Alex Dunkin

Author, researcher, and reviewer. More info at www.alexdunkin.com

[alexdunkin]

Fringe Festival Review: James Veitch Tentative

James Veitch delights the Adelaide Fringe Festival with the world premiere of his latest show. Tentative continues the UK-based comedian’s multimedia heavy style of comedy for his latest Fringe show.

Veitch is known for his use of PowerPoint presentations as the multimedia aspect of his show and as a visual guide to his gags. The majority of his tales presented on the slides are based around his online and communication experiences, in which he invokes elements of light trolling, in order to reach humorous outcomes. There were a mixture of gags from his experiences gaming and feeling like the game makers were personally judging his ability to roam randomly within a game’s world. All through to tales similar to and about his previous gala performances in which he questions professionals, such as architects, with increasingly ridiculous but well-written questions to see how long the professional façade can be maintained. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-festival-review-james-veitch-tentative/

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Fringe Festival Review: Larry Dean Fudnut

Scottish comedian Larry Dean brings his hilarious stand up based on his life to the Garden of Unearthly Delights. The latest show Fudnut continues his award-winning career, which includes taking out the Scottish Comedian of the Year Award. It has been five years since Dean has performed in Adelaide. Since then he completed a successful run of a show based around his time coming out of a long-term relationship. During those years his personal experiences and routines have expanded through personal journeys that culminate in the up-to-date show about his life, Fudnut. A neat addition to the show’s introduction was a brief summary of past events in a kind of ‘previously on’ beginning as seen on television shows. It was a humorous inclusion that made light of potentially dark moments through a karaoke style run through that limits the summary to the length of a song. Read the full review at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-larry-dean-fudnut/

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Fringe Festival Review: Arj Barker Comes Clean

Arj Barker is a multi-award winning comedian who has been in stand up since the late eighties including being a regular favourite on Australia comedy television shows from The Glasshouse, Good News Week, Hughesy We Have a Problem and The Project. His latest show, Comes Clean, had its world premiere in Adelaide and features an array of general comedic tales and observations. The stories vary from literal toilet humour and the discussion about the differences in toilets between the US and Australia, and on to topics about aliens, fleas, and general life stress. The full review can be read at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-arj-barker-comes-clean/

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Fringe Festival Review: YUCK Circus

YUCK Circus is a seven woman troop of acrobatic performers from Western Australia bringing another round of their award winning show to the Adelaide 2020 Fringe Festival. The show stripped away some of the purist elements of circus to then use the technical bones of the performance style to craft a fine feminist tale. The seven performers Georgia Deguara, Ella Norton, Brooke Duckworth, Abbie Madden, Karla Scott, Jessica Smart, and Emily McDonagh each bring their own skills and background from physical theatre, circus and dance to the production. The production opened with an amusingly overblown blokey performance. Over the top grunting and excessively emphasised bulges immediately highlight the style of physical theatre that was about to commence. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-yuck-circus/

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Fringe Festival Review: Best of the Edinburgh Fest

Best of the Edinburgh Fest brings to the Adelaide Fringe a handpicked trio of comedians from the previous year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the biggest arts festival in the world, and places them together to demonstrate the current talent appearing within UK comedians. Most shows at the Fringe are only an hour long for one performer to include their personalised stories, arcs and other messages they wish to sneak in. So having three stand-up acts within the one hour compresses the process to the highlights. In this case it is three performers selected to represent the best of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (held in August each year). Ian Smith, Maisie Adam, and Markus Birdman are an incredible and hilarious representation of the Edinburgh Festival. The differences within their comedy styles gave a variety of taste in UK comedy. The full review can be read at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-best-of-the-edinburgh-fest-2/

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Fringe Festival Review: Steph Tisdell “Baby Beryl”

Steph Tisdell’s “Baby Beryl” takes on a conversational style of humour in a unique show that is different each time it runs. The show is based around community and interaction. Tisdell brings in a loose structure that relies heavily on audience participation and ends with an interview with an audience member who wants to share a tale from their life. The bulk of the tales and jokes were based upon recent experiences, including Tisdell’s first day in Adelaide for this year’s Fringe Festival. A general call back to Tisdell’s idea that she’s never met a baby named Beryl acted as the inspiration and context for the show but the remainder of the set came directly from what and who was available in the venue. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-steph-tisdell-baby-beryl/

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Adelaide Fringe Review: Josh Belperio Right Here, Right Now

Josh Belperio has channelled all his rage and anger at current political and social affairs into a brand new cabaret show, Right Here, Right Now. Belperio is an award-winning musical performer from Adelaide and graduate from the Elder Conservatorium of Music. He had originally planned a show, entitled Scarred for Life, but a few days out from the opening night switched it out for a raw production that approaches many of the political and activist issues that arose over the summer. The bushfire crisis, attacks on freedoms under the guise of religious discrimination, and even the actions of the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison come under the gaze of Belperio as a composer and songwriter. There is strong wit and a balanced pace in the mix of spoken word and songs that allowed for an issue approach for darker topics, such as depression and suicide. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-festival-review-right-here-right-now/

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Fringe Festival Review: Felicity Ward Busting a Nut

Felicity Ward is back in Australia after a few years of living in the UK and appearing frequently on a variety of panel and comedy shows. Ward returned with her latest full length production Busting A Nut for a packed out crowd at the Garden of Unearthly Delights in the 2019 Adelaide Fringe season. The Busting A Nut show drew upon her recent history including marriage and experiences in a different countries culture. These tales brought in a fun contemporary update to Ward’s work and entertaining insight for fans who have followed the personal style of Ward’s comedy style over the years. The persona on stage was energetic and engaging. Ward played an open book in her comedy. The tales were highly relatable and included many personal stories to humanise Ward and connect on a greater level with the audience. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-felicity-ward-busting-a-nut/

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Fringe Festival Review: JooYung Roberts The Ballad of JooYung

JooYung Roberts is an emerging Adelaide-based comedian slowly expanding into the comedy world. His current show The Ballad of JooYung Roberts is a fresh piece of work currently on at Ancient World as part of the Adelaide Fringe. Hidden through an alley way and into a basement on Hindley Street, the venue Ancient World is an intimate, themed location with exposed fittings, experimental art and an otherworldly view. It’s a fun, fringe venue with unique offerings, including the work from Roberts. The Ballad of JooYung Roberts show drew upon Roberts’ personal experiences including his family background, personal history, and some cooking discoveries. Roberts was joined on stage by new, local comedians starting with the dry, story-based tales of Henry Wilson and followed by a state Raw Comedy finalist, Anno Gomes, who presented edgy race observational comedy. The full review is available to read at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-jooyung-roberts-the-ballad-of-jooyung-roberts/

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Adelaide Festival Review: Out of Chaos...

Gravity and Other Myths continues their surreal and defining productions in their latest show Out of Chaos…. The crew behind Gravity and Other Myths spent time in France perfecting their newest show, which focuses on the creation of life from the smallest beginnings. The show has been described as ‘new circus’ which is a blend of alternate styles of performance, in particular physical theatre, dance, and circus, that follows a single plot connecting the individual scenes. There are quite a few elements in the commercial description of the show which project the story and artistry that hit into the ‘art wank’ side of what appears in the actual show. What does appear in the actual show is a fully developed, stunning physical theatre display. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/festival-review-out-of-chaos/

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Fringe Review: Totally Plucked

Simon Wright brings a new sense of comedy and physical theatre to the Bally at Gluttony for his Adelaide Fringe show Totally Plucked. The guests are welcomed by Wright’s alter ego grandmother character with snacks, walking frame, hunch and all before being led into the venue for the warm up act of bingo, audience participation and the sly sexual humour that this style of character could get away with. The grandmother character is wiped away for the birthing, in a bizarrely hilarious and visual sense, of the main chicken character. The semi nudity and feathers combined with the circus acts bring a high energy component to the overall show. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-totally-plucked/

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Fringe Review: Judith Lucy Vs Men

Judith Lucy filled the Vagabond at the Garden of Unearthly Delights for her latest comedy show, Judith Lucy Vs Men. As the name implies, Lucy reflected upon her relationships with men over the decades. After the initial lead in, as a style of welcome to a Judith Lucy show, Lucy tackled the dysfunctional family relationships with a dry humour that makes the complexities of the details more approachable and understandable. From there, Lucy took us on a speedy trek through her personal relationships, detailing the attitudes men have presented around her, and ending with a recent separation. She engaged the audience as the jury as to whether or not she should continue to date men. The full review is available at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-judith-lucy-vs-men/

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Anya Anastasia: The Executioners

Anya Anastasia returns to Adelaide with her cutting show The Executioners to the Masonic Lodge as part of this year’s Fringe Festival celebrations. The Executioners is a witty, satirical show that wraps up a deeper meaning in the overall artistic work. The show begins with a live facetime from Anastasia which lays the groundwork for the rest of the production with regular interferences from her iPhone and an overload of horrible day-to-day news projected rapidly on the backscreen. Comical music, complete with original songs, carry the emotion, charisma, and humour which are all finely performed. The full review is available to read at Glam Adelaide: glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-anya-anastasia-the-executioners/

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Review: Madiba the Musical

Madiba the Musical brings the life and struggles of Nelson Mandela to the stage in an uplifting musical full of facts about the man himself and South Africa.

The Australian production brings the work of French writers Jean-Pierre Hadida and Alicia Sebrien to the local stage with the translation and conversion of the script for an English speaking audience. Directed by Pierre-Yves Duchene and under the musical direction of Michael Tyack, Madiba the Musical creates a new path into the historical conflicts that defined South Africa.

The full review can be read at Glam Adelaide: www.glamadelaide.com.au/theatre-review-madiba-the-musical/

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Feast Festival Review - The Measure of a Man

Gavin Roach’s latest work, The Measure of a Man, premiered in Adelaide as part of the 2018 Feast Festival.

The play is the second instalment of the Anxiety Trilogy, a series of performances that detail personal insights into lived experiences. The Measure of a Man is framed around the idea of being larger than average when it comes to sex organs and what this can mean when it comes to sex itself. It is from this point that the anxieties and worries about the body, experiences with other people, and the pressures of gay men expectations are stitched together in an intimate monologue.

The full review can be read at Glam Adelaide: www.glamadelaide.com.au/feast-festival-review-the-measure-of-a-man/

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Feast Festival Review - The Dykeside Two Left

The Dykeside is back in Adelaide and they are down to two comedians. The originals, Lori Bell and Bobby Macumber are quick to highlight the development of the show and the adjustment to the lineup as part of their comedy set. Bell is a regular to the Adelaide comedy stage and knows how to interact with the local audience with quick wit and local knowledge. The adaptation of her comedy style for the Feast audience came across naturally with a homely feel to her work on show. Macumber matches Bell’s style on stage and balances out the dryness in some of the shows overall work with a fun, over the top and energetic personality. The full review can be read at Glam Adelaide: www.glamadelaide.com.au/feast-festival-review-the-dykeside-two-left/

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Feast Festival Review - Mama Alto Torch Songs

Mama Alto came to the Raj House foyer with an intimate show in her unique jazz-gospel style. The stage is a minimalistic set up with lounges scattered about for all the audience to be comfortable and close to the performance. Alto created an incredibly welcoming environment, the draw card being the vocal performance and light banter that came with a hint of political statements slotted in without losing the charm on stage. Alto is a clearly talented performer. Her ability to command the stage is extraordinary. Alto displayed strong control over the vocals and presented in-depth knowledge on the style of song that was chosen for the set. The full review can be read at Glam Adelaide: www.glamadelaide.com.au/feast-festival-review-mama-alto-torch-songs/