2006
Murray Bramwell

In the profusion of the Fringe program has been a music program variously including Dave Graney, Shooglenifty, Monique Brumby and others, but the standout has to be Richard Thompson at the Norwood Concert Hall. From his days in Fairport Convention and through his distinguished solo career, Thompson has long been the guitarists’ guitarist and the composers’ composer. His show is a mix of songs ancient and modern – the plaintive Crazy Man Michael, the high revving 1952 Vincent and, from the new CD, Front Parlour Ballads, Let it Blow.

Thompson’s guitar playing is astonishing – like he has seven fingers on his right hand, his thumb running basslines while he fingerpicks like a bluegrass band. It is a night of bright lights – the crowd sings Crawl Back and Thompson, with his vibrant tenor, sings Dimming of the Day.

The Fringe theatre has been full of surprises in the final week. The Irish play Trad, by Mark Doherty, features Frankie McCafferty and Peter Gowen as Da and Thomas – one as old as Methuselah, the other his 100 year old son. A droll reflection on Irish family and traditions – Trad’s comedy is part Beckett, part Father Ted. McCafferty’s Da clings to the mythology of history while his ancient son tries to humour his moods. Strikingly staged, with a sparing use of live music, Trad takes a powerful stare at the Ireland Joyce once described as the sow that eats her farrow.

White Men with Weapons also investigates a society undergoing change. Greig Coetzee describes his stint in the South African Defence Force at the time of FW de Klerk’s détente and Mandela’s release. It is sharply written and powerfully performed. Coetzee’s squad of characters – recruits, boot camp NCO’s, a dithery chaplain and a politically cynical CO – capture the ironies of a defence force trained against an insurgency that is becoming the new government. Weaving from English to Afrikaans, his performance is crisp, funny and, in its revelations of endemic racism, chillingly psychopathic. This is exceptional theatre, memorably performed.

Been so Long, presented by Melbourne company, three legs in a quadrella, has played in the Bunka bar at the Austral Hotel. Its setting is a pub, a “Losers bar” where Young Gil (Evan Jureidini) is looking for revenge against local spiv and charmer Raymond Legendre (Nathan Page) while local chicks Simone and Yvonne (Hannah Morris and Diana Miltins) are out for a fella and some laughs.
UK playwright , Che Walker’s Camden setting highlights a poetic London patois and director Syd Brisbane steers this smartly imagined production through some stylish moves. The cast is great – Hannah Morris excellent as the heartsick Simone and Brendon Rock, the barkeep, cool as a martini in a schooner glass.

“The Fringe” The Adelaide Review, No.288, March 24, 2006. p.16