2008
February 27

Adelaide Fringe 08

Playing Burton
Performed by Josh Richards
The Arch, Holden Street Theatres, Hindmarsh
Tickets $19.50 – $ 24.90
Until March 16

The Smile Off Your Face
Ontroerend Goed
The Jelly Belly, Fringe Factory Theatre, Elizabeth St
Tickets $12 – $15
Until March 16

La Clique
The Masonic Centre, 254 North Terrace
Tickets $40- $50
Until March 16
Bookings at FringeTix Ph1300 374643.

Now an annual fixture the Adelaide Fringe comes back sooner – and literally bigger – than ever. The 2008 version has a record 543 events listed in its uncurated program, that’s up from a previous best of 465 in 2006. Based, like the Adelaide Festival, on its Edinburgh model, it has come a long way in 48 years – to the point where the unruly, rambunctious younger sibling is often taken for the Festival itself. Already a week underway, the vital signs are excellent – with long winding queues waiting for stand-up comics and burlesque, crowds spilling on to the pavements from bars and cafes, and Rundle Park, alias The Garden of Unearthly Delights, sprouting with food, fun, freaks and late night carny show action.

Among the three thousand scheduled artists is Josh Richards, at The Arch at Holden Street Theatres, with his one man show, Playing Burton. Elegantly written by Mark Jenkins and performed with a velvet Welsh baritone, it traces the transformation of Richard Jenkins, twelfth child of a mining family, to Richard Burton, star of the West End and Hollywood, the only actor to earn a million dollars playing Hamlet. Even as he drowns in his own vodka, Richards eloquently reminds us of Burton’s extraordinary gift and the prison house of celebrity.
In the cavernous maze of the Old Balfours Pie Factory, in the Jelly Belly Room, is the Belgian performance group, Ontroerend Goed, waiting to take its audience three and four at a time into a darkened and restricted world. Each audience member for The Smile Off Your Face is required to wear a blindfold, have wrists tied and sit in a wheelchair ready to face – who knows what ? My hands are placed against a whiskery face, a voice talks quietly in my ear asking me about my day, the state of my heart, my happiness.

For twenty five minutes we are in this dark and unexplained space, with ambient music, disembodied conversation and sudden, but mostly unperturbing, movement. This is an exercise in liberation, a form of benign rendition, where we listen and respond instinctively, even as we are prevented from knowing where we are. The smile is taken off our face in exchange for a teardrop, a divulged secret, a reflection about who we really are. This is a gently capitivating experience.

At the Masonic Centre, in a whirl of stage smoke and raucous beats is the brilliant La Clique, burlesque show of the first order. Performing in rapid succession are lounge lizard Mikelangelo, the hyper-jointed Captain Frodo, Amy G’s goofy skate and kazoo turns, the brilliantly poised English Gents, and David O’Mer, bathtub aerialist in a splash of glamour.

Murray Bramwell

“Captivating celebration of the unexpected” The Australian, February 28, 2008, p.10