Grey Lantern Production’s Saucy Jack and The Space Vixens

Grey Lantern Production’s Saucy Jack and The Space Vixens

#spacevixens    #fringeworld   #fringeworld2016  

http://www.fringeworld.com.au/program/event/302d67c5-8dfa-4709-b3a1-f4a45a816261/

Saucy Jack and The Space Vixens is running for two more performances at Rigby’s Bar and Grill tonight - Friday the 19th Febraury 2016 and tomorrow night Saturday the 20th of February 2016.

We saw the opening night last night and if you want to see just how sexy nonconformist and unconventional takes on beauty can be you would really enjoy this show’s opening cabaret at 8:00pm. If you don’t want to see this because you think it’s a turn off, creepy or icky, then you probably need to see it to challenge your preconceptions a bit.  

This is an 18+ show so enjoy some very titillating cabaret burlesque and adult themes. 

Included in the cabaret - exceptional pole work (not your usual pole dancer), captivating fan dancer, a real wow of a belly dancer all a great warm up and bringing you into this world.  

It’s a good thing they sell fans in their merchandise, that’s all I can say. A lovely touch - dancers coming around with trays of mini glitter balls, Space Vixen chokers, fans and so forth.

I’m not quite sure of the etiquette of applauding an erotic performer - is phwoarrrr inappropriate or would it be taken as just due?

Stu-Pendous, the official Magician of Saucy Jack’s circulates the tables during the intervals, performing some very impressive mechanical and sleight of mouth feats and some truly inspired patter.

Other performers will come and chat to you, never breaking character - for all intents and purposes, you’re at Saucy Jack’s - a disreputable dive of the spaceways. I mean even a Mos Eisley regular would avoid the place. 

You might end up with a dancer on your lap, or be taken up to dance or given a massage. 

The performers were extraordinary last night, fully professional and powering their way through faulty fire alarms and fireworks, a challenging venue for them, and never losing the audience for a second. Tight dance numbers and some lovely voices in the group and solo pieces. 

Very engaging characters - to the wonderful drag queen, to the lovely saxophonist - and of course Jack himself and the Vixens! They’re fun roles and you can see the cast are having a (glitter) ball. And they’re really good at what they do.  

There’s a very disturbing  number with the murder victims as the dancers that’s genuinely creepy and moving as well that I found particularly good out of all the fun.

Remember to keep watching, even through the breaks. You’ll miss out if not. Remember they’re never breaking character, there’s plot going on. And some amusing physical antics.

Murder! DIsco! Glitter Boots! Mysterious Space Women! Dark and Sinister Doings! This deserves a cult following! Will get you dancing and thinking! 

9/10 Great fun and Rocky Horror night at Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon on the Sid & Nancy scale. 

Photos by Rob Masters 

Last night we went to see http://www.fringeworld.com.au/program/event/9fe447c8-7005-4612-a6ad-2d7dd25254e6/ -...

Last night we went to see http://www.fringeworld.com.au/program/event/9fe447c8-7005-4612-a6ad-2d7dd25254e6/ - Adventures of The Improvised Sherlock Holmes.  This was pretty dear to my heart, because I'm very fond of Sherlock and of improv - so seeing it all come together was pretty neat.

SIr Arthur Conan Doyle hands out cards to write a title of his unpublished Holmes story on, which they'll then, if drawn, turn into reality. While I was a little disappointed that my suggestion of The Case of the Gabardine Life Preserver wasn't drawn from the hat we were soon drawn into the mysterious case of the Missing Mobile Phone.

The cast was lively and playful, full of esoteric bits of Victoriana trivia and not above trying to trip one another up from time to time. Inviting two characters to dinner when they were played by the same person, for example, all taken in good humour and to audience merriment.

There were bits where an actor would pause, squint and try to work out if something was invented yet, a familiar feeling to anyone rpging or writing in the era. What's clear is that these actors love the stories just as much as we do, and are revelling in the chance to play in Doyle's creation.

Me to "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle' - "I'm a great fan of your work"
'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle' - "Yes, I'm a great fan of myself."

There's shows on tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. I'm surprised it hasn't sold out.

Highly recommended 8.5 and going on a treasure hunt with Dr Joseph Bell on the Sid and Nancy Scale.

#fringeworld   #fringeworld2016

On February 14th Rob and I visited the Kransky Sisters last show at the Fringe, and we were very glad we went.

On February 14th Rob and I visited the Kransky Sisters last show at the Fringe, and we were very glad we went.

The Kransky Sisters are an odd trio of performers - I first saw them on Spicks & Specks in passing and thought their humor was very amusing, and a little close to home for some of my relatives.  But they stuck in my head from that one performance I saw years ago and when they came up in the Fringe I really wanted to see them.

Imagine 3 rather dotty old and somewhat sheltered spinster sisters with an unusual upbringing from the wilds of Queensland. Add to this rather lovely singing voices, slightly eerie pleasantness and the ability to play standard and non standard instruments. Also the hottest tuba solo you may ever hear.

I'm always interested in non standard instruments - the 60's vintage reed keyboard I think it was, some lovely theremin qualities from the musical saw, a kitchen pot and also a toilet brush. And classical instruments being played in a non standard way - some very lively tuba playing too, to cap it off.

Their renditions of songs they learned from the wireless are very funny and very clever. The argument two of the spinsters apparently have integrated into the middle of Bohemian Rhapsody  is a fine example of the imaginative fun that's to be had. 

And there are others. I hope to see more of this eerily endearing trio, and I really hope that they put out a CD of this Piece of Cake tour.

If there'd been CD's on sale I would have grabbed one. They did have tea towels and  such like but not quite my cup of tea.

9/10 ebullient and on the Sid and Nancy scale - a celebratory Devonshire Tea with the Adams Family after we've all rescued Cora and Clarice from Steerpike.

#fringeworld   #fringeworld2016

Do you know the album by Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells?

Do you know the album by Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells?

Revolutionary for the time, the young musical prodigy created an amazing work - and I remember my music teacher in 1978 playing us the bit that everyone knows, or should know and telling us this was an important piece of music.

You know, where the instruments are named and then played with the recurring theme. Of course bits of the album were used in the Exorcist and the London Olympics and so forth.

 I heard the whole album, both sides, and on vinyl and cd. I play it quite often and its successor albums, dvds, other works by Oldfield. And always under the impression that if played live you need a lot of people, and possibly a pipe band for some of the later pieces. 

How wrong I was. When I heard that Tubular Bells for Two was coming to Fremantle I did a bit of reading, hey, I like Tubular Bells and wow, a live performance. But by two people? How could that be?

How it can be is by two extremely energetic and hard working people -Daniel Holdsworth and Aidan Roberts arraying a bunch of instruments around themselves, learning them, working out how to string it all together and a heck of a lot of practise. Then they bring it to stage and let us watch.

And it's an extraordinary performance. Playing to a full house of enthralled music lovers, some who'd never heard the original, the logistical nightmare of playing each part of the opus was evident. But not in the music because it was wonderful to hear.

This was the musical equivalent of spinning a lot of plates and neither one dropped a plate. A multitude of guitars were exchanged - just these two guys on stage, no one else handing them anything, no one else on stage except them and about 20 instruments.

No grand piano, but keyboards are much more portable. Yes, there was a mandolin, and the signature tubular bells. Watching the fellows race around from place to place, from instrument to instrument, plectrums firmly grasped in the mouth for ease of access because now it's glockenspiel time the energy transfers itself to the music, and a tension grows. So much could go wrong, but doesn't!

And if something does go wrong these guys deal with it - a foot pedal broke off the drum kit during the amazing crescendo of the Piltdown Man sequence. A raw primal segment - complete with vocals and these guys adapted and the audience wouldn't have noticed particularly unless the failed object hadn't been brandished wrathfully in front of them. But the music went on, because these guys are good. Daring and evocative.

This is music close to the edge, but damn it, it's from the edge you get the best view. And if it teeters, you find that these performers have wings and will lift both you and the music over any obstacle and give you a better view yet.

One fellow in the audience had been to see all 4 performances. I wish I had. If they come again I will. They have a website - http://www.tubularbellsfortwo.com/ and an album available. I bought it, and if you like Tubular Bells it might interest you to hear such a energetic version. Australian audiences aren't known for their standing ovations. This performance got one.

10/10 Exultant and watching a rock opera based on Five Miles Out with real planes on the Sid and Nancy Scale.

#fringeworld   #fringeworld2016  

Photographs by Rob Masters 

Tonight we saw Sweet Dreams, a tribute to Annie Lennox by very fine singer and pianist Michael Griffiths​.

Tonight we saw Sweet Dreams, a tribute to Annie Lennox by very fine singer and pianist Michael Griffiths​. A friendly and warm performer, and skilled and playful pianist that he embodies would draw the crowds, but top this with a fine voice with clear and sonorous tones and it's gold.

He is Annie Lennox's biggest fan, and sings a mix of her songs as a sort of biography with snippets here and there in a pleasing narrative. Now these are not sung parrot style but in a way that shows Michael's range and musical mastership both of voice and piano off to good effect.

Fans of the Eurythmics and of Annie Lennox will be interested in hearing the early works - I'd forgotten the power of the lines "You can hear the sounds of the underground trains... you know if feels like distant thunder..." and even the most uninformed will enjoy and probably be familiar with Sweet Dreams.

This was playing at The Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, and they presented it as cabaret style entertainment with chairs and tables up on what would be the stage normally, with "Annie" performing from near one of the wings. It was intimate and a very pleasant way to do things, and people enjoyed their drinks at the tables.

This was Michael's last show for the Perth Fringe this year, he's heading off to Queensland for his next show and try to see him if you're fond of the Eurythmics, because he does a fine and sensitive job.
Hope he comes back next year.

9/10 powerful and moving and finding the briefcase with the two figurines in it from the old Live From Heaven video on the Sid and Nancy Scale.

Outside mer-acrobats, a stilted jellyfish and a huge moray eel entertained passersby. I will definitely be looking into more fringe events in Mandurah. The food vans here have much more gluten free options than the Cultural Centre fringe ones do. #fringeworld #fringeworld2016 #hubbub

A little of #fringeworld #fringeworld2016 at the opening of Elizabeth Quay with mermaids and carousel horses.

Originally shared by Alicia Smith

A little of #fringeworld #fringeworld2016 at the opening of Elizabeth Quay with mermaids and carousel horses. They never look that happy do they, those vintage carousel animals? I wonder if this lack of cheer ( or I guess being impaled might explain it?) inspired Lee and Miller in their Carousel Tides series.

The Fringe World Merfolk, however, were very happy.

A little of #fringeworld #fringeworld2016 at the opening of Elizabeth Quay with mermaids and carousel horses.

A little of #fringeworld #fringeworld2016 at the opening of Elizabeth Quay with mermaids and carousel horses. They never look that happy do they, those vintage carousel animals? I wonder if this lack of cheer ( or I guess being impaled might explain it?) inspired Lee and Miller in their Carousel Tides series.

The Fringe World Merfolk, however, were very happy.

What a show!

What a show!

Originally shared by Alicia Smith

#fringeworld   #fringeworld2016   #clownunder   #kevin   #cry   #onions  

Puddles Pity Party

Puddles Pity Party Sad Clown 

This is an extraordinary performer with a golden voice and great stage presence. A lot of people find clowns confronting or frightening, Puddles isn't like that. Now while I'm not phobic myself he comes across as a very sympathetic fellow so if you're trying to be brave he might be the clown to start with as therapy.

His is a very subtly nuanced performance and I've rarely seen such delicacy  in a clown performance. Unique and sympathetic performance. 

There is audience participation. There is nowhere safe to sit to not be picked but Puddles is lovely.

As Rob Masters says, if you see only one Fringe show this year, you're doing it wrong. But if time or money constrained me, this is the one show I'd see. Actually, let's put it this way - if there was one Fringe show I'd see again, this would be it. In fact I will try to.

There's three more shows, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of February 2016. 

Puddles welcomes you to take a snap during the performance which is super! He lets you take pictures with him after the show too.

10/10 mellifluous and up to the neck in dark chocolate fondue watching the Mirror Scene from Duck Soup on the Sid and Nancy Scale.

#fringeworld #fringeworld2016 #clownunder #kevin #cry #onions

#fringeworld   #fringeworld2016   #clownunder   #kevin   #cry   #onions  

Puddles Pity Party

Puddles Pity Party Sad Clown 

This is an extraordinary performer with a golden voice and great stage presence. A lot of people find clowns confronting or frightening, Puddles isn't like that. Now while I'm not phobic myself he comes across as a very sympathetic fellow so if you're trying to be brave he might be the clown to start with as therapy.

His is a very subtly nuanced performance and I've rarely seen such delicacy  in a clown performance. Unique and sympathetic performance. 

There is audience participation. There is nowhere safe to sit to not be picked but Puddles is lovely.

As Rob Masters says, if you see only one Fringe show this year, you're doing it wrong. But if time or money constrained me, this is the one show I'd see. Actually, let's put it this way - if there was one Fringe show I'd see again, this would be it. In fact I will try to.

There's three more shows, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of February 2016. 

Puddles welcomes you to take a snap during the performance which is super! He lets you take pictures with him after the show too.

10/10 mellifluous and up to the neck in dark chocolate fondue watching the Mirror Scene from Duck Soup on the Sid and Nancy Scale.

The tiny Fringe Ferris Wheel is worth a ride.

The tiny Fringe Ferris Wheel is worth a ride. The last portable ferris wheel in Western Australia makes for a captivating view of the Cultural Centre and surrounds. A ten to fifteen minute ride with a fairly relaxed crew "Just let us know when you're ready to get off".

7 dollars.

8.5 out of 10 fun and the first time you tasted chocolate covered honeycomb on the Sid and Nancy Scale. #fringeworld   #fringeworld2016