Everything, Now! review | Rebekah Carton | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

Life is busy. Really busy. We are constantly rushing from one thing to the next, trying to fit more into our days than there is ever enough time for. There is always somewhere to be, something to do and another thing waiting for our attention. And somehow, we just keep adding to the list. Everything, Now! takes that constant state of busyness and pushes it to its limit as Rebekah Carton attempts to keep an impossible number of things under control as her to-do list grows, priorities shift and everything gradually starts to unravel.

Because she has to do everything herself, Carton begins by scanning the tickets of every audience member as they arrive. Once everyone is seated, she calmly explains that she has 45 minutes to complete as many as possible. She does this by pushing a large red button, which releases a random ticket containing an instruction to be read aloud by the Task Master. The Task Master is a different guest each evening, responsible for monitoring Carton's progress and deciding whether each task has been completed. On opening night, that responsibility fell to Oliver Bailey, who wonderfully took to the role as he approved or rejected her efforts.

Fu@k! I Killed The Director review | Alright? Comedy | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

In Fu@k! I Killed The Director, Cherry and John (Alana Louise and Jason Schwab) are moments away from taking to the stage for Romeo & Juliet when they kill their director. But the show must go on, and so, in blood-splattered clothing and with blood on their hands that would make Lady Macbeth proud, they head before the audience. Staying in character is one thing, but getting through the performance proves much harder as doubts and insecurities about their chosen careers begin to creep in, sending the pair into a delirious nightmare.

As we take our seats, we see the duo warming up to audio recordings discussing various acting theories and techniques, highlighting the skill required to succeed in the industry. But this is as serious as it gets, as we quickly fall into elaborate movie scene reenactments, ridiculous role plays and general kookiness. The contrast between their preparation and what follows sets the tone for a night that is happy to have fun with the craft while still having something worthwhile to say.

Like Young review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

 

Your twenties are supposed to be some of the most defining years of your life. You go to university, get jobs, move out, make new friends and start figuring out what you want from life. In Like Young, writer and director Adeodatus McCormack brings four young people together over 24 hours as they deal with circumstances that could potentially change the course of their lives. The problem is that very little of it proves particularly engaging or ground-breaking.

The biggest issue stems from the writing, in that much of the drama occurs off stage and separately from the other characters. Oliver’s (Michael Crisafulli) uncle has died, leaving him $500,000 in the will while the rest of his family receives nothing. This feels like an uncommon problem to have and a strange one to put a 20 year old to experience, when it could just focus on processing the grief of losing his uncle.

Bella (Sabrina Rault) is caught up in complications over her ex-boyfriend, Luke (who never appears on stage), while Paris (Max Nunes-Cesaar) is also coming to terms with the death of a relative. These are significant events for the characters, but so much happens away from the group, that their problems barely become personal between them. We learn about what they are dealing with, but we don't get to see those experiences meaningfully affect their relationships with each other. For a play about people navigating their changing lives, they spend surprisingly little time actually connecting.

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.