Juniper Rising review (Melb Fringe)

The world came to a standstill when this powerful iconic woman recently passed away.  It was a national day of mourning in virtually every country. Everyone had a story or opinion about her life. It was a unique life and one that no one else will ever come close to experiencing. I am, of course, talking about Juniper Wilde, who accidentally committed her own suicide. Presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Alex Hines resurrects her alter ego Juniper Wilde in Juniper Rising.

There is one word to describe this show and it is looooooose. SO loose. But Hines thrives on it. She THRIVES. She feeds off the chaos and crazy like a soul-sucking demon feeds off humans. Like a demon in hell. Where Juniper finds herself. But behind all this, there is craft, and it is clever and stupid and absolutely hilarious and frenetic. Hines can take a ridiculous idea and make something hysterical out of it or she'll make a drive-by comment and move on. You never quite know what's going to happen next, and sometimes, you get the feeling that Hines isn't even sure. But it works so brilliantly in Juniper Rising.

Traversing the after life with iconic superstar Juniper Wilde

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the theatre, Juniper Wilde is back with more zest for life than ever be- oh, she's dead. That's right, the icon that is Juniper Wilde has died after losing a lip-sync battle in Hades. But fear not Wildlings, because Juniper has a plan to return to the world but it does involve making a deal with the devil.

If that brief synopsis of Juniper Rising has confused you, then the brains behind the beauty, Alex Hines, has done her job, but it's not easy to create some very twisted and often dark sketches and comedy. "Usually my brain spits these fucked little ideas out at me and if it makes me laugh I’ll do it, even if literally everyone else says no," she explains. "With Wilde Night In and Juniper Rising I’ve been so lucky to have my collaborator and director Sarah Stafford by my side. I’ll go to her with the dumbest ideas and we’ll riff and she’ll shape until it’s a show. Before Sarah it was far more chaotic and unhinged, but she’s got this magical way of helping imagination come to life on stage."

To Schapelle and Back review | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | The Butterfly Club

Alex Hines is having a pretty crappy birthday. Her dad is missing and Blockbuster is closed. What's a private schoolgirl on a swimming scholarship meant to do? Well not much, because the ancient doppelgänger curse is about to strike and Alex's life is about to become inextricably linked to that of Aussie icon, Schapelle Corby. Alex will need to go To Schapelle and Back in order to see the light on the other side in this incredibly twisted and outlandish Melbourne International Comedy Festival offering. 

While having some background knowledge about who Schapelle is would help with some of the show's subtle (and overt) humour and observations, its look at Australian culture and sense of identity is broad enough for everyone's entertainment. This isn't a show exclusively about Schapelle Corby. Hines' ability to take pop culture references, such as Mr. Squiggle, Big Brother and Chris Crocker, and mould them into something that can slide seamlessly into the Corbyverse is very impressive and reinforces the confidence that Hines has as a performer.

It's clocks, drugs and dopplegängers in Alex Hines' Melbourne Comedy Festival show "To Schapelle And Back"

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction but in her upcoming Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, Alex Hines brings truth and fiction together to create a twisted and outlandish production based on a true story and inspired by her real life friendship with Schapelle Corby. Hines, who bares an uncanny resemblance to Corby brings her uniquely outrageous humour to this show which last year won her Best Feminist Work and Best Work by an Emerging Artist at the Melbourne Fringe Festival for Juniper Wilde: Wilde Night In.

You would be pretty hard pressed to find someone in Australia unaware of who Corby is, having spent almost the last twenty years hounded by media and facing intense public scrutiny. In 2004, a then 27 year old Corby was on her way to Bali when she was arrested and later convicted of smuggling cannabis into Indonesia. She was released from prison nine years later in 2014 and returned to Australia in 2017. To this day, she maintains she did not know about the drugs in her bodyboard bag and that they were planted there.

This story has been something Hines has always been fascinated by and after years of obsessing over it, she's finally getting to perform this to Melbourne audiences. "Years ago, my friend and I were talking about creating a solo show about Schapelle. We were inspired by spooky doppelgänger stories and wanted to make an Australian Gothic extravaganza about a fairytale gone wrong, and it’s been bubbling away ever since then," she says. "Then in 2018 I made a show with Emily Carr and Kaitlyn Rogers called Queenz (nominated for Best Comedy at Melbourne Fringe) about Schapelle as a feminist icon, which was chaos and hilarious, but I still wasn’t done."

Apologue review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Wick Studios

For those who enjoy the thrill of watching Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud and The Price is Right, you will definitely not want to miss Apologue. Then again, maybe you will, as the game show within the show is not exactly a contestant friendly game show. It is however, a quirky and fun look at how the mass media is used to manipulate and control our thoughts and beliefs.

A hapless contestant is pulled on stage and must answer a series of questions in order to win some inane prizes that are presented as essential and luxurious by the hosts. With each round, the contestant’s comments are taken out of context and opinions and beliefs are pushed down upon her.