Stepping into the spotlight wearing a red dress and lipstick to match, Charnelle captivates the audience through song and monologue, meeting our gaze with her piercing eyes. She declares that Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! is her special interest, at one point putting on a T-shirt emblazoned with the film’s title.
Two blown-up palm trees lean into the metaphor of the island as an oasis of aspirational perfection demanded by society. This felt superfluous, as her lyrics and anecdotes provided ample imagery to convey her anguish and astute self-reflections.
Charnelle’s eyes well with genuine hurt. When she hits the high notes, she taps into her visceral pain, giving goosebumps. A show about embracing your true self, irrespective of the expectations of others.
Reviewed by Vyshnavee Wijekumar
THEATRE ★★★★
The Librar(ian)
Lochie Laffin-Vines, Bard’s Apothecary, until October 5
“My parents say I was born to be a librarian,” says Ian, the titular character of The Librar(ian). Lochie Laffin-Vines may have been born to write this show, too – through an hour, he charmingly takes us through the highs and lows of everyday life working in a public library.
The Librar(ian) is at Bard’s Apothecary until October 5.
From endlessly helping people print to unlikely friendships with the elderly, office milk wars to the baking-obsessed colleague who’s worked there for 45 years, Ian has seen it all. Laffin-Vines is confident, with a comfortable delivery that has only slight opening night bumps.
Ian’s dream is to be on Play School, so of course there’s a storytime element – it’s a delight for the inner child to sing and clap along as bubbles float overhead. With equal parts humour and empathy, this uplifting and heartwarming one-man performance highlights the importance of the public library as an essential hub for community and connection.
Reviewed by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
THEATRE
Beowulf: Reforged ★★★★
Waterside Metal Art Studio, Footscray, until October 12
Beowulf at one of Melbourne’s few blacksmith forges? It’s the perfect atmosphere for a tale of bloodthirsty monsters and warriors braving the seas, of horned helmets and mead halls, treasures and dragons … all the earliest shadows of that medieval imaginary we associate with high fantasy (J.R.R. Tolkien himself was a Beowulf scholar) chanted back to light amid anvils and tongs and searing flame.
Actor, playwright and academic Dr Felix Nobis recites his translation of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem, swimming from Old English into modern tongue through gleaming currents rich in cadence, alliterative power, and the turbulent glories of the original.
Beowulf: Reforged is on at Waterside Forge until October 12.Credit: Jaimi Houston
Contemporary betrayals of Beowulf aren’t hard to find – witness the creepily sexualised Hollywood film from 2007, co-written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary and starring Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s mother.
So, it’s impressive that Nobis stays true to the source, honouring the wild majesty and brutality of a culture in many ways alien to us, with emphatic moments transcending difference to speak across time. For this is a song, too, of the revenge of nature and the lure of violent tribalism, of human extinction, the proximity and inevitability of death.
Accompanied by harpist Lee Su Min, Nobis glides from tranquillity to tumult and back again. The performer’s physical expression might be limited in range, but vocally, there’s an almost exultant quality to the storytelling that bewitches the ear.
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You won’t find Beowulf’s magic sword or King Hrothgar’s mead hall too hard to summon to mind – not with Nobis in full flight, and not when you’re sitting within spitting distance of three operating forges, plus a bar stocked with mulled wine and several kinds of mead.
Weekend LARPers, fantasy fans and the casually curious should seek this one out; more serious students of medieval history and literature can attend Nobis’ additional lecture on the dramatic story of how the lone manuscript of Beowulf survived the centuries.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead
COMEDY
Dating Roulette ★★★★
Olga Loitsenko, Theory Bar, until October 11
Visa issues were close to foiling Estonian comedian Olga Loitsenko’s appearance at this year’s Fringe Festival, as she reveals at the start of her improv dating game show. A quick sojourn to Vietnam resolved the matter and she returned – still single and ready to mingle.
Dating Roulette is on at Theory Bar until October 11.Credit: Matt Hofmann
Typically two or even three special guests join her on stage. On this night, improv artist Sean Hasselback took up the challenge (illness wiped out two other invitees), bringing wit and awkwardness in equal measure while Loitsenko worked the crowd with her adorkable banter.
The 55-minute show flies as Loitsenko divulges zany thoughts, pithy observations and heart-felt desires. With an inordinate amount of audience participation encouraged, the front row enthusiastically got involved – including role-playing dating scenarios.
Flirting, safe words, relationship saboteurs, hot-girl problems and rejection are all canvassed. A QR code to send dating advice is inspired.
Reviewed by Donna Demaio
COMEDY
Gina Rhinestone: Pig Iron Queen of Asstraya ★★★★
Kimberley Twiner, Festival Hub: Trades Hall – Meeting Room, until October 6
Riding a giant bedazzled toy excavator while wearing a diamanté-adorned hard-hat emblazoned with a sizeable dollar sign, Kimberley Twiner arrives in a shimmery onesie to deliver her 14th Fringe show. She’s playing a billionaire named Gina Rhinestone. The show is political and social satire laced with a nimble, in-your-face physicality and cheekiness.
Gina Rhinestone: Pig Iron Queen of Asstraya is on at Trades Hall until October 6
A skit where Baby Gina utters her first words is hysterical – and there’s a superb depiction of the aggressive disgruntlement that ensues after a portrait, perceived by the subject as unflattering, is exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia.
Poetry extracts, tantrums and entitled wailing transfix. Lithe limbs, a hyper-expressive face and vocal gymnastics are all used to maximum effect in a sequence of breakneck skits. A unique take on toilet humour drags. With decades of material to mine, and with ambition to be “a satirical love letter to one of Australia’s little battlers” it could dig a little deeper.
Reviewed by Donna Demaio
THEATRE
A Brief Episode ★★★
Ash Flanders, Trades Hall – Solidarity Hall, until October 20
A Brief Episode is on at Trades Hall until October 20.
In this solo show, veteran writer/performer Ash Flanders takes us on a journey through Greece, Albania and his fraught first attempt at writing an autobiographical TV pilot.
He and his partner have rented an Airbnb in the wrong part of Athens, where, between dodging muggings by the local teens and drinking cocktails with American tourists, he finesses the script.
The TV writing crew, sending notes over video call, wants it to be “brave comedy” with “more of the mother”, which sees him rewrite her into a caricature, ripped from the nuance of his original vision.
There are fine comedic moments and one-liners, and Flanders, as always, is a consummate and captivating storyteller and a joy to watch.
But as he goes about killing his darlings to squish the screenplay into the pilot’s reduced half hour, one is left thinking he could have made a few nips and cuts to this script too.
I also want “more of the mother”: she’s central to the premise of the show, yet we don’t get a clear picture of who she is, other than the caricature he insists she’s not.
Reviewed by Hannah Francis
THEATRE
Recess ★★★
Nina Mountford, Brigid Quonoey and Taylor Reece, Festival Hub: Trades Hall – The Square, until October 6
Recess is a warmhearted throwback to simpler times: when hoarding gum nuts and trading apples for mandarins was a matter of life and death.
Nina Mountford, Brigid Quonoey and Taylor Reece are nine-year-olds trying to make the most of recess before the bell rings. For 45 minutes the trio pinball through various scenarios steeped in millennial nostalgia: immortal Tamagotchis, broadbrim hats, fictional houses discussed over Mamee noodles.
Recess is on at Trades Hall until October 6Credit: Gregory Lorenzutti
It’s all a bit scattershot, but that’s part of the charm. The show works best when it abandons narrative logic completely and leans into scenarios of pure play anchored by the relationship between the three girls.
A last-ditch attempt to land an emotional climax with an overwritten monologue felt disingenuous. But there’s a subtle edge to the script when it chooses to cut through its earnestness with wry sarcasm, complemented by a talented cast that favours a hilarious deadpan.
The best playgrounds are always a little chaotic.
Reviewed by Guy Webster
DANCE
Dream Swamp ★★★
Melanie Lane, The Substation, until October 5
There’s nothing dank or dreary about this swamp. Melanie Lane’s buoyant family-friendly dance adventure carries audiences from the forest to the ocean to the planets and stars beyond.
Dream Swamp is on at The Substation, until October 5 Credit: Tianyi Liao / Rebecca McCauley
Performers Harrison Ritchie-Jones and Rachel Coulson are transported from an attic bedroom into a series of dream scenes, illustrated by animated backgrounds and magically altered bedclothes.
Both dancers have great fun along the way, galumphing like soft toys sprung to life or showing marvellous lightness as enchanted mushrooms making mischief in the underground dark.
Kids are invited on a brief tour of a glowing garden hidden backstage. You might feel like one of Hamelin’s parents watching them disappear into the wings, one by one – but they return in a moment.
And this is such a gentle production, involving rather than immersive, imaginative and generous. It’s advertised as suitable for ages six and over, but there’s plenty here for those as young as four to enjoy.
Reviewed by Andrew Fuhrmann
This review was written from a preview performance.
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