A great time was had by all at last week’s Brighton Festival Fringe programme launch party on Brighton Pier. The video shows excerpts of performances by Nick Pynn, Copperdollar, Frisky and Mannish, Miss Merlin, Sherri Shakewell, Longtomb, Hilde Cannoodt and Baby Charles.
There’ll be more videos from the party in the next few weeks…
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
The Adelaide Fringe wrapped up yesterday with great fanfare. The 2009 Adelaide Fringe Show Awards have been shortlisted and we await publication soon.
We’ve interviewed a wonderful cross section of talented artists from the Adelaide Fringe: the funny comedians; Alexis Dubus and his sidekick, Marcel Lucont, Mark Trenwith and Mark Butler; strong and thought provoking theatre productions from Li Tsuei Sun, Darren Hassan and Sheela Langeberg; a lighthearted cabaret show from Klara McMurray; a European clown show with a difference from Jean Lucas; a most unique wrestling show from Fugofugo Yumeji; the “A Capella” Alto jazz vocalist, Naomi Crellin from the Australian jazz quartet – The Idea of North; the Ice artist, Robyn Base and the musical artist, Joelie Croser; and last but not least, the high-art-pop/electronic folk rock music duo, Orsino Nation.
A great way to read a broad critique of reviews is to check out the Adelaide City Life website. I’ve tended to home into the Adelaide Now website which has a good source of reviews for all the Festivals/Fringes down under in Adelaide.
A final mega thanks to all the Adelaide artists who previewed their shows in their Virtual Flyers with Festival Previews. It’s a great pleasure learning more about your work and your lives. We look forward to catching up with you all again.
The 2010 Adelaide Fringe will be 50 years young and the dates for your diaries next year are Friday 19th February to Sunday 14th March 2010.
Not a Metrosexual but a Sexual Metro is the charming Marcel Lucont, (aka Alexis Dubus) who brings some Gallic wit as France’s supreme misanthropist. On at the Tuxedo Cat, Synagogue Place in Adelaide till the 21st March 2009 you can only warm to Monsieur Marcel’s subtle satire on the shortcomings of humanity…
1. What inspired you to become an performer, writer and comedian?
I am a flâneur – I stroll, write, observe… If I can make money from entertainment I will do it in any way possible. In fact sometimes I simply do it for a place to stay, or to capture the heart of a woman. My inspiration is a performer’s freedom to do as he wants.
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
Marcel Lucont: Sexual Metro is about class, wit, flair, charm. Expect love advice, philosophy and good wine.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
The Edinburgh Fringe 2008 – I swept the women and the critics off their feet, sometimes both at the same time.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
The first time I have ever experienced a “stage death” was, ironically, at the funeral of my father. I made a play-on-words joke about “la petite morte” (a French way to say ‘orgasm’) which did not amuse his third wife, in whose congress he died. His widow was even more furious. However, both were easily placated, and surprisingly supple for their age.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
As a child I was given a lot of advice about women by my father. And he should know – he had many, many wives over the years.
The worst advice I have heard was to ‘not give up the day job’ by a drunken man who could barely speak in East London. I have never even had a day job and, I imagine, neither had he.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
Two sisters in the same 24-hour period. My goal? Well, they have a third one…
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
The chefs Ferran Adria & Gordon Ramsay, and a notoriously picky restaurant critic, perhaps A A Gill. I would sit back, enjoy the food THEY have prepared, and wait for the chaos to ensue.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
Proust – A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu. A wonderful book that tells us everything we need to know about life. Written by a man who rarely left his bed.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
1. I invented the crêpe. This is unknown because it is untrue.
2. I once pissed in a German man’s drink while onstage. He was actually into that kind of thing, so everyone was a winner that night.
3. I am a nihilist – I don’t believe anything really has a purpose. This way I am rarely disappointed.
4. I am a big fan of the cat as a domestic pet. They can be as rude and nonchalant as they like to you but they know they will always be fed and nurtured. Such arrogance towards the supposed rulers of the planet is to be admired.
5. I really like Australian women – they say what they mean, will support you in a fight and have a good sense of humour. This is not a fact about me, so much as an advertisement…
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
For people to stop worrying about their own self-importance. We are chimps that got lucky, admit it. In terms of the universe we are gone in the blink of an eye. Enjoy your life, live by your own rules, and don’t be a dick.
One of the great joys of interviewing artists is their strong drive to be unique individuals. As if predestined, they forge themselves away from the “safe job” and embark on a career path that has many uncertainties. They challenge and question the world around us and this is so important to art and our way of life.
Our penultimate 2009 Adelaide interview today is with the erudite Alexis Dubus, who skillfully enlightens us on, “A Bl**dy Brief History of Swearing”. Showing at the Cockoo Bar in Hindley Street at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe, Alexis is on each night till the 22nd March. So let’s put our 10 Questions to Alexis…
1. What inspired you to become a comedian?
I suppose watching the greats on TV as a child – Monty Python, Spike Milligan, Morecambe & Wise, Peter Cook – people who made it all look so deceptively simple, which I know now, of course, it isn’t.
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
Exactly what you’d expect from the title – all our favourite four-letter words explained – where they come from, how they’ve gained and lost taboo over the centuries, and how and why we use them in the first place. Contains swearing and scenes of mild peril.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
Edinburgh Fringe 2008 – an amazing, if wet time. I picked up a little award for the show and got some lovely reviews, but I’m still wringing my jeans out to this day. I think we had about 3 days of sunshine – a good Scottish summer!
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
I think these two experiences can be summed up in one gig – doing a guest spot for a bizarre Long Island alternative comedy group on the outskirts of the Edinburgh Fringe. And when I say alternative, I had to follow a midget riding a hobby horse in a nappy, then a man shuffling on dressed as the Pope and vomiting on the stage. How do you follow that?!
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
The best advice? To never show fear. You can be having the worst time up there but you’ve still got to be in control of the proceedings. Audiences can smell fear a mile off, and that can be the turning point of a gig. I can’t think of any bad advice in particular, but what annoys me is certain newer comedians who seem to think there’s some kind of fast-track system to being a good comic, like they can just skip a couple of stages in the training period. It’s a trade you have to learn, like any other, and you’ve got to put in the time. It’s well worth it though for the thrills you get along the way.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
I guess I’m most proud of a show I consider good enough to transport to the other side of the world. I had no idea it would be such a success, and for all that my teachers and elders said about swearing limiting my vocabulary, I’m now making a living out of it! My goal is to carry on getting away with it for as long as possible…
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
Am I allowed dead celebrities? They’d be alive for the dinner, obviously. Would be a bit weird otherwise. I guess the world’s great explorers, like Sir Walter Raleigh, Jacques Cousteau and Neil Armstrong, to hear what it’s like to be the first to discover this incredible uncharted territory, straight from the horse’s mouth. Our generation is so used to being able to see anything and everything at the click of a button that a certain sense of wonder’s been taken away from the world.
Oh, and beans on toast probably. They’re all used to roughing it and I wouldn’t want to miss any of the conversation by being stuck in the kitchen.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
I remember finding the Dice Man by Luke Reinhart quite a remarkable book when I first read it many years ago. I love the nonchalance and irreverence of it.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
1. I’m a little bit Australian and a little bit French. My Mum’s side of the family’s actually come from Adelaide – can’t wait to go back, 20 years since I was last there.
2. I’ve previously performed stand-up in a swimming pool, an elevator and the most haunted pub in Scotland.
3. I can do a pretty fine Donald Duck impression.
4. I’m also a semi-professional photographer. I recently had my first published commission in the UK, for a book about sprouts.
5. I love music, but sadly can’t play a note myself. Most of my idols throughout my life have been musicians – Morrissey, Ryan Adams, Ben Folds, Neil Hannon from Divine Comedy…
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
I’d love to put a stop to the general dumbing-down of our mass media. We have these incredibly powerful tools to educate and enlighten, and yet we’re getting force-fed reality TV, ‘talent’ shows and irrelevant celebrity gossip. The younger generation’s attention span is being constantly shrunk and the morons are slowly taking over…
Jumping into the spotlight today is Mark Trenwith, one of Adelaide’s more zany comedians. Mark’s show is a sharp, witty take on our social interaction with multi-media. His Virtual Flyer had me giggling at his street antics as embarrassed members of the public did not know where to look. He is on at the Rhino Rooms in Frome Street for 10 days and you can catch his show starting on the 10th March to the 21st March. We managed to catch Mark for a quick chat to put our 10 Questions…
1. What inspired you to become a writer, performer and comedian?
I was never really a sporty kid and didn’t have many friends. The connections I developed with other kids seemed to be based around humor and I developed great friendships around laughter and silliness. So it seemed quite a natural thing to transfer that passion onto the stage,
The best way to describe my style would be to say I draw comedy moments from actually going out and doing things the audience couldn’t dream of doing themselves (public stunts/social experiments etc) and not standing on a soap box and having a whinge. I present this in an expressive animated style with quite an over the top showmanship using multimedia, other performers, sound effects etc.
My target audience are intelligent alternatives between 25-44. They like the bravado and non-conformity of the ‘Chaser’ and the abstract obscureness of the ‘Mighty Boosh.’ They prefer ‘Kamahl’ to ‘Australian Idol’ and world music to car racing.
Generally I like to think I make the majority of people laugh, but the people who get into my comedy the most are positive, non-cynical, non-bogans who also appreciate a dash of the unexpected and obscure.
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
In Express, I investigate what makes people ‘somewhat crap’ at expressing themselves with some brave social interactions. For example while exploring the idea of kindness I was actually threatened and abused just for doing something nice like throwing rose petals at peoples feet! I also entered an MC Rap Battle to explore aggression. I like to actually ‘do’ things in my comedy rather than just talk or whinge about it.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
I’ve performed in the last four Adelaide Fringes. They’re always a blast and I get something different out of each one.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
Once I had to do a gig at a Scout Jamboree. 10,000 kids I was told I’d be performing too. But there was a horrific storm so no one came out of their tents. I was in a massive paddock performing to actually no one. Actually zero people. So the guy organising it went and dragged random kids from tents to come and watch me. They were very annoyed by this and definitely didn’t want to watch a comedy show in the rain. So they just threw donuts at me. So I threw them back. This got around and within seconds all these kids came out of their tents just to throw food at me. In fear I left the stage and they all shouted and stomped their feet demanding an encore. So I came back on stage for another 5 minutes of food throwing and they were delighted. It’s the only ever time I’ve had an encore.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
“The audience wants to see you win.” Was the best advice I was given by Raymond Crowe. It helps me to not be scared of the audience and see them as already on my side rather than people I need to get approval from.
The two worst pieces of advice was “you should swear more” and ‘do more jokes about moosies”.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
I’m most proud of having Michael Jacksons autograph and my dream would be to marry Batgirl
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
I’d invite Skeletor and He Man because there is obviously tensions between them and it’d be interesting and hilarious to observe all their awkward dinner conversations. I would purposely stoke the fire in hope they end up in some ferocious battle. The third person would be Lamahl and I’d want him singing “To Shy” while they are fighting it out. I’d cook 2 minute noodles for the occasion. Or if it’s a good week I might even buy a pull-a-part to go with the noodles.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
The Grug Series. This needs no explanation!
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
I don’t like burping!
I am a terrydactal from the future!
I have a moustache on the roof of my mouth!
I can speak to butterflys!
I invented the little dents you see on the bottom of margarine containers!
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
At 10.45 every morning everyone gets a free ice cream (or ice block if they prefer).
