FESTIVAL PREVIEW
l - 5
at this Fringe.
different cultures.‘
fKATECEBEHANO AND HER sum
The only purely musical Australian performance has been allotted a mellow midnight slot. Kate Ceberano is considered .Australia's Sade or Carmel. only better. In her blues, jazz. singing capacity. she eovers Duke Ellington pieces. songs popularised by Ella Fitzgerald and Julie London and a wide repetoire of late-night greats. I Kate Celierano and her Sextet 12 Aug-.3 Sep midnight. £4.50 (£3.50):
I l’ 1
These two ‘bag' ladies
make their European
debut in Edinburgh. The play. written by Patricia
Cornelius. is billed as a
‘tough comedy that shits
on the romanticism ofthe
open road.‘ Despite this to-the-point intro. both street-dwellers maintain fantasy lives to help them survive: Lilly dreams she is a stallion. while May
' ""1; but she belongs
jie'liunizinity'.
, y _ pursuit ofhigh goals". Patricia CorneliUs and Susie Dee play the quirky homeless duo.
. I Lilly and May Pleasance Tent (venue 33) 556 6550. 28 Aug—3 Sep 5pm.£3 (£2). [Fr]
l r’
Sarah (‘athcart wrote 'The Serpent‘s Fall' last
A year. having mulled it over for some time. ‘1 first had the idea when l was working in a hospital cafeteria with Greek women. Their story was
). extraordinary. They are ignored in Australian
. culture. I also wanted to do something about the
’ other women who have influenced me — Aboriginal women and headmistresses. They are-
" all Australian women. but they are from quite
Cathcart. just landed from ()2 and surrounded by the hub-bub at lleathrow. still managed to be fully articulate about the intricate myth of the
_ deposed serpent. one-time symbol of feminine power. whose fall has been caused and then ignored in favour of man‘s own mock-tumble. Thus it is that feminine power has lain dormant for centuries. ‘The serpent was the symbol of a great goddess — the deity of the first universal religion recorded. The play follows the line of archaeologist Bernice (who‘s a bit of a whacker)
THE coMo STRING
. QUARTET
This foursome pluck and tumble into Edinburgh after a sojourn in London (‘we came to London to see if the streets are paved with gold. They are. But the Fosters over here is terrible'). A quartet of five people. all Como musicians are classically trained. I asked Peter. a (‘omo Boy (they‘re all between 22 and 26) how he made the transition from classical music to busking. ‘lf 1 had to ascribe it to any one thing. I'd put it down to a can of Fosters'. Moving on out of the gutter. the Quartet started getting bookings in Australia's mega-venues. ‘We look like a classical quartet. Then we go mad. We play a Tchaikovsky piano concerto without the piano. The audience accompanies us with 'ITI'Tl lllll [he blows a raspberry. as we would euphemistically say]. We‘re more ofa
comedy cabaret act now. We run ‘Jaws‘ into ‘liine Kleine Nacht Musik'. with country and western. with funny bits in between.‘ Peter pauses for breath. or a slurp from a tinnie. ‘There‘s nothing like us‘ he adds modestly.
GLYNN NICHOLAS
This comic entertainer appears at The (iilded Balloon with his acclaimed ‘crude observations and salacious melodrama" in a show called ‘(ilynn With a
FESTIVAL THEATRE
as she de-bunks the Adam and Eve myth. It's about the imbalance in the world — how men and women are both nurturing their male side.‘
A mainstream play. designed for popular theatre. ‘The Serpent‘s Fall‘ tries. says (‘athcart. to ‘provide another view. It’s in the tradition of Australian one-woman shows. but the form is a
bit different.‘
Why‘P'. 1t (and he) have never been seen before in the Yow Kay. Fresh from mega-success at Expo ‘88. Nicholas brings himself with his ‘y' (it sometimes has a questionmark and sometimes doesn't) to wow us all here. He apparently runs through the gamut ofcomic effects — jokes. anecdotes. mime. song. tap-dancing and skits. Since winning an international busking competition. (ilynn has been collecting coins with increasing success.
FRONT LAWN Two New Zealanders. llarry Sinclair and Don McGlashan. who. with their comic show. are already being dubbed as one of the Fringe ‘discoveries' this year. Mixing music with theatre and comedy. they perform scenes from suburbia. Drawing inspiration from urban domesticity can't be easy. but these manage to make sweet music with kettles and dented toasters.
KULLARK
Aboriginal poet Jack Davis' play was written in 1979. It is described as ‘an angry indictment of brutal pillage of aboriginal rights' and ‘the real story of Australian heritage.‘ The process and effect of colonization is portrayed in episodic leaps and bounds through history. The death ofthe Aboriginal leader Yagan in 1833. the forceful separation of familiesat the Moore River settlement a century later
and the discrimination against black returned servicemen after the Second World War are interwoven with a study of a contemporary Aboriginal family. A British Premiere from Southampton University Theatre Group.
I Como String Quartet Pleasance Cabaret Bar (venue 33) 5586550. 12—27 Aug (not Sun) 1pm. £2 (£1 .50). 28 Aug—3 Sep 10pm. £2.50(£l .50). [Fr]: I Glynn with 3 Why? (ilynn Nicholas. (‘iilded Balloon (venue 38) 226 2151.12 Aug—3 Sep6pm. £4(£3). [Fr]; I Front Lawn Assembly Rooms (venue 3) 226 2427 8. l2 Aug-.3 Sep (not Mons 22. 29) 6pm. £4.50 (£3.50). [Fr]; I Kullark Pleasance (venue 33) 556 6550. 28 Aug—3 Sep 12 noon. £3 (£2). [Fr]
KIDS’ STUFF
Julie Forsyth. Another one-woman show. ‘Kids's Stuff‘ moves away from Australiana and goes French. An Anthill production the play was adapted in 1984 by Raymond (‘ousse from his 1967 novel. ‘Enfantillages‘. Forsyth plays an unnamed boy. of unspecified age. who reports and ponders the doings of people in his village. Forsyth has been performing this role sporadically over the last four years.
CIRCUS OZ
Returning to Edinburgh with a new show. (‘ircus ()z. the wholesome troupe which combines ethics
with entertainment. play for the full three weeks. Their juniors. the Flying Fruit Fly (‘ircus. flew over for .May fest earlier this year. Indeed. many ofthe fully grown members of Circus ()7 started out as those same larvae and maggots. The two Australian circuses share the same blend of collective performing and humour. relyingonly on the human body for their antics. lligh trapeze acts. the human cannon-ball and the human fly creeping along the ceiling of the Assembly Rooms promise to be liighlightsof the show.
FAKING IT THREE
liartliy and straight to the gut. three comedicnnes continue the Fringe traditionsof ‘l-"aking 1! Two' and ‘Faking lt Two and a llalf‘. Wendy llarmer has managed to fake all three shows. but two newcomers. (iina Riley and Magda Sziibanski. are joining her this year. Stand-up comedy. song and something called ‘spitting the dummy" (apparently Australianese for losing one's decorum) are on the menu. Incidentally. the press release includes a Faking 1t Test with questions on matters personal:
2. ()rgasm to you is. ..
a. A chance to singTosca b. A chance to get tosleep c. A myth.
I All acts are on atthe Assembly Rooms (venue 3) 226 2427/8. [Fr] I The Serpent's Fall Sarah (‘athcart. l2 Aug~3 Sep 6pm. £4.5(l(£3.5());
I Circus 0212—14 Atig 6.30pm. £3.50 all seats. 17. 1‘). 24. 26 Aug 3.45pm. £5.50(£4). 16.18.20.21. 23. 25. 27. 26’. 3llAtlg—3 Sep 6.30pm. £6.50 (£5); I Kids' Slufljulic Forsyth. l2 Aug-3 Sep 8pm. £4.50 (£3.50); I Faking itThree 12 Aug-3 Sep 10pm. £5 (£4).
TWO-UP
Doug Tremlctt and (ierry (‘onnolly While Mrs Thatcher (and there's a lot of them about ) was under siege in Melbourne. she took time out to give me a ring. We struggled on doggedly with our nice chat.despite 10.000miles and ten seconds’ silence continually between us. Initially. she sounded remarkably like an Australian man. but she soon gave up her spoof and dictated to me in her sweet glass-shattering tones. She was keen to talk about a show she's doing at the Festival with an old friend. masterof trickery and skulduggery (like all her close friends).
7
ANTIPODEAN ANTI,
Kristina Woolnough introduces the ‘Oznosters‘ and other Antipodeans
DougTrcmlett.
('onfusingly. she's appearing in ‘Two lip‘ asa male Australian impressionist . (ierry Connolly. For a bit of fun (and perhaps a deep-seated desire). Mrs T is also going tobe dressing up as Prince (‘harles and Her Majesty. As herself. she'll be wearing her Falklands suit with matching pearl car-rings. ‘1 hope to be taking questions from the audience. I look forward to it so very much' she said.
(’oniiolly (aka Mrs T) and Doug Tremlctt are appearing for the first time as a double bill. both. said the pseudo-(‘onnolly. 'creating illusions-- one with illusions ofcliaracter. and the other with the illusion of pullingtliings out of the air‘. (‘onnolly and Tremlctt alternate their appearances. blending the two ty pesof illusion. 'l‘i'emlett's work is also character-based (as opposed to white rabbit magic). with endearing personae like an Australian tramp. whose bottle ofslierry keeps multiplying. '1 le is a very happy tramp‘ says Connolly.
The audience is literally launched into the show as they are transported to the openingofAustralia‘s new Parliament 1 louse by the Queen. ‘The Queen is looked at through Australian eyes —‘ as are Mrs Thatcher and Prince (‘harles That first scene is followed by tricks with billiard balls.‘ Draw your own conclusions from that.
There is. however. no croc-wrestlingor beer-swilling. The invasion of lidinburgli by Australians this summer was described by ('onnolly as ‘like a Rugby League tour. But I keepa low profile. Australians are only nearly as unciy ilizcd as the British.‘
Doug Iremlett
The List 12 — 18 August 1988
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