Circus 1903 review

As you take your seat and look at the stage of Circus 1903, it really feels like you have been transported back 120 years ago to a big top circus. World-class talent undertake breathtaking acrobatics and routines that show what can be achieved if you put your mind to it. An appearance by an African elephant and her baby calf further heightens the excitement felt over a century ago when circuses would travel into small towns offering locals opportunities to witness extraordinary artists and exotic animals, and for a limited season, it is Melbourne's turn to experience this.

Every act is a highlight and while favourites among the audience varies, there's no denying the absolute skill possessed by the Icarian Games performers Mohammed Ibrahim and Hamza Seid, in a stunning routine of foot juggling a human body. At one point, 23 consecutive rotations are completed one after the other and watching the strength and flexibility in both these performers is simply jaw dropping. Mekdes Kebede's contortionist act is utterly engrossing as she manipulates her body into positions that should not be feasible, and receives plenty of gasps from the crowd.

Happily Ever Poofter review

Fairy tales always come with a happy ending for the Princess. But what about our Princes? More specifically, our gay princes? In Happily Ever Poofter, Rich Watkins takes his audiences on a magic carpet ride through the world of a gay Disney Prince looking for love and acceptance while also enjoying some good old-fashioned sexcapades, through songs, of course.

With assistance from his fairy godfather, Prince Henry is whisked away from his kingdom far far away into the real world where he begins his quest to find his own Prince Charming, but until then, he's eager to embrace the smorgasbord that is gay culture and sex. From the get-go, Watkins is at maximum energy levels. He may have created this show four years ago, but the enthusiasm and excitement he brings feels like it's the first time he’s performing it. The story is quite loose but the pantomime-like element of audience involvement and the cheeky humour work in its favour and we can sit back and delight in the ride.

Dragon Hearts review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

It's clear that Bria McCarthy has had an interest in dragons since before Game of Thrones made them cool again. In Dragon Hearts, McCarthy tells us the stories of various dragons through time using shadow puppetry along with some other creative forms and styles but unfortunately this production falls short of effective storytelling.

There are a few stagecraft issues, one of the more obvious ones being the sightlines. Unless you sit in the front row or the front row of the high chairs, it is difficult to see the text that is displayed on the screen with the obstruction of the heads of people seated in front of you. The music is unaffecting and quite repetitive and it does little to support the emotional depth of the scenes that McCarthy hopes to instil. There is a strong need for a dramaturgical eye to finesse these stories and allow audiences with limited or next to no knowledge of the tales to be swept away on the journey intended for us.

SWAMP review

Created by Andy Freer and Nick Wilson, and presented by Snuff Puppets, SWAMP sends its audience into a fascinating journey into the impact humans have had on Earth's geology and ecosystems through the adventures of a number of Australian animals.

Large scale intricately designed animal puppets - including koalas, mosquitos, cane toads and lyrebirds - are bought to life by puppeteers in "short stories" of their interactions with each other and their changing environment. Varying in their humour and dramatics, each story effectively highlights their plight, and how humans have explicitly and implicitly made their homes a risk to their safety and lives.

Stark and Dormy - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

It’s time for some fun fun fun at Fox’s Family Fun Park. There are plenty of animals to see and exciting rides to take in this small, charming town, as long as you can ignore the hungry alien that is devouring everything and everyone around it. Presented as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Bunk Puppets’ Stark and Dormy thrusts its audience into a science-fiction/horror storyline told almost entirely through astounding shadow puppetry.

While the puppetry is fascinating in its own right, what makes this show even more interesting is that we are able to witness the behind the scenes antics of puppeteers and actors James Pratt and Christian Bagin. Rather than placing a barrier under the screen, Bunk Puppets have left it unobstructed so that we can see all the puppets and props on the floor ready to be used. It is a rare glimpse in how these puppets are constructed and how they drastically change in appearance once they are held behind the screen. It’s quite incredible knowing what the alien creature is made from to then see its menacing form in action.

Hand to God review

In Hand To God, members of a Christian church in a small Texas town are preparing to put on a puppet show, however when a demonic sock puppet possesses a performer's hand, everyone's inner thoughts and intentions are brutally revealed. Billed as an irreverent and filthy comedy that is the love child of The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, Hand To God spends so much of its time trying to shock its audiences that it fails to create characters we care about, or a story that grabs us. 

Director Gary Abrahams has gathered together a formidable cast led by the brilliant Alison Whyte as Margery, who gets herself into all sorts of situations while attempting to prepare for the puppet show. Gyton Grantley, Jake Speer and Morgana O'Reilly remain highly committed to the teenage characters of Jason, Timothy and Jessica but the script can't decide if they are ignorant and self-absorbed teens or intuitive young people. Grant Piro as Pastor Greg is the most defined and consistent character in the show, and subsequently his performance is as close to a realistic performance as we can expect in a story around puppet possession.

Rooman review

Our ability to connect with people and find deeper meaning in our relationships is what lays the foundations for finding happiness. Without building these relationships, life can be difficult and incredibly lonely. In Fleur Elise Noble's ROOMAN, we follow an unnamed protagonist stuck between living the monotony of the daily grind and living her dream and the choices she makes in trying to lead her best life.

Noble uses a variety of visual techniques to tell this story, predominantly through puppet work, illustration and projections onto a moving paper set. The detail in all these is incredibly intricate and adds arresting layers to the two worlds being presented on stage, from the black and white corporate world our protagonist is stuck in, to the more coloured and fantastical world of her imagination. With the only glimmer of happiness she finds is in her dreams, where she meets and falls in love with a ROOMAN (a half-man-half-kangaroo), she becomes more entranced by her fantasy life and begins to gradually slip away from reality.

Creepy Dummy review - Melbourne International Comedy Festival

It’s a weird show for weird people, or that’s what Sarah Jones tells the audience during Creepy Dummy, which is presented as part of this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Jones is a ventriloquist and through the course of the evening she is joined by a number of special “guests”, and together we try to determine why ventriloquist dummies / dolls have received such a bad rap, and for people who have seen Annabelle or Magic, it’s not hard to tell why.

Jones explains how people often declare how creepy puppets are or expressing their automatonophobia (fear of ventriloquist’s dummies) whenever she reveals her profession to them. In order to dispel this fear, Jones shares some interesting stories and facts regarding ventriloquism and dolls through stand-up, shadow play and of course puppets.

Cleave review

In 1908, conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton were born in England. About 55 years later, Colleen Burke and her twin sister were born - five minutes apart separated by three years. Burke was born with two vaginas and her sister was born severely disabled with Cerebral Palsy. Presented as part of La Mama Theatre's Exploration season for work in various stages of development, and under the dramaturgy of Doug McLeod, Burke's Cleave explores the relationship that each set of twins has and - despite the decades between them - the similarities shared between their lives.

Having only completed the story very recently, Burke performs a scripted reading of Cleave while placing a select number of props on the stage. There is a toy train set, a sculpture of two fused humans embracing, a photo of the Hilton twins and a rolling pin. There are also a number of props revealed throughout the show, which - especially during a scripted reading - allow us to remain visually engaged with the performance.

The Trung Sisters - Big West Festival preview

The Trung Sisters were two Vietnamese warrior princesses who trained an army of 80,000 people and led their country to freedom in the 5th Century. During the Big West Festival, 25 students from Footscray North Primary School will re-tell their story. Staged in Footscray's newly refurbished rotunda at McNab Reserve the evening performance will include martial arts, traditional dancing, opera and large-scale puppetry. 

"The students have built giant puppets, will enact powerful battle scenes and perform a script guided by their writing based on this epic story," explains devisor and director, Jo Trevathan. "The grade 5/6’s have interpreted a real and important cultural story that deals with big themes of love war, sacrifice, bravery and humanity, things we presume children will not understand but I have found they have strong opinions about. In the West where we have over 80 cultures and 140 languages sharing cultural stories such as The Trung Sisters, increases understanding by discovering what we have in common and where we are unique. In the current climate of cultural diversity and political division it is important to understand and appreciate this true story."

Snuff Skool - Big West Festival preview

It's almost a year ago that I first saw a Snuff Puppets performance. It was at Testing Grounds where the world's largest human operated puppet gave birth live. It was a captivating and intriguing experience and have since looked forward to seeing more of their magic and fun. Fortunately, that moment is not too far off as during the Big West Festival, the Snuff Puppets will open up their Snuff Skool, with participants having the opportunity to learn the snuff way of life.

It's important to understand though that a snuff puppet is not just a puppet. "Snuff Puppets arrive like a circus, parading through town ambushing audiences and enticing them into the world of theatre.  Our art explores, provokes and inspires progressive cultural change. We are unashamedly hand-made and experimental in a world obsessed with perfection and mass-consumption," I am told by the Snuffies.

Wolf Boy and Zombie Dad - Big West Festival preview

Battling Narnia for the best wardrobe in town at Big West Festival will be Wolf Boy and Zombie Dad. With a combination of puppetry, mime, sound and image, father and son team, Anthony and Callum Crowley, will be taking audiences through a unique journey on life and time.

"The show is about how precious time is and how we choose to experience it, as it constantly moves through us and away from us," explains Anthony. "It's about children and how they consume it; the paradox of time. How you can dedicate hours of time to creating nothing and then how a second can reveal the universe if you are in tune to the moment."

Little V's Terrible Tea Party review - Melbourne Fringe

Little Vaginia is having a tea party and we are all invited! Presented as part of the 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival, Little V’s Terrible Tea Party is a dirty little cabaret that brazenly explores the darkest recesses of morality and perversions where our hostess will also be revealing a big surprise!

Yasmin Mole is perfect as the unhinged and somewhat psychotic Little Vaginia. With her big curly hair and pink frilly dress, she is a life-size version of the dolls that are scattered along the stage. Her wide innocent eyes are unsettling as she sings about abortions and rape and her quavering voice is constantly on the brink of losing her self-control. Joining Mole are Charlotte Righetti, David John Watton and Jack Lad as the three clowns, and their physicality, facial expressions and their individual character traits are all well constructed.

Transplant review - Melbourne Fringe

Every now and again, there is a show that is so unexpected and unusual that it remains vividly with you for quite some time after seeing it. Presented by Such As They Are and as part of the 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival, Transplant is one such show. Performed at its uniquely designed installation space in a corner of Club Voltaire, it is a self-proclaimed medical fairytale that seamlessly infuses puppetry and performance.

As we wait outside the curtains of the performance, a nurse (Tim Ratcliffe) appears and before we know it, we are being prepped to assist in a surgery. Nothing is forgotten in the process, as we are told to swab behind our ears, have our nostrils examined and if anyone has been travelling overseas in the last month, well…

I'm Not Alright review - Melbourne Fringe

Daley King has been living with depression for over a decade, and longer, if you consider the fact his father has also lived with it. In his 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival show debut, I’m Not Alright, King takes us on a poetic journey on mental illness via physical theatre, jazz soundtrack and puppets.

Apart from using his own experience, King has interviewed a variety of people with mental illness to create this story. King has a great ability to engage us with the poetic flow of his words as they paint a picture of a person who is struggling with his sadness and loneliness. The jazz music creates a contrasting image of laughter and chatter that signifies the mind-set that people with depression can have without King needing to explicitly state.

Avenue Q review

Having seen the West End production six years ago (and remembering it strongly), I had high expectations for Trifle Theatre Company's production of Avenue Q. Furthermore, I had some reservations as to whether it could match the magic of my original viewing, but within the first few minutes that doubt disappeared. We may only be in March but I can confidently say that this will be one of the best shows I see this year. 

The story follows a recent college graduate, Princeton (played by Jordan Pollard), who is a little wet behind the ears and entering the "real world". Moving to Avenue Q (the best he can afford) he gets acquainted with the locals, including Kate Monster (played by Sarah Golding), Trekkie Monster (played by the wonderful Andy McDougall), married human couple Christmas Eve and Brian (Leah Lim and Michael Linder) and Gary Coleman (in an interesting casting choice, played by Zuleika Khan).