Flat Out Like A Lizard | Robert the Cat presents the play by Norman Price
Flat Out Like a Lizard is a play that will have you feeling, though you have to spend some time untangling what it is that you are feeling and why. Presented by Metro Arts and Robert the Cat, it is a confronting piece of theatre that is minimalist in its execution and leaves nothing in the way of performer connecting straight to audience.
Tales from the Colony | Voices of Colour & Skin Deep Collective
It’s hard to believe that it took only ten days for ‘Tales from the Colony’ to be created and then performed on stage. For a work that was complexed, multifaceted and spoke on deep themes and issues, it was suspiring to hear how quick it took for it all to come together, but that’s also a testament to the rawness that was on full display. And when the ending came, the audience on their feet standing, clapping and cheering on in praise: the emotional toll on six incredible performers was evident, and with that the realisation of what we had experienced was more than a show, but a journey of exposing truths, finding identity and baring trauma.
Tales from the Colony | Voices of Colour & Skindeep Collective
Escalating emotions aside, one of the many highlights of the night was sharing the same space with such a rich mix of people of colour from so many different ethnic backgrounds. This truly felt like being back home again. Besides the delivery of the original material, what impressed was the message of hope and reconciliation this conveyed. The youth of the performers belied the intensity and ferocity with which they boldly embraced their storytelling by speaking out about taboo subjects.
Can I Help? | Aaron Dora & Renee Dobbyn
It’s strange to think about how when the lockdowns initially began, I was filled with anxiety and fear around what would happen to me both physical and mentally; to now watching a reading of a play that delves into those fears and anxieties, but finding myself laughing at certain scenes and then being taken back to sadness when the emotional scenes hit. ‘Can I Help?’ does a really good job at weaving in the drama and the serious nature of its topic, while also providing laughs and a fun quality to it.
Smiley | Liam Burke, Sergio Ulloa Torres & Matt Young
Any intimate production lives and dies in its casting and luckily, Smiley is in good hands. Sergio Ulloa Torres and Matt Young effortlessly bring both the comedic chops and depth needed to charm the audience and make Smiley work.
Apocalipstick | Polytoxic
Apocalipstick used drag and gender-fuckery to engage the audience through laughter, the absurd, and the excess. There is nothing better to make someone think about serious issues than to make them laugh! Laughter sits with you in a light vein and it makes you come back to the funny sketch again and again looking for one more laugh. Drag invites laughter by highlighting the contradictions of gender through the excess: hoping for a fuck, office tape and markers become the perfect beauty tools for a face-lift and make-up, and thin-glass toxic masculinity is the weapon of the man looking for acceptance in the wolf pack.
The G.O.A.T. Show | Shock Therapy Productions
We sit on fold-out chairs on the front lawn of an abandoned house on Chevron Island. A table piled with iceberg lettuces sits beside a temporary stage. Our hosts, two men in neon coloured suits, are offering pickled onions from the jar, sardines from the can and melons ripped apart with their bare hands. They take it upon themselves to gently whack some audience members with fly swatters, despite the lack of flies. Ah, yes, hospitality.
Grand Slam & Seventh Birthday | Ruckus Slam
It was all the best trivia-night vibes, coupled with some kick-ass artists. No poetry clicking here. The poets were judged by audience members selected at random who got to don funny hats. The scoring system was in dinosaur puns. You can’t be simultaneously pretentious and score in dinosaur puns.
yana marumba (Walk Good) | Wynnum Fringe Opening Ceremony
The act of walking as one group evoked a sense of togetherness in a year marked by separation. It was a participatory aspect that many opening ceremonies lack and which made us feel like part of the festival from the very beginning.
Wynnum Fringe. It's a wrap.
The locals packed out the free festivities reaching capacity with a one-in one-out by about 5pm on the Saturday, milling around drinking trendy seltzers and watching the music and circus on the free stages. Many of the ticketed shows sold-out – no doubt in some small part due to the Covid-restrictions, yet I feel confident that tickets would have sold at double the capacity. Tickets were priced to welcome locals and artists and those with depleted 2020 incomes, and the range of shows was nicely balanced between safe choices and delicious wildcards. This was a very quick turnaround for such a fab festival!
yana marumba (Walk Good) | Quandamooka Festival & Wynnum Fringe
There was a moment during the smoking ceremony when I shut my eyes and felt a strong sense of peace. I touched the ground with my hands and gave thanks in my heart to the Quandamooka people for inviting me onto their land and allowing me to stand alongside them. I also thought about the men and women that came before me and the hardships that they had to endure for my freedom, through their work as activists to make sure that First Nations people could have equal opportunity.
Family friendly fun at Wynnum Fringe
What strikes me is how great this spot is for a Festival and the audience diversity completely representative of the Wynnum community. The street is filled with lots of families, young and old, great access provision for the prams and wheelchair users. There is enough shade, an abundance of helpful local-community volunteers who are easily located wearing Wynnum Festival Fringe shirts.
An Afternoon with Colin Peterson | Colin Peterson & Ron Kelly
Peterson’s passion for entertaining a crowd is palpable. He told the story of playing with musicians at the old Cloudland Dance Hall as a child, where he would be hiding in the bass drum only to emerge three hours later to a roaring crowd. “One spotlight, that’s all it took. And we had ‘em,” he recounted with glee.
Committed, Content, Confused | Grace Whitney, Gabriella Boumford, Jahla Black & Thomas Currie
Skilfully accompanied by pianist Thomas Currie, they reached musical near-perfection, with some goosebump-inducing three-part harmonies through a range of original songs and pop covers that really got the dopamine going. Stand outs were their brilliant rendition of I Am Woman, and a few wonderfully soppy love songs sweet enough to melt the iciest of hearts.
Being Male Is | Jaycob Beven-Delaney & Eli Bunyoung
It was clear to me that these two young performers were drawing on emotional truth when performing this story. They were present with each other and they were present with us. Their dialogue was underpinned by dynamic movement pieces that conveyed an emotional intensity beyond words.
Apocalipstick | Polytoxic
Apocalipstick really, truly deserves to be seen. It made me laugh out loud - repeatedly. It’s visceral messages will blow you away. It’s an ultimate feast for the senses. It’s nuanced delivery is nothing short of outstanding. It’s what makes Brisbane even more special.
Songs My Aunties Taught Me | Heru Pinkasova & Dr Rhythm
Wow wow wow. I feel like my eardrums have just been given a delightful, melodic pounding. Songs My Aunties Taught Me is part opera, part beatboxing, part comedy, and one hundred percent remarkable. This first collaboration between songstress Heru Pinkasova and the beatboxing, drumming Dr Rhythm is a melodious fusion of two very different art forms, which tells the stories of influential women in Heru’s life; both her mother and aunties, and the great women of colour who sang before her.
Circus’cision | Head First Acrobats & Guests
Growing up in rural Australia, the circus is just that: the cliché one that would come to town every now and then. There wasn’t anything particularly bad about those circuses, but they never could grab my attention in the way Circus’cision does. It’s different and brands itself on being a more adult oriented circus cabaret promising delightfully offensive language and the tease of potential nudity.
Dionysus | Tom Oliver Productions
What kind of show has us singing along to a gospel song one moment and gawking at a hyper realistic stiff plastic cock in the next? A fringe-festival renegade cabaret, that’s what!
Songs My Aunties Taught Me | Heru Pinkasova & Dr Rhythm
The interactions between Aunty Heru and Jonny Drama brings out a humorous side to the show and the chemistry between them is endearing as it feels like they have both known each other for a long time and that they have toured lengthy with this show despite it being their first. As talented as Heru is with her voice, Jonny’s beatboxing skills are similarly impressive.