Tight Five review | Blake Everett | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Motley Bauhaus

Being late to your own stand-up show is a comedian's nightmare, but for Blake Everett it is the premise of an entire show. Tight Five follows Blake as he bounds across Melbourne to The Motley Bauhaus, encountering a succession of strange characters and increasingly ridiculous obstacles along the way, all for the chance to deliver five minutes of stand-up. What starts as a simple race against the clock quickly becomes a playful mix of stand-up, theatre, and improvisation.

From the moment Blake wakes up, Tight Five is happy to break the fourth wall, with him acknowledging the audience as he works through his morning routine. It becomes even more meta when we realise the stand-up show he is late for is the very show we are watching. When he calls someone in the audience to discuss whether they can somehow pause the show so we don't know what is happening, the distinction between Blake's world and ours becomes deliberately blurred.

Rhomboid review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | fortyfivedownstairs

Some relationships seem destined to happen, yet somehow never quite do. Rhomboid follows Xavier and Sebastian from their teenage years into adulthood as they repeatedly drift towards each other, away from each other and occasionally back again. Eric Jiang's play explores attraction, friendship and all the complications that come with trying to work out what someone means to you when life keeps getting in the way.

Ken Paolo and Lawrence Hawkins as Xavier and Sebastian, share an easy, appealing chemistry, and it is unfortuante not to see the story delve further into their relationship. There is enough between the pair to suggest that, with more depth and development, that chemistry could have really caught fire. Chad Rosete plays the supporting roles of Felix and Lachie, doing a great job of becoming a different counterpart to each man at various points in their lives.

Dashiel Reads To You review | Dashiel Agar | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Smith & Gertrude Gallery

When was the last time someone read you a book? Not an audiobook, not a podcast, but someone actually sat beside you and read the words out loud? For most adults, probably a very long time ago, but there is something wonderfully indulgent about being read to, particularly when you are lying on a bed and someone else is doing all the work.

Dashiel Reads To You turns this simple idea into a 30-minute escape from the outside world. The small gallery at Smith & Gertrude has been transformed into a cosy reading space, complete with a bed, bookshelf and chair belonging to Dashiel’s grandmother. Visitors can choose a book from the bookshelf, which has a mix of fiction and non-fiction, including Wicked and a dictionary, or bring their own. I brought along Memorial by Bryan Washington, a book I started several months ago before forgetting about it and had it sitting on my bedside table since. I handed it to Dashiel, who read me the first two chapters.

SLUGS review | Creepy Boys | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Meat Market

Two giant slugs wriggle onto the stage in sleeping bags with holes cut out for their heads and arms. It is an entrance that immediately tells us SLUGS is not going to take the conventional route. The Creepy Boys (Sam Kruger and S.E. Grummett) have created a show that is determined to avoid having a point. They sing, dance, strip, play with puppets, present live projections, and drag the audience into their increasingly bizarre world, all while insisting that none of it is supposed to mean anything. The more they try to keep things light, however, the more meaning seems to creep in.

That tension is where SLUGS gets much of its comedy. The pair are constantly aware that almost anything can be interpreted as a statement, especially when it comes to their bodies. A seemingly harmless song acquires a political reading, while an unexpected reference to guns or gender sends the show careening in another direction. Their response is to not address the issue at all, but instead throw something else at us. This gives the production an exciting and unpredictable rhythm. Just when you think you have worked out where a scene is heading, it can veer into puppetry, animation, music or some outrageous physical gag.

Mass Hysteria review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Trades Hall

Forget Sunday service. Mass Hysteria wants to show you what happens when you replace church pews with a cabaret stage, hymns with saucy songs and religious devotion with drag. This Holy Trinity, consisting of Iva Rosebud, Meg Hickey and Jens Radda, is ready to lead us into salvation and enlightenment through cabaret, burlesque and live performance.

From the moment the audience settles in, it is clear this is not going to be your traditional service. The trio embrace the theatricality of worship, moving between song, dance, burlesque and comedy while playing with the rituals and language associated with the church. There is a knowing irreverence to it all, but the production is not simply about making fun of faith. Instead, it takes these traditions and gives them a very queer, very cabaret interpretation.

The show is divided into several chapters, including Communion, Temptation and Baptism. Each comes with a passage from the Book of Hysterium, offering the audience a subtle tease of what is about to come. That unpredictability is part of the appeal of Mass Hysteria. You never quite know what is coming next.