ADELAIDE
CREAM OF THE CROP There could well be a new show business saying that if an act does
well in Adelaide, they’re going to conquer Edinburgh. Here’s a bunch of shows that lit up the Australian city’s Fringe festival and are ready to do the same in Scotland this August
A ustralians love a good cabaret, and three acts are preparing for a strong showing in Edinburgh this summer. Michaela Burger’s A Migrant’s Son celebrates the arrival of the Greeks to Australia, through original songs, a live band and a choir in this hard-hitting yet hilarious show. Evoking the hazy ‘kabarett’ nights of Weimar, Bernie Dieter’s Little Death Club brings us another troupe of misfi ts, miscreants and ‘fantastic freaks’ for a cabaret evening ‘where you can be whoever you want to be’.
Michelle Pearson had major success in this year’s Adelaide Fringe with Comfort Food Cabaret, and for Edinburgh she will deliver some Just Desserts, where she will prepare puddings for the punters while delving deep into topics such as body image, social pressure and gluttony.
Circus has become much bigger in recent years at both Adelaide and Edinburgh’s Fringes, and Ampersand’s show for kids, Jelly or Jam, could be one of the big hits in August. Award-winning creators Jascha Boyce and Joren Dawson have put together an acrobatic adventure which features real stories about what it means to be a child, but with plenty of squishy jelly. Much anticipation surrounds YUCK, an all-female physical theatre powerhouse which will tackle diffi cult topics while hurling themselves through the air. They’ve been dubbed ‘disgustingly hilarious’, which will be an attraction to plenty. In the world of magic, the multi-award winning Ben Hart is currently taking audiences into some dark corners of their imagination. For The Nutshell, he’ll perform some mind-blowing tricks and leave an imprint on your brain that might be diffi cult to shake. The Latebloomers know how to butter up an Edinburgh audience. This comedy / physical theatre trio (from Adelaide, Sweden and London) have only gone and named their show Scotland!. Well played to them. The Caledonian spirit will be bubbling through body percussion, clowning, singing and a bit of stomping as they take crowds on a truly wild ride. In Le Bureau de Strange, The Establishment pairing of Dan Lees and Neil Frost channel their inner Monty Python with some classic British absurdity. One of the UK’s true rising comic stars, Ahir Shah had a strong showing in Adelaide with the excellent Duffer, while he returns to Edinburgh with a new show, Dots. This one promises to explore ‘love, sadness, belief, Mexico, cigarettes, dead German sociologists, pragmatism, idealism, giving up, and not giving up’.
In theatre-land, Britt Plummer’s Chameleon attempts to salvage some hope from the darker side of society, as she details accounts of sexual assault with an honest mix of sincerity and humour. Tim Marriott might be familiar to British TV audiences for his roles in 20th century sitcoms The Brittas Empire and ‘Allo ‘Allo!, but he’s since proved himself to be a powerful voice on the stage. Judas is a timely speculation on what would happen today if a charismatic fi gure wandered out of the desert in the Middle East and spoke of peace and harmony. (Brian Donaldson)
1 Jun–31 Aug 2019 THE LIST 59
P H O T O
:
S A M A N T H A
M A R T
I N
Top to bottom: Michelle Pearson, YUCK, Bernie Dieter