Due to the general malaise engendered by my Saturday morning hangover, and sleeping on a mate's couch and not actually waking up until midday, I didn't make it out to North Melbourne Town Hall in time for my 2pm show. Consequently, the first production I saw today wasn't until 7pm...
Perth's PVI Collective were back in Melbourne for the second time in as many years with a production called reform; an interactive work staged live on Swanston Street which explored issues around surveillence and social control.
Following a briefing session at North Melbourne Town Hall, the audience were equipped with headphones through which was a live radio broadcast was fed, and escorted out by our guide from the 'Loyal Citizens' Underground' to the tramstop outside. Carefully walking between the lines, and not jaywalking, we crosed the road and awaited the tram - all acting as inconspicuously as possible, which is tricky when you're a group of 20 people wearing identical headsets and accompanied by a miked-up guide in a fluro yellow outfit who's broadcasting instructions to us all as we progress - together with an ambient electronic soundtrack by Pretty Boy Crossover and politely-worded messages about crime and punishment.
Upon alighting in the city, the real show begins - members of the collective working in pairs and sweeping the streets - sometimes literally - while gently accosting members of the public and correcting their anti-social behaviour with a warning about the laws they're flouting and issuing code of conduct cards on subjects such as unlawful assembly, loitering, disorderly conduct and littering. As they progressed, we were fed a live mix of their actions and the responses of the sometimes confused or angry people they were speaking to.
The nature of a show like this is that it could all go so horribly wrong; a belligerent drunk could get nasty - and hey, this was on Grand Final Night in the city, so you can imagine what it was like (though it would have been much worse if Geelong had actually lost!). Conversely, it could have been quiet, and consequently dull. Last night, however, I enjoyed myself immensely and was simultaneously entertained and confronted in equal measure (did you know that a group of three or more people can be construed as an unlawful assembly? No, I didn't either.).
Also, the response of the general public when 20 people simultaneously start obeying orders which no-one else can hear and acting strangely, en masse, in a public space, has to be seen to be believed...
reform: three and a half stars
Season ended on Saturday Sept 29
Next I was meant to see an 8:30pm show last night at La Mama, but missed it due to timing issues post-reform. Doh! Instead, I had dinner and hung out at the festival club for a while, before trouping off to see my next show at 10pm...
I Love You, Bro is a one-man play based on a bizarre real life crime, written by Adam J. A. Cass, directed by Yvonne Virsik, and performed by Ash Flanders.
A 14 year old boy, Johnny, becomes obsessed with a 16 year old boy who lives in his city and who he meets in an online chat room. He creates a female alter-ego who begins to seduce the older boy. They fall in love, but Mark, the older youth, wants to meet her. More lies are spun; an ever-increasing web of deceit and fantasy which culminates in a suicidal Johnny - in the guise of yet another fictional person - asking Mark to kill him; to stab him in an alleyway as he says, "I love you, bro".
It's all quite surreal, yet quite true, and simply and powerfully done. The script is tight, the staging minimal; the performance strong. While I was never emotionally involved with the piece, it still drew me in, perhaps because I've experienced, to a far lesser degree in my own life, the power and attraction of the internet's facility for aiding obsession and anonymity. Occasional lines in the monologue, in which 'Johnny' explained internet slang and shorthand to the audience, jarred a little, and I wasn't always convinced by the truth of Ash Flanders' performance, but overall I very much enjoyed this show, and recommend it as an excellent example of a strong story simply told, which in some ways is indicative of the whole Fringe theatre experience.
I Love You, Bro: three and a half stars
Until October 13 at the Fringe Hub (The Loft, Lithuanian Club)
Afterwards I retired to the festival club, hung out with a mate, drank champagne, and listened/watched Fringe Spin, a DJ playoff...there was also some sporadic dancing, I believe, but I was waaaaay to tired to stay on the dancefloor for long.
Disclaimer: the views expressed in this review are made in an individual capacity and do do not represent those of the Board of Melbourne Fringe. Just thought I should say that to be on the safe side, given that I'm the Chair and all...
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