Our oceans are dying and no one seems to care, but Picked Last For Sport is here to change that. With an aim to create environmentally sustainable and educational theatre, the company brought their award-winning documentary style cabaret Creatures of the Deep back for a short run during the Melbourne Cabaret Festival. Through some delightfully charming original songs and marvellously designed props, our Jacques Cousteau-esque narrator and his four unpaid interns dive deep into the ocean to introduce us to the various sea life that exist down below.
The performers - Jake Edgar, Cat Sanzaro, Ryan Smith, Sean Sully and Sarah Wall - have strong voices and ensure the songs they take the lead on are ones that will bring maximum use of their vocal range. Wall is particularly impressive with her sultry pink meanie jellyfish number, as is Sully's acoustic rendition on what it's like being a pregnant male seahorse.
A fish is a cold-blooded animal with gills and fins that lives in water. Thanks to Rollercoaster Theatre Company a second definition can be added to this word: a fantastical soap opera about fear and anxiety. Rollercoaster Theatre is an ensemble of trained
actors with intellectual disabilities from diverse backgrounds that work with a different director every 6 - 12 months. For fish, the company has teamed up with Maude Davey, so naturally the show ends up being a visually engaging piece of performance art with its various songs and dances throughout.
fish explores the varying degrees of fear and anxiety that people can have and it's not just about the people that live just down the road from you. These issues are looked at through a variety of people, including powerful political figures like Donald Grump, who despite
his public bravado hides a vulnerability that is only exposed behind closed doors. The ensemble cast - David Baker, Michael Buxton, Shea MacDonough, Ryan New, Erin Pocervina, Melissa Slaviero, Cameron Stanley, and Andrew Tresidder - remain committed to their roles with a confidence that comes when an actor is sure of who their character is.
