Fear not! There's at least one local media outlet still reviewing Adelaide Fringe shows this year. We've rounded up the best reviews from our good friends at InReview – four stars and up only.
February 23, 2023
Culture
The best of the Fringe so far
The Best of the Best
Jesus, Jane, Mother & Me
Genre: Theatre
Reviewer: Murray Bramwell
Score: ★★★★★
Dates: Until 26 February
In an empty house a young man is waiting to celebrate Mother’s Day, but the more he describes her – and their religious devotions and special bonds – the more uncertain his rapture becomes.
Why you should see the show:
“As Daniel, Jack Stokes, the 18-year-old son of the playwright, brilliantly and poignantly sustains the young man’s quixotic drive to be himself in an unwelcoming, un-nurturing world. The distinctive Yorkshire accent and descending cadence is reminiscent of those dry deadpan Alan Bennett monologues where nothing is quite what it seems and, as here, things start to come seriously apart at the seams.”
Come Together — The Beatles Rock Show
Genre: Music
Reviewer: Steve Evans
Score: ★★★★★
Dates: Until 5 March
This uplifting hour of well-known Beatles tunes is delivered with theatrical flair, musical punch and, importantly, feeling. It’s not just a tribute show but also great entertainment.
Why you should see the show:
“There were no low points in this full-on hour of Beatles music, though some tunes shone more than others. Highlights included “Come Together”, heralded with swirling lights and dizzying guitar from Ben Whittington. The audience didn’t need much encouragement to join in the chorus of “Help”, and “Daytripper” was exhilarating. “The End” was, of course, the end.”
The King of Taking
Genre: Clown
Reviewer: Murray Bramwell
Score: ★★★★★
Dates: Until 5 March
Rubber-limbed and deadpan, New Zealand mime wizard Thom Monckton makes an hilarious return as the selfish king whose only subject is himself.
Why you should see the show:
“For 50 minutes the complications multiply and the sight gags, sudden-death pratfalls, and the slings and arrows of sudden misfortune bring continuous fun. Thom Monckton has a rare and inventive gift for witty clowning. This royal show is definitely for the taking.”
Mansion
Genre: Circus
Reviewer: Trista Coulter
Score: ★★★★★
Dates: Until 5 March
They walked among the gods in the hit 2022 Adelaide Fringe show Oracle; now, Bass Fam Creative return to drag audiences down to the depths of hell with the frightening Adelaide premiere of Mansion.
Why you should see the show:
“A dark fusion of physical theatre, storytelling, dance and circus, Mansion plunges viewers into a frightening hellscape inhabited by vengeful spirits and mournful souls, and the result is both emotionally intense and thoroughly entertaining.”
Watson – The Final Problem
Genre: Physical Theatre
Reviewer: Jo Vabolis
Score: ★★★★★
Dates: Until 18 March
Are the rumours of Sherlock Holmes’ demise true? Has he met his end at the hands of his arch nemesis? All is revealed in this gripping solo stage show starring British actor Tim Marriott.
Why you should see the show:
“The script is dense and absorbing, and the pace is furious, but Tim Marriott’s masterful characterisation of multiple roles means the hour flies past and we never get confused about where we are in the story. We revisit key moments in Watson’s life (his war service, medical practice and marriage to Mary Morstan) and accompany him as he flees London with Holmes, pursued by the criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty.”
Electric Dreams – Temping
Genre: Immersive
Reviewer: Jo Vabolis
Score: ★★★★★
Dates: Until 18 March
A stint covering a holidaying worker should be a breeze, right? In Temping, a show unique to each audience member, you have a team behind you but you’re ultimately on your own.
Why you should see the show:
“Temping – written by Michael Yates Crowley and presented by New York-based Dutch Kills Theater Company and “narrative technologists” Wolf 359 – is a technologically complex theatrical experience offered for a single audience member at each sitting. The satisfyingly unsettling work is site-specific (a self-contained office cubicle has been set up in Adelaide University’s Union building), and is being presented for the first time in Australia as part of the Adelaide Fringe’s award-wining Electric Dreams festival.”
The Very Best
The Umbilical Brothers – The Distraction
Genre: Comedy
Reviewer: Katherine Tamiko Arguile
Score: ★★★★½
Dates: Until 19 March
The ever-energetic Umbilical Brothers keep the laughs coming as they return to the Fringe with their daftly hilarious, award-winning mash-up of live performance, real time footage and green-screen-trickery.
Why you should see the show:
“The show begins at a sedate pace with David Collins, in his green-screen dressing room, ending up snogging his alter ego in the mirror, taking his own sweet time. It feels like that moment of pause at the top of a rollercoaster ride before it begins rolling again – whoo, off we go! – swiftly picking up speed, sketches and action. Prop-wrangling and quick costume changes and dashes between screen and camera grow ever more chaotic and frenzied, the Umbies sometimes not having quite enough time to make a transition, which only adds to the hilarity.”
Simply the Best
Haiku For You
Genre: Improv
Reviewer: Rachael Mead
Score: ★★★★
Dates: Until 24 February
Alex and the Babes spin a three-act play from three lines of poetry and thin air as five rapid-firing minds combine to create improv comedy gold in Haiku For You.
Why you should see the show:
“The five women take obvious delight in each other’s company and skills, the sharp-witted humour unfolding with no sense of competition or one-upmanship. Their comedic timing is impressively tight, rarely a minute passing without laughter.”
Penny Arcade: The Art of Becoming Episode 3: “Superstar Interrupted”
Genre: Musical theatre
Reviewer: Heather Taylor Johnson
Score: ★★★★
Dates: Until 28 February
Adelaide Fringe 2023 Ambassador Penny Arcade – an icon of Andy Warhol’s Factory crew – tells it like she lived it in a ‘memoir show’ at new city-centre venue The Pyramid.
Why you should see the show:
“In what she refers to as, “Of course! A memoir show!”, performer Penny Arcade treats her audience to rhythmic and wild re-tellings of improv art and improv life during the late 1960s and ’70s.”
27 Club
Genre: Music
Reviewer: Ben Kelly
Score: ★★★★
Dates: Until 5 March
Sarah McLeod and Carla Lippis are electrifying as the Adelaide Fringe’s favourite supergroup returns to rock audiences with their finely tuned hour of rock, grunge and soul, paying homage to famous musicians who never saw the age of 28.
Why you should see the show:
“With couches and a coffee table on stage, the show is like being in the lounge room of eight epic musicians as each take their turn at leading. There are some clever re-imaginings of classics, while other numbers are performed true to the originals, and some are presented as medleys.”
Ross Noble – Jibber Jabber Jamboree
Genre: Comedy
Reviewer: Rachael Mead
Score: ★★★★
Dates: Until 19 March
The title of this show describes Ross Noble’s wild, stream-of-consciousness style, but doesn’t do justice to the hilarious ingenuity of the content. Celebrating his 21st tour, the comedian again proves himself the virtuoso of improvisational stand-up.
Why you should see the show:
“While touching on the odd potentially problematic subject – terrorists, the regime in Saudi Arabia – Noble skirted close to the edge but never slipped. Audiences don’t flock to see him for a show that’s politically edgy or philosophically profound. They come to marvel at an improvisational maestro at work, riffing off the energy and random interjections of his audience.”
FLEX
Genre: Interactive
Reviewer: Jo Vabolis
Score: ★★★★
Dates: Until 24 November
‘Where does the body end and the avatar begin?’ In a series of absorbing interactive spaces, FLEX plays with the links between our physical selves and the environments we inhabit.
Why you should see the show:
“In an adjacent ground-floor gallery, “Spacious Living” situates the viewer within the solar system. Screens encircle us at two levels. Up high, space travellers explore an otherworldly landscape. Down low, touchscreens allow the viewer to zoom in and out to explore planets and moons and their positions in relation to each other and their orbits. It’s absorbing, and it quickly captures the attention.”
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