59 stories by "Jason Whyte"
I very much enjoyed The Last Temptation of Randy recently and it reminded me why I love fringe festivals so much. It's shows like Pop Mashup: Happy Birthday Doctor that remind me why sometim…
Story-telling purple puppet Randy brings his irritable, potty-mouthed facade and world premiere show The Last Temptation of Randy to Melbourne Fringe 2013. On opening night, sound cues were …
Take two Ocker mates, real manly men, and have them out in the bush doing circus tricks, sometimes involving beer. That's the setup for Three High Acrobatics' Cirque du Bloke, where Bazza an…
Heart Thy Neighbour might echo some of the casual racism displayed readily by Australians, but doesn't have anything meaningful to say about it. The Fringe guide mention of Don's Party sets …
Canadian Leonard Cohen started his creative output as a poet in the 1950s, has written books and has achieved particular fame and longevity as a singer and songwriter. This is the kind of va…
There's a time to think, and then there's a time to be carried away by performers gleefully making lots of noise. The combination of unorthodox music making and dance in Stomp '13 " an impec…
Proximity comes from the mind of Australian Dance Theatre's Garry Stewart, with choreography that’s developed with his dancers and created to work with the live video manipulation byÂ…
With an extensive international touring history and a haul of awards, Slava's Snowshow features clowning and mime in a series of vignettes. From goofy physical comedy to inventive imagery, t…
Aside from running the Globe Cafe in Prahran, Josh Levy's talents run to playing piano and writing songs. Using these skills in his show with singer and sometime violinist Fem Belling, Anoth…
A couple years ago, Sydney-based Miriam Waks packed her backback and spent a year and a half travelling through ten countries. Her new show, Songs from the Open Road, offers tales of h…
Due to a disjointed story light on insight, Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Project was often too breezy and fluffy; however, the music saved the show, as Lena Horne's songs were performed…
Self-described "chanteuse and torch singer" Lady Rizo demands  attention. It's not just because of her glamourous ascent to the stage in a black gown and body glitter, it's  because…
In any given week, this town has a thousand stories. Amongst the dames and dopes, one night you sip from a coupe de champagne, another you take a knuckleduster to the kidney. On the promise …
First performed at the MTC in 1977 and on countless school reading lists, David Williamson's The Club holds a particular notoriety in AFL-loving Australia as it gives a plausible imagining…
We're nearing the end of MICF for 2013. You have probably seen standup, maybe even some improvisational acts or musical comedy. If you want to round out the experience, I'm pretty confident …
With his band, Paul McDermott's MICF show is Paul Sings. It's an accurate title and the crowd were very appreciative of the music. Between songs there were some overlong stories on topics su…
The Kransky Sisters are eldest Mourne, middle Eve and their younger half-sister Dawn. All were raised to be very proper, like the Queen. In their hometown of Esk in Queensland, the sisters p…
The corner milk bar, Ford vs Holden and quarter acre blocks: the suburbs. Mother June frantically worries about the cheese cubes for daughter Lula's surprise party, disinterested step-dad Ga…
A some of you might have guessed from reading these reviews, I am indeed Satan. I loathe middle-of-the-road blandness, and love a bit of mischief. My job as dark lord incarnate means t…
I've had a number of laugh out loud moments at the ideas in Arj Barker's shows over the years. I've enjoyed the "Heavy Metal Heckle", his turn as a Guru, what speed-freaks did before there w…
Like that assortment of sweets from my childhood, Dolly Mixtures by ventriloquist Nina Conti has a variety of colours and shapes, some enjoyed more than others.  Novel flavours mean…
Alongside Paul McDermott and Richard Fidler, Tim Ferguson achieved international comedy rock star status in the 1980s and 90s in the Doug Anthony All Stars. In his MICF show Carry a Bi…
If you've watched a Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala over the past few years, you might have enjoyed a seated Irishman singing a humorous song while accompanying himself on a small keyboard. H…
If you want enthusiasm in your comedy, you just can't go past Andrew McClelland. In his diverse recent offerings he's shown that he absolutely enjoys what he does, and this enjoyment is infe…
Casus is a company of four who perform circus tricks. Despite an eclectic soundtrack, we might call their wordless offering Knee Deep a minimalist traditional show " a range of skills …
