Hotsy-Totsy review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

They’re the birthday-party entertainers who decided it was time for a better gig. Created by Ava O’Brien and Peggie Barnes, Hotsy-Totsy brings the unbridled joy of a children’s party to an adult audience, combining clowning, cabaret, and puppetry with a healthy dose of silliness and decidedly grown-up humour.

As I take my seat, I notice heart-shaped boxes on some chairs and plates of sausages under others. This is going to be an interesting evening, I tell myself. Then O’Brien and Barnes appear on stage, moving as one. Not because they’re completely in sync, but because they’re stuck inside a T-shirt designed to fit one person. They make their way off the stage and begin interacting with the crowd while standing literally cheek to cheek. I always feel like you’re in for a good time at a comedy show when one performer looks at another and they crack up laughing (as does the room), and Hotsy-Totsy sustains that feeling.

Barnes’ clowning is particularly effective, with expressive facial reactions and physicality that convey her growing frustration at having to celebrate her best friend’s birthday. O’Brien demonstrates excellent comedic timing and impressive choreography. Together, they have an easy chemistry and a shared instinct for physical comedy, playing off each other to turn even the most ridiculous situations into comic gold, including a cabaret sequence where they dance with chairs.

Stirred Up review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

There’s an art to preparing a good cup of tea, but Katy Burrows has other ideas. In Stirred Up, their debut solo show at Melbourne Fringe, Burrows blends clown, physical theatre and circus to turn a familiar ritual into something increasingly surreal, playing with the etiquette and social conventions surrounding the sharing of a hot drink.

The venue’s compact performance space means Burrows makes use of every nook and cranny to store their props, including on their own person. It’s a tea party for one as they begin catapulting spoons into the air by striking their handles against the table, aiming to land one in the teacup balanced on their head. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take long for them to pull off the trick, setting the tone for the amusement found in the smallest of gestures.

Stirred Up is modest in scale but effective in its execution, blending the mundane act of making and drinking tea with a measure of silliness and a dash of surrealism. At the beginning, Burrows works their way through the crowd, asking everyone’s names and drink orders. They then serve the beverages using the props at their disposal, adding to the whimsy, that is made all the more impressive by the number of orders they remember.

Ched & Charles review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Studio Nexus

They’re the Bert and Ernie of the circus world. Meet Ched and Charles, thick as thieves and the very best of friends. Created by NICA graduates Gabriel Walker and Luca Trimboli, Ched & Charles is a family-friendly circus show about friendship and finding the whimsy in the mundane.

The show opens with an acrobatic act that the pair make seemingly light work of as they flip and lift each other into the air, poking fun at their height difference and using it to their advantage. Once introductions are out of the way, we move to a café, where Ched orders a delicious sandwich. What should be a standard transaction becomes a literal balancing act, with Charles preparing the order while balancing on a ladder. It’s a playful twist on an otherwise everyday task.

Toto's Song review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | La Mama Theatre

When Phillip learns his mother has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has five months left to live, he decides to move back home. Phillip wants to use this time to say goodbye and spend time with his mother, but all Toto wants to do is whatever the hell she wants. Written by Emma Fawcett, Toto's Song is an unconventional yet touching tribute to caring for the ones we love and doing the best we can with the time we have left.

The four actors, Felicity Steele, Alex Duncan, Michelle Myers and Indra Liyanaarachchi, share a wonderful dynamic. Steele, in particular, has the challenging task of holding the work together, and she succeeds admirably. She captures Toto’s strength and vivacity while also revealing pockets of vulnerability. The changes in her physicality and speech as Toto slowly reaches the end of her life are beautifully depicted.

Please Help Me! review | Aimee Marich | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Underground Upstairs

In Please Help Me!, Aimee Marich draws on her own history of mental health, suicidal thoughts and attempts, and psychiatric care to explore what happens when life becomes too difficult to manage. The show examines the hurdles to seeking help and the uncertainty surrounding how to best be there for someone experiencing serious mental health issues.

At the centre of the show is Marich’s week-long stay in a psychiatric ward and the events that led to it. She interweaves her hospitalisation with stories about her relationships, including telling her best friend about her suicide attempt, and the challenges of returning to everyday life when inpatient treatment has not resolved her distress. Her account also addresses the lack of clarity around how to support someone with mental health issues.

Marich raises important issues, particularly the stigma and shame associated with mental illness and the obstacles to finding appropriate care. However, she moves between different parts of her story, limiting the opportunity to understand what Marich went through in the ward and how she has navigated life since. Given the deeply personal nature of the material, spending longer exploring these aspects of her journey could help the audience better appreciate their impact.