiling Fag/Stag, Yoshi’s Castle, and Monroe and Associates. They are all very tidy additions to the Perth based, internationally touring, company’s repertoire.
Yoshi’s Castle (★★★½)
Written and devised by Gita Bezard
Devised and performed by Arielle Grey and Adriane Daff
The Stables
Until 9 Feb
Yoshi’s Castle is a sweet confection with just enough tart in its centre. Tilly (Arielle Grey) and Yoshi (Adriane Daff) are half-sisters gathered at their deceased dad’s house to reveal the contents of his will.
Despite the fun and games of their reunion, there’s wariness between them, because Tilly can’t, or won’t, tell her sister the whole story of why she’s here.
Yoshi’s Castle is a Fringe hour very well spent.
Monroe and Associates
Created by Tim Watts
The Blue Room
Until 21 Feb (sold out)
Tim Watts, working with his dead clever dad Anthony, has created a devilish little crime noir world in a caravan parked outside the Blue Room.
You’ve woken up in Sunset City hospital, but you don’t know who you are. Over the next 45 minutes you’ve got to unscramble your past – and try to stay alive doing it. It’s the movie you always wanted to be in, superbly engineered by Watts.
The rest is what you make of it, including the star rating. I’m giving myself ★★★★.
Link here to the complete reviews in The West Australian
Flabbergast Theatre
Written and performed by Henry Maynard
Deluxe Theatre
(★ ★ ★ ★)
Henry Maynard’s adventurous career includes a stint as the head of Tophorn in War Horse on the West End and heading up UK’s award-winning Flabbergast Theatre (who also brought Boris and Sergey's Vaudevillian Adventure to this year’s Fringe).
All of which is good training for his marvellous little Tatterdemalion, and especially for performing it to a young couple, two twenty-something girls, a guy with an artist’s pass and a passing reviewer, in the tiny Deluxe Theatre in the Fringe’s Pleasure Garden on a hot summer afternoon.
Link here to the complete review in The West Australian
