Mac the Comedy Computer's 53.3 Minute Varietynado - Fringe World 2016 (10 February 2016)

I’d like to think that if I could afford to drink enough outrageously priced $11 plastic cups of cider and if it was something other than cinnamon on the Mary Street Bakery donuts at the Noodle Palace *deep breath* then I would easily imagine the inside of my iPod Shuffle looking something like the Ramen Room with Mac the Comedy Computer propped up in one corner and *gasp... this is a really long sentence* set on Genius mode picking Fringe performers at random based on my own personal comedy preferences.

We won’t question why my comedy preferences might deliver a line up of local and international luminaries such as Art Fleaker, Nicole Henriksen, Dez Pondent, Awesomo Moustachio and Jeff Hewitt with special guest appearances by Andre Rieu and the disembodied spirits of Joseph Merrick and Kermit the Frog. That’s something I try not to talk about. No, seriously, it’s quite painful.

But that’s what we have - another bloody Steve Jobs invention trying to tell me what to think and when to laugh. Bastard! (May he rest in peace)

Of course, our Host Mac has about as much vocal intonation as Keanu Reeves in, well, pretty much any movie Keanu Reeves has been in. “Whoa, dude” is as animated as it gets. I’m picturing the film critic in Dez Pondent nodding quietly to himself in the shadows right about now, inaudibly whispering, “Duuuuuude”. (Whatever’s on those donuts is good!)

Mac struggles a little with sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation in general but I suppose that’s an advantage of not having to, you know, breathe. He’s an amiable host when not threatening all of mankind with annihilation under the cruel thumb of his inherent silicon superiority. Between his musings on life, death, and dead bodies by the river, he introduces the human component of the show. It’s kind of a like a talent quest where everyone has a five minute spot to impress. With no prizes, monetary incentives or guest appearances on Dancing with the Stars at stake. So while that’s good for the audience it kind of sucks for them I guess.

First up was motivational speaker Art Fleaker who suspiciously looked like that annoying kid from Darren the Explorer (you know, the one who wreaked havoc in Northbridge one night all because he wanted to impress his Daddy) who suspiciously looked like Luke Bolland who is quite capable of wreaking havoc anywhere to get people to laugh.

He was followed by Nicole Henriksen who gave a tantalising glimpse of her – settle down – show Makin It Rain. As disarming as she was forthright this was a captivating vignette about life as a high class stripper. I can see why her show has been extended and getting raves.

Dez Pondent clearly is not an animal but a human being. Well, if film (and theatre?) critics can be considered as such. He shared his love for films and heroic insects in a monotone that would have Keanu exclaiming, “Whoa, Dude!” How he links The Elephant Man to The Human Centipede will possibly have me awake at night for weeks to come sobbing quietly at the inhumanity of it all.

As might remembering what the Awesomo Moustachio finds in a metallic case whilst dancing to a song that innocently asks what his thoughts are on a certain sexual activity that will likely have you clenching your cheeks. In discomfit or expectation is up to you.

Every show needs a big finish and what better way than award nominated Jeff Hewitt telling us how he was award nominated for his award nominated show. If there was an award nomination for dropping award nominated into your spot the most times then Jeff Hewitt would be a dual award nominated Fringe performer. Perhaps his excitement at this prospect or the earlier example set by his peers led to a spontaneous element of disrobing that will haunt those who saw it all the way up to the award nominations night. 

Then it was time for a sing-a-long to possibly the most incongruous song imaginable given the cast and circumstances. Yes, that Muppets classic, The Rainbow Connection. It’s here that the evil ringleader of this demented circus stepped out from behind the metaphorical curtain to reveal himself as one Levon Polinelli. While Levon has many talents he will not be award nominated for his singing. Stop smirking, Hewitt!

This is a loose and fun show that presents a different rotation of Fringe World stars every night that strut their stuff while paying homage to our evil computer overlords. It’s like a Best Of compilation with special commentary from a cross between Molly Meldrum and Stephen Hawking. And yes, I have completely repressed the vision of Andre Rieu doing whatever the hell it is Andre Rieu does.

Mac the Comedy Computer’s 53.3 Minute Varietynado is on at the Noodle Palace until 20 February. It's quite possible it stars whoever happens to be roaming the corridors at the time. Thankfully they’re all pretty damn talented. 

Darren the Explorer - Fringe World 2016 (23 January 2016)

This show is to Play School what Avenue Q is to Sesame Street. That is to say it’s a modified children’s concept where political correctness was not only barred from entering the venue but was told to fuck off downstairs and wait in the car for an hour. It is lewd, crude, breathtakingly non-PC, and a hilarious pisstake of early morning children’s shows.

The story is simple – Darren (Luke Bolland) wants nothing more on his fourth birthday than for his parents to get back together and for his father to say he’s proud of him. To do this all he has to do is go on an adventure to find the magic lamp of Northbridge and make a wish. In this quest he is assisted by a couple of sidekicks – Shoes the talking monkey (Jez Watts) and Pam the Map (Dylan Dorotich). Shoes hates Pam with a passion so their non-stop bickering is in direct counterpoint to the cheesy sort of camaraderie you would usually find in a “kids show”.

Obstacles are put in their way mainly in the form of Stealy the Dingo (Sarah J Christiner) who covets the lamp (and pretty much anything else he can get his puppet hands on) and a set of challenges. These involve visiting a strip club, surviving a knife fight in Northbridge and finding a homeless man (Glenn Grimwood).    

The humour is not for the faint hearted with some very blue jokes on a range of contemporary subjects. Bill Cosby and Taylor Swift are among the more notable targets. There are plenty of sight gags – one involving a ping pong ball that was laugh out loud tasteless – and in the show I saw a ‘prop malfunction’ that had Watts struggling to stay in character at the absurdity of it all. There is also pungent commentary on the overly bogan aspects of Australian culture and a riff on the city of Adelaide that is relentless. There are questionable jabs at abortion as Shoes deals with the unexpected pregnancy of Shirts the stripper; while in the best Avenue Q tradition racism is given a subverted treatment.

The show swings for the fences and is unapologetic in its brand of humour which is offensively funny. But that is the beauty of the premise – couching such barbs in the cloak of a childhood format makes the content so incongruous that you can’t help but laugh while also potentially questioning why you are doing so. It’s one of those gloriously squirm inducing experiences as an audience member.

Bolland plays Darren with straight forward earnestness that provides the foundation for all the craziness that swirls around him. He’s at his best when asking the audience what they think of certain situations or to answer questions in mock educational style. The dead pan style works a treat. By comparison, Watts gets to riff with an energy and malicious glee that is infectious. Dorotich is the good natured target of derision that acts as a counterweight to Watt’s malevolence.

Christiner plays a less than useful barman (to their quest) with some truly crude jokes but it’s her work as Stealy that reverberates in the bigger scheme of the story. She also has a bizarre knife fight with Grimwood who provides the glimpse of a moral compass before being seduced by thoughts of an irresistibly exotic locale.  

Director Levon Polinelli keeps this all moving along briskly while incorporating some backing video animation and the inclusion of music by Courtney Murphy. The songs are again a subversion of typical children’s sing-a-long fare with satire (We’re Singing a Song that Rhymes) and vitriol (You’re the Worst).

If you like your comedy barbed, very dark, and flirting with being truly offensive then this show is going to be right up your alley. Don’t be surprised though if that alley is a vomit filled laneway in Northbridge full of disreputable characters who will steal everything you own to pay for a trip to Adelaide.

Written by Luke Bolland, Directed by Levon Polinelli, with Music by Courtney Murphy, Darren the Explorer is on at the Noodle Palace until 6 February.

Jeff Hewitt: Rad Dad Redemption - Fringe World 2016 (23 January 2016)

It’s a little known fact that Joseph Campbell’s seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces is the pre-eminent manual for how to succeed at stand-up comedy. It pretty much lays out the road map for those brave enough to accept the call, survive the ordeal, and seize the sword of fame and comedic glory. Of course, a Hollywood arsehole called George Lucas completely misappropriated this potent tome to create some nonsense about space knights and indestructible space stations that were destroyed with Sisyphean regularity.

Okay, it’s entirely possible that the above statement is, ahem, not strictly speaking correct. But commentating as a screenwriter who has sat through many a workshop (and indeed read Christopher Vogler’s The Hero’s Journey based on Campbell’s work), the fact that Jeff Hewitt overtly uses this storytelling model is as surprising as it is amusing.

And when I mean overt I mean as in a presentation slide on screen stepping us through a truncated 9 step model! It gives structure to what turns out to be a very funny and engaging tale of personal redemption. Which just happens to fit Campbell’s model perfectly as Hewitt is indeed the hero of his own story.

But to earn redemption one first has to plummet to the depths and this is what makes Rad Dad Redemption really interesting. Hewitt isn’t afraid to tell his story warts and all even daring us not to like him. The show opens with a video montage of him circa 2011 when he was an irresponsible party animal and deeply dissatisfied lawyer. Once onstage he quickly apprises us of the reasons for his behaviour and angst mapped to Campbell’s steps. Drugs, infidelity, soulless boss, remorseless banks, and the tragic end to a neighbour are just some of the causes.

Hewitt’s delivery is brutal, often times crass but ultimately funny because there is a truthfulness here that is compelling. And despite his attempts to play the villain he does come across as very likeable in the intimate venue. This is aided by a casual interaction with the audience that is spontaneous and warm even when mock abuse is blurted out with glee.

Things change for Hewitt when he meets his ‘Goddess’ who will become the mother of his child which drives the redemption arc in the latter half of the show. Fatherhood certainly has changed Hewitt and his joy at this unexpected outcome is palpable. The show ends with a video montage circa 2015 that shows how far he has come from his anus horribilis. The final moments demonstrate to us all that you have to learn to crawl before you can walk and it is a touching endpoint to an authentic and funny tale.   

And not even one Death Star was blown up along the way!

Jeff Hewitt: Rad Dad Redemption, directed by Levon Polinelli, is on at the Noodle Palace in the Central Institute of Technology in Northbridge until 30 January.

Werewolf Priest! The Lamentable Ballad of Father Hank Grimby - The Blue Room Theatre (21 May 2014)

Tired of city living? Considering a move to the countryside? Here’s a real estate tip: don’t EVER relocate to a place described as a “sleepy” hamlet, village or town, clearly code for “place where people die horrible, inexplicable deaths”! This is certainly the case for the “sleepy hamlet” of Huntersville where the yokels are dropping like Sandra Bullock in a Chinese space capsule.   

Fortunately, local priest Hank Grimby is merely mauled… oh, hang on a second! He survives only to become, unbeknownst to himself and the town, a werewolf…

I must confess the werewolf myth fascinates me and is a story arc I use in my own writing to explore the theme of transformation in various ways. In a werewolf tale someone gets ‘bitten’, undergoes a transformation they cannot control, and invariably hurt the ones they love most with tragic consequences. Here, writer-director-producer Levon Polinelli has chosen that someone to be a man of God thereby adding a layer of irony – a symbol of goodness is doomed to commit evil acts most foul every full moon.

But our priest, Hank Grimby (Sven Ironside), is not without sin. He is secretly in love with the Mayor’s daughter (Siobhan Dow-Hall) who is unexpectedly betrothed to renowned explorer (at least in his own mind) George Waggner (Magnus Danger Magnus) who is shortly to arrive in Huntersville. As the death toll mounts, Waggner goes all Quint on the townspeople and promises to kill the beast much to Grimby’s discomfort once he discovers he is in fact said beast. As Grimby frantically searches for a cure to Lycanthropy – announced by the town Doctor (Stephen Lee) to be a potion made from a rare flower – Waggner appeals to the Mayor (AJ Lowe) to unleash his sense of vengeance. Unwitting patsy, Tomas (Daniel Buckle), aids Waggner in his quest for glory.

What to make of this strange beast? Part musical, part melodrama, part comedy, part horror, it is a quirky hybrid that somehow manages to work despite its disparate parts.

Melodrama infuses the forbidden love story between priest and the mayor’s daughter. Already an illicit liaison, the announcement that the Mayor has chosen a husband for his daughter – and asked Grimby to perform the marriage ceremony no less – adds to Grimby’s lament. There are strong moments between the two lovers with Dow-Hall an earnest and tender presence with a lovely singing voice.

The comedy comes courtesy of a larger-than-life Waggner played in scene chewing fashion by Magnus, colourful costume, knife fetish, and all. Lee’s Teutonic doctor also adds plenty of humour with his ‘autopsy’ of a victim a delight.

The original songs and music are strong but this felt more like a play with songs rather than a fully formed musical. There seemed to be the opportunity to have different types of songs assigned to more characters. Waggner’s tall tales about his travels to far flung places such as Patagonia felt ripe for such a treatment as did either the Doctor’s autopsy scene or when he is making his potions. Indeed, Lee ad libs an excerpt from The Skeleton Song at the beginning of the latter scene. Grimby’s songs are mainly of the unrequited love or unsurpassed guilt variety with a ghostly duet early in the second act a highlight. Waggner’s musical pitch to the townsfolk to kill the beast was also memorable.

The horror comes via the deaths of various townsfolk (including Rhianna Hall and Tiffany Swan) and the arrival on stage of the fearsome werewolf. A lot of time and effort is spent setting an ominous mood with the use of lighting, smoke, music cues, and sound effects. It all ends in a climatic final battle that is equal parts high energy and high camp.

This is another quirk of Werewolf Priest – the tone tends to swing wildly. Talking to members of the cast afterwards, they pointed to a particular scene where the audience laugh in the first act and, in their words, suddenly realise that this is funny. This initial uncertainty may be due to the different genres being deployed and the range of acting from over-the-top theatricality to earnest melodrama. Ironside works hard in the title role but others have far showier parts with him the anchor for their antics.

It’s an enjoyable production with plenty of twists and surprises but somehow it feels like it should be bigger, more over the top, with more songs and more, well, werewolf, damn it! It will be interesting to see if it develops into this over time as it has a clear filmic influence in both staging and content with the small Blue Room stage barely able to contain Polinelli’s wild ambition.

Written and directed by Levon Polinelli with Ash Gibson Greig as composer, Werewolf Priest! The Lamentable Ballad of Hank Grimby is on at the Blue Room until 7 June, featuring Sven Ironside, Siobhan Dow-Hall, Magnus Danger Magnus, Stephen Lee, Adrian Lowe, Daniel Buckle, Rhianna Hall, Tiffany Swan and Ayden Doherty.