The following review contains references to suicide.
Each year, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is packed with Australian content, and producers House of Oz usually showcase some of the most interesting content. Led by ArtsHub, the organization will see its latest shows at this year’s Fringe. Each show represents a very different aspect of Australian life and culture. State of Grace (about sex worker Grace Bellavue) is about Underworld Australia, Dance Floor Conversion Therapy – Queer Australia, About the Land We Meet – Black Australia, and Summer of Harold – Exploring White Australia.
state of grace
★★★★ 1/2
State of Grace is based on the writings of the late sex worker Pippa Sullivan, aka Grace Bellavue, and is played by award-winning Adelaide cabaret artist Michaela Berger. Berger was approached by Bellavue’s mother who wanted to tell her daughter’s story, including Bellavue’s costumes, sex toys, and most importantly, which show Berger was based on. I gave her a box full of things I had written.
Bellavue was an empowered, sex-positive prostitute and a passionate advocate for sex workers. She gave a TED talk on decriminalization, wrote articles for major publications, and spoke openly and honestly about her involvement in the industry on social media, amassing thousands of followers. Sadly, she took her own life at the age of 27.
Berger created a series of beautiful songs based on Bellaview’s hip-hop lyrics and compositions. Often the lyrics are played on a screen behind her, allowing the audience to fully appreciate the quality of the lyrics, which are mostly very good. Bellavue was warm and caring, much loved by a wide circle of friends, funny, generous and kind, with a penchant for giving everything in her bag to homeless people or inviting them to sleep on her couch. I understand.
She also loved and loved her customers and saw her job as providing an important social service to the community. In the most moving section of the show, she shares her experience with a client who lost her partner two years ago and was completely devastated by grief. She gave him comfort. And we learn that Bellavue was not only a sex worker and a writer, but also a counselor, social worker, and often a sex educator.
Berger is warm and confident in the role, exuding grace, charm, humor, and inner beauty. She masterfully captures all the intricacies and intricacies of her characters. Her songs are fun and uplifting, and the entire show successfully challenges common misconceptions that sex workers are often damaged, degraded, and addicted to drugs.
Bellavue had a healthy attitude toward sex, loved her job, and worked hard to reeducate the public about sex. Interestingly, Berger chose to focus on Grace’s humanity and spirit, rather than the reasons for her suicide. I would have liked to know what was behind her untimely death – it could have brought a dimension of pathos to the show – but I liked Berger’s positivity in his storytelling choices. I thoroughly enjoyed this uplifting exploration of a respectful and unconventional life.
A State of Grace will be performed in the Assembly Room until August 24, 2024.
dance floor conversion therapy
★★★★★
Dancefloor Conversion Therapy, created by Western Australian producer and performer Mikala Westall and actor and DJ Johnny Hawkins, is sure to grab your attention from start to finish. This is a genre-defying performance that combines theater and comedy with a dance party. It brought great joy to the audience and we all stayed up dancing, laughing and having fun until the early hours of the morning.
The play begins with Westall on the DJ decks. The Kingfisher sings what Johnny later calls a “regret song” (on his way home from a great dance party, he doesn’t regret staying up late, he regrets that the party ended) ). Then a few beats kick in, and Hawkins struts out in a hilarious deconstructed Victorian dress and mullet, singing a catchy dance track about loving your body and inviting the audience to take off her dress. , revealing a sexy blue garter outfit with Kingsie shorts underneath. They cheekily announce that they were once Christian youth ministers. The audience burst into laughter and continued laughing for the next hour.
In an interview with Theater Tonic, Hawkins said, “This is a show about my own bedding philosophy: community, dance music, ritual participation, and joy.”
They take us on a hysterical journey through party etiquette and outline the many archetypes that play out in the dance party scene. (Stupid butlers brighten up the party, but they can turn into stupid martyrs. If they go too far or do too much, they need to let everyone know what a hero they are.) Their performance is so fresh and natural that it doesn’t seem like it. Scripted – It’s as if you just met at a party and they’re entertaining you with their life stories. Their warmth and charisma instantly make you feel like best friends as they take you through their transformation from simple homeschooled Christian pastors to party freaks extraordinaire.
The highlight is their explanation of the Doof phenomenon in Australia. According to their account, the word “doof” soon spread like wildfire, with music blaring “doof doof” all night long, giving rise to a whole new genre of dance parties usually held in Australia. The name comes from a small old woman who complained to the police. In a secret location in a warehouse or bush. (Mikala adds a cheeky aside: “You know what you can get in the Australian bush? Snakes! Australian idiots are hardcore!”)
And the finale, which has the audience move their chairs to the side, blow their secret shame into a balloon, then toss the balloon into the air and dance along while spinning a totally infectious tune, is fringe gold.
The experience of watching Dancefloor Conversion Therapy is like flying like a kite with your best friends at the best dance party ever and having the time of your life. For this generation of Xers, I was squatting in London in 1989 when I witnessed the birth of rave culture, when acid house music was popular in the clubs, ecstasy was popular in the streets, and everyone wore smiley face bandanas. When I wore it, it was a fun reminder of the healing power of dance. , parties, friendships, and hedonism.
Dancefloor Conversion Therapy will be held at Underground Assembly George Square until August 24, 2024.
the land where we meet
★★★★
‘Of the Land on Which We Meet’ explores recognition, accountability and connection to country in powerful Indigenous circus theater by Melbourne/Nahm-based Na Jinan Circus. Featuring an Indigenous man (Jonathon Brown), an immigrant’s daughter (Manelaya Kados-Nitis), and a descendant of a colonial settler (Bridey Hooper), the film interweaves their stories with vibrancy and emotional intensity. Ru. The packed house on opening night was a sign that Edinburgh audiences were hungry for Indigenous stories. The circus also received a standing ovation at the end.
What drew me in most was Brown’s story and performance. He has a powerful physicality and strong presence, but underneath lies the weakness of the oppressed. He begins by saying that as a child, he was taught to periodically put his hands on the ground, close his eyes, and take a moment to connect. And it shows. Throughout the show, he has a deeply grounded presence, tangibly reminding us all of the importance of staying connected to the earth beneath our feet.
The most memorable moment in the show is when Brown talks about last year’s parliamentary voice referendum. He was simply stating a fact – 61% of Australians did not believe Indigenous Australians should have a voice in Parliament. The deep pain implied in these words is embedded in the powerful movements that follow, as the performers twist and twist around each other, evoking anger and pain. It’s an incredibly moving theatrical moment, made all the more powerful by the fact that this story is being played out on an international stage. I was deeply embarrassed and once again questioned how Australians would be judged and perceived internationally by the result of that referendum. Why? How can we be so ignorant and blind?
Another powerful moment is when Hooper talks about a cultural blunder the company made during a regional tour, when it mistakenly identified the wrong mob at the start of the show. She explained that the region is very sensitive about whose land belongs to whom, and there have been many disputes over boundaries.
They then use acrobatics to tell the story of the pain and rejection they experienced as a result of that mistake. This physical story of shame, conflict and anguish over cultural wrongness is a powerful reminder of the pain that Aboriginal Australians regularly experience as a result of not having their connection to the land recognized. The company’s transparency and essential honesty in explaining its failures and turning them into art is proof of the healing power of truth-telling.
Of the Land on Which We Meet is a meta-circus performance, a profound commentary on the importance of national awareness and connection, and a powerful call for truth-telling and accountability. The standing ovation on opening night was well deserved, and the remaining performances deserve to be sold out.
“Of the Land on Which We Meet” will run at Assembly Checkpoint until August 25, 2024.
harold’s summer
★★★★
Harold’s Summer, written by renowned playwright Hilary Bell, is a trio of three short plays performed by Lucia Mastranton and Belin Schwerdt and directed by Damian Ryan. This is a sophisticated production that ticks all the boxes: a well-crafted script, confident performances, and confident direction.
In the first play, Harold’s Summer (which I believe is autobiographical), Mastranton plays Janet. Janet spends her gap year traveling to London with her best friend, chain-smoking idiot Alison, and takes a job as a housekeeper. Harold Pinter, the self-proclaimed “greatest playwright of the 20th century,” and his wife, “Lady A.”
It’s a hilarious tale of Australian frivolity towards the sophisticated Englishman of the British upper class, with a great Pinteresque joke (“He paused for a moment – two dots, not three”). There, Mastranton plays the role calmly, dispatching the awkward teenagers with great comic timing. And taste it.
In the second play, The Terrible Child, Schwerdt’s flawless performance as the bitter Gareth provides a highly amusing look at masculine arrogance, competitiveness and jealousy. Gareth’s beloved university classmate becomes a famous potter and leaves Gareth, and while his success keeps Gareth alive for many years, he commits a crime that will never go away. Schwert speaks in a timid, concise manner. At one point, Gareth gleefully explained the bad reviews his spouse received. It’s a schadenfreude moment that many of us have experienced but never want to admit, and it’s played out with hilarious fun.
Read: Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Blood, sweat, tears and truckloads of money
The third play, “Lookout,” intrigues us with the bonds of family that bind and sometimes suffocate us. As middle-aged Jonathan (Schubert) waits for a call from his new lover to signal the beginning of a great adventure, he encounters what he believes to be his brothers (Mastranton) in the Blue Mountains – who they are about to abandon. Grab your mobile phone, become a gray nomad, and embark on a journey around Australia.
Matranton questions his relationships and choices, and as a result, awakens a number of family demons and resentments, which prompts Jonathan to consider the need to sever his emotional connection to his now deceased mother. This is a thought-provoking story with some clever twists that keep the viewers curious.
Summer of Harold is a sophisticated showcase of Australian literary works performed by outstanding performers. Written by one of Australia’s greatest playwrights, these three short plays are packed with so much warmth, humor and insight.
Summer of Harold will run at Assembly Checkpoint until August 26, 2024.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs until 26 August 2024.
