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SA arts and culture news in brief: Flinders University heralds ‘bold revival’ of drama, new director appointed at the Elder Conservatorium, 2023 Fringe poster competition opens, and navigating the City Lights works bringing a glow to Adelaide after dark.
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Adelaide Fringe
THE BUSINESS OF ART | After the shock of becoming new venue owners during a pandemic, Simone Avramidis and Chris Iley have fostered a thriving blend of community and artistry at Goodwood Theatre and Studios.
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Adelaide Fringe
THE BUSINESS OF ART | Patrick Livesey has rapidly become a force in Australian theatre, but the artist – recently announced as a recipient of the prestigious Marten Bequest – says their rise has been hastened by the help of many supporters.
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Adelaide Fringe
THE BUSINESS OF ART | Singing lessons that were supposed to help Alex De Porteous pursue a career as a sound engineer quickly became the foundation for a life on stage after the young artist was adopted into Adelaide’s cabaret community.
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Theatre
THE BUSINESS OF ART | Thomas Fonua’s journey from full-time contemporary dancer to becoming one of Australia’s most celebrated drag queens, an independent artist and community leader is book-ended by seminal Adelaide Fringe experiences.
THE BUSINESS OF ART: It was a move to London that made Reuben Kaye an international cabaret star, but it was a trip to Adelaide Fringe that gave him the confidence to pursue a career as an original solo artist.
While playing Trivial Pursuit, a solitary clown leads us through a tumultuous personal story, from attending Clown Farm in Canada to living with a First Nations shaman in California. ★★★★
Whether the stuff of dreams or nightmares, Somnia 2.022 is a beautifully haunting display of acrobatics with some raunchy cabaret to set the mood. ★★★★
A tedious and drawn-out royal affair, Amazing Adventures of Her Majesty at 90+ is more a Hyacinth Bucket tribute show than a homage to Queen Lizzie. ★½
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Adelaide Fringe
THE BUSINESS OF ART | As stage producer Richard Jordan wraps on a four-show digital season at Adelaide Fringe, the Tony, Emmy and Olivier-awarded industry heavyweight highlights how the festival drives arts innovation – in Australia and abroad.
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Adelaide Fringe
Pairing ancient stories with new technology, the stunning drone-art show Sky Song leaves audiences mesmerised. ★★★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
There’s no pretence to perfection in Ella at Zardi’s, a truly transportive tribute act that at its heart is what the Fringe is all about. ★★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
It’s hard to know exactly what’s going to happen when you sit down to a Sam Simmons show, but the comedian is consistent with one thing – peculiarity. ★★★★
In Their Footsteps is a vivid tribute to the unsung female heroes of the Vietnam War, interweaving recollections from five actual participants. ★★★★
Jimeoin LIVE is a muddled, aimless hour of comedy that finds its feet way too late in the piece. ★★
Ross Noble returns with his signature rapid-fire stream of consciousness, weaving together improvised narratives that vanish as unexpectedly as they appear like some kind of cheerful nightmare. ★★★½
Two press conferences held within hours of each other on the first day of the Adelaide Fringe have been widely commented on in the local media. However, beneath the sensationalist headlines lie two issues: how do we value arts and culture, and how do we make arts and cultural policy?
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Adelaide Fringe
Bart Freebairn shows his comedic mettle on a challengingly quiet Tuesday night by keeping the laughs coming with his drily daft, free-associating batter. Sorry, banter. ★★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
Through a post-Me Too lens, this play-within-a-play is a feat of provocative theatre that spotlights the harrowing power dynamics of the entertainment industry. ★★★★★
Patrick Livesey’s finely-tuned embodiment of a cast of real-life characters slowly builds a subtle, complex and deeply affecting narrative of their mum’s life and death. ★★★★
This new local work is a touching and challenging exploration of life in aged care, and of the experience of living with dementia. ★★★★
Bust some moves and strut your stuff to beats around the streets of the East End with Oscar Reed, his portable mixing desk and an enthusiastic crew of fellow punters for the perfect antidote to the world’s downers. ★★★★★
Four of Australia’s finest stand-up comedians pack their delight at being out of lockdown and back on stage into an hour of superb fresh material. ★★★★ ½
In a production about Adelaide, put on by Adelaide artists, for Adelaide audiences, we witness a confronting exploration of whether our city is a constraint or a sanctuary. ★★★★
The Umbilical Brothers are back with two green screens and a technological arsenal to perform a re-imagined encore of their madly entertaining “multiverse” show that took out Best Comedy at the 2021 Adelaide Fringe. ★★★★
In this revealing one-man epic, Garry Elizabeth Starr seeks your help saving his homeland from recession by performing each of the Ancient Greek myths in under 60 minutes to boost tourism to Greece. ★★★★½
Fiona O’Loughlin’s new show focusses her acid wit on her own past, re-examining everything in the light of an attention deficit disorder diagnosis as the local comic stares down her sixties. ★★★½
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Adelaide Fringe
Slingsby’s charming, handcrafted production uses personal stories from the lives of the performers to highlight the connection between humans and trees. ★★★½
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Adelaide Fringe
This passion project by local documentarians showcases the extraordinary photography and film-making skills of South Australian explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins. ★★★½
Gluttony’s Melba Spiegeltent becomes an interactive classroom as Dinosaur Time Machine transports young audiences into the past to explore the fascinating world of dinosaurs. ★★★½
This show is, as the title promises, all about bubbles – and it’s definitely for adults only. ★★½
Promising magic, mischief and mayhem, The Purple Rabbit combines comedy, sleights of hand and a whole lot of smut for an hour of debauchery. ★★★
“Everything here is big and impossible to climb.” Evie Edwards, aspiring Hollywood star, scrambles to the top of the sign famous to all who yearn to see their name in lights. She’s preparing to jump. ★★★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
John Waters and his band bring to life the essence of Belgian songwriter Jacques Brel with an animated performance that perfectly re-creates the theatricality of the original songs. ★★★★½
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Adelaide Fringe
Bringing together four complex characters from the classic stage canon, this original theatre work is weighed down by the treatment of its source material. ★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
Film noir collides with the sequined world of cabaret to present a spirited, sexy production that breathes new life into this crime-drama genre. ★★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
Arj Barker’s Adelaide Fringe return is like a 30-year greatest-hits album that has been remastered and refined with a few new tracks for an hour of hilarious musings. ★★★★
Last Fringe, an arts reviewer referred to Pasifika performer Thomas Fonua as ‘black pudding’, sparking debate about racism in arts media. After a year-long silence, the artist’s drag diva alter-ego, Kween Kong, offers a take on the saga in an Adelaide Fringe show.
In Nella, writer and performer Julia Mayer weaves a vivid and heartfelt tribute to her nonna, retracing her steps from a young woman leaving Italy, to growing old in Adelaide. ★★★★
Just as comfortable with operatic arias as he is with modern power ballads, Dr Lane switches confidently between song and spoken word, his love for the music evident in the emotion he brings to this performance. ★★★★
Anchored by Cal Williams Jr on guitar, this journey through highlights of the Mississippi and Georgia blues, with Mary Trees on percussion and Kory Horwood on double bass, is an utter delight. ★★★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
Surrender your senses and lose yourself among the gods of old as you embark on a breathtaking journey into the stars with the visually stunning Adelaide Fringe premiere of Oracle. ★★★★★
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Adelaide Fringe
Imagine gasp-inducing acrobatics combined with contemporary dance combined with the warm, fuzzy feeling of a hug. There you have I Want to Touch You, the returning Fringe show from Adelaide-based circus giants Gravity & Other Myths. ★★★★
Beauty, An Encore peels back the velvety-red curtains on Lawrence Mooney’s hilarious insights into politicians, beauty and sex. ★★★½
With its glowing jumble of neon signs lighting up the Garden of Unearthly Delights, Maho Magic Bar delivers on its promise to provide a taste of Japan’s raucous magic venues. ★★★½
A group of local rock and classical musicians perform the 11 songs from The Beatles’ 1967 EP/film Magical Mystery Tour in this open-air show. The result is a mostly magical mystery tour de four. ★★★★
The Mensforth Quintet delivered an eclectic mix of songs to an appreciative and nearly sold-out audience in the beautiful garden of the Treasury 1860 courtyard as they stepped up to the ‘feeling good’ label. ★★★
THE BUSINESS OF ART | The Defiant is bringing a femme-led vision of dystopia to this year’s Adelaide Fringe, marking another important Fringe milestone for show creator and Gluttony co-director Elena Kirschbaum.
We hoped the days of distanced Fringing might’ve been behind us. Alas, Omicron had other plans. If you’re looking to get the most out of the Fringe from a safe remove, these are the shows to check out.
South Australia has been fertile ground for new independent theatre companies in recent times and the 2022 Fringe will see several showcase their production style and talent with original works ranging from dystopian drama to charismatic comedy.
YouTube star Nat’s What I Reckon is bringing his jibe at macho culture from the kitchen to the stage this Adelaide Fringe season.
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Sponsored Story
This year’s Adelaide Fringe is using immersive experiences and interactive shows to push the boundaries of art and storytelling.
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Adelaide Fringe
First Nations artists and drone art specialists unite at the intersection of tradition and technology for Sky Song – an Adelaide Fringe centrepiece that promises to captivate audiences with both its visual spectacle and its important cultural stories.
THE BUSINESS OF ART | As he was standing in a field in Afghanistan, watching men with machine guns joyride on military tanks, former comedian Henry Naylor turned into a playwright. Now he is telling the story of the trip that changed his life in a world premiere season at Adelaide Fringe.
Hartstone-Kitney Productions has drawn thousands of people to its pop-up Fringe venues in the Adelaide Botanic Garden in recent years, but it won’t be returning there next month after deciding to present a season of exclusively digital shows.
THE BUSINESS OF ART | After a year of frustrated touring plans, Erin Fowler is relieved to be bringing solo work EGG back to Adelaide Fringe – the platform where it first drew the attention of local audiences and programmers around the world.
Planning for this year’s Mad March events remains on track despite the constantly evolving COVID situation, with both the Adelaide Festival and Fringe reporting strong ticket sales, and the 2022 Fringe official guide hitting the streets today.
THE BUSINESS OF ART | From performing as a drummer at age four to preparing to release his first album as a singer-songwriter next year, Nathan May’s musical career has had many variations, but a few key constants have kept it moving forward.
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Theatre
THE BUSINESS OF ART | Forced by the pandemic to pause its normally exhaustive international touring schedule, circus company Gravity & Other Myths has been crossing creative borders instead – expanding into new mediums during a period of fertile lateral growth.
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InReview
SA arts and culture news in brief: Adelaide Fringe launches 2022 program, SA Screen Awards winners announced, graduate exhibition showcases trends in emerging art, Festival of Orchestra hailed a success, and AGSA makes its collection more accessible.
THE BUSINESS OF ART | The dominance of one-size-fits-all arts funding is being challenged by a newly-expanded initiative from the Adelaide Fringe.
THE BUSINESS OF ART | Dearna Newchurch is on a mission to dissolve the boundaries between science, technology, creativity and community in the South Australian arts industry.
THE BUSINESS OF ART | For choreographer Lewis Major, bringing his contemporary dance company home to South Australia after many lauded years working in Europe is as much an exercise in entrepreneurialism as it is in creativity.
Indigenous artist Mali Isabel has become the youngest ever winner of the Adelaide Fringe poster design competition with a rainbow-coloured magical landscape inspired by the CBD and its key locations.
