Apologies for the paucity of updates, readers; life is moving at too fast a pace for me to fit in much blogging. It's all about living at the moment, and less about reflecting on what I've experienced. That said, on with the show!
THE BEST OF MUDFEST 10 started with a brief puppet show that, while inventive in its application of grand guignol to the video age, failed to manifest its promise. While I delighted in its vivid and literal embodiment of one's everyday concerns about being devoured by your job (I'll never look at a photocopier the same way again!) its narrative lacked bite; a nice set up that went nowhere. Thereafter a series of dance works inspired by childhood games began; not what I was here to see, nor distinctive enough in their choreography to hold my attention, so I retreated to the Lithuanian Club's bar to read for a while.
The best of Mudfest: Two stars
The Lithuanian Club until Saturday 13
Testosterone is a local adaptation of a popular Polish film about masculinity and men's inner lives that's been boiled down from two and a half hours to one hour for the Fringe; possibly at the expense of character development and focus. Set at a wedding reception that goes horribly wrong, the play's misanthropic cast of neanderthals, misognynists, brothers and journalists bicker, argue, brawl and question their roles in life and those of the invisible women around them.
While I enjoyed most of the performances, especially those of Richard Sutherland and Hugh Sexton, each of whom admirably rose to the occasion when allowed to reveal the emotional lives of their characters when given a chance to peel the bluster and bravado away; overall I found this production too frenetic and self-concious for its own good. Some stilted staging and a tendancy in the script towards the simplistic didn't help; consequently my attention wandered, and I found myself growing bored by this exercise in male ego and energy that fails to bring anything new to discussing what it means to be a man.
Testosterone: Two and half stars
Until Saturday October 13 at the Lithuanian Club
Bucket of Love is a solo circus performance by The Candy Butchers' Derek Ives, and what a delightful show it is. Pathos and comedy combine in equal measure in a series of pratfalls, stunts and touching routines that leap between gasp-inducing, laughter-provoking and whimsically melancholic. Birds are killed, shovels wed, tears shed, ropes swung from, and precarious balances achieved, in this swift, deft and darkly delicious production. Tonight's your last chance to see it, so go, go go!
Bucket of Love: Four stars
The Lithuanian Club until Saturday October 13
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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