[fringe] a severe case of garlic poisoning

Today I went to see the final performance of Stoke Mandeville – Astronaut and Gentleman being put on in the Union Cinema by the Adelaide University Fringe Club. The play, written by Nikolas Lloyd and Fraser Charlton, was apparently originally performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, and was the inaugural production of the AUFC. The show starred Matthew Taylor, as the redoubtable and very British Stoke Mandeville, Agent of the Ministry, crashing his Steam-Powered Astral Conveyor in our world thanks to the machinations of fiendish French agents (by substituting their horrid French metre for a good old English yard). There he mistakes, James Moffatt, playing the wimpish Graham Pennyworth, as his fellow agent from the Ministry, Carstairs MacDonald. Rescuing "Carstairs" by hitting him on the back of the head and shoving him in the newly repaired conveyor, Stoke Mandeville heads for Mars and to foil the evil French... The performance was fine, although the Union Cinema was probably not the best venue for staging a play (there was no Proscenium to speak of), but apparently the Adelaide University Theatre Guild was being tetchy about the Union hiring out the Little Theatre. It did disappoint me that there was a marvellous white backdrop on which nobody thought of projecting backing scenes using a digital projector. Instead the audience had to rely on fairly hushed sound cues, and overt appearances of the narrators (of which there was a few), to note the change of scenes. Still, despite these limitations the cast performed magnificently, particularly Matthew in his role as Stoke Mandeville (especially once James (as Graham) started asserting himself more). Almost definitely worth seeing what they come up with next year.

twas brillig and the dandelions did gyre and gimble in the wine

After watching The Adventures of Stoke Mandeville – Astronaut and Gentleman I boarded my own velocipede to head to the Adelaide gig arranged by Dandelion Wine to celebrate their new CD Selected Anachronisms and their imminent tour in Europe. Unfortunately, not owning a steam-powered aether conveyer, I was unable to get there for the first of the bands Corpulance on the Catwalk, so there's not much I can say about them. I did however, get there in time to finally watch the much lauded local band Brillig. My previous attempts to do so had been frustrated by illness (or discovering that their gig was on the previous day). Which was unfortunate, as they were definitely well worth seeing. [Certain people would mention that since all but one of their songs have a death theme, it would be only natural that I like them. This is, however not always the case.] I believe this performance lacked the presence of the drummer (Ben Macklin), which apparently made it a very different performance compared to normal (according to a regular audience member). Still, it was quite wonderful and enchanting. They are excellent musicians on a wide variety of instruments who can sing (although I noticed some tonal flaws in their attempts to harmonize – I think I'm going to be cursed to be more aware of such things for a little while, at least until the effects of the TIoN workshop wear off). I highly recommend checking them out if you have not already done so. It was then onto Dandelion Wine. Unfortunately just as they were about to start, the Club Bollywood* being held in the front room intruded, which put paid to any of the more subtle songs (and apparently made singing some of their songs in a different time signature quite ... interesting). Before then I quite liked the venue. So they gave up and resorted to their repertoire of loud rock songs in an attempt to drown out the pounding "douf-douf" from next door. Not the best of their gigs I've been to, still it was fun watching Nick get into Power Metal Mode.** I did feel that the gig was vastly unattended, which was a great pity.*** Admittedly the Fringe and Womadelaide was on, but if you removed the performers and their close friends/partners, then there appeared to be very few people there. Which was very disappointing. And there was a distinct lack of anyone willing to dance, despite the encouragement offered by Nick and Naomi (my excuse was that after a week spent Fringing I was near the limits of being able to physically do stuff – it had taken much longer than normal to get moving this morning afternoon). [And it's decidedly unfun dancing by yourself (it's the interplay of dance with others that makes it interesting).] We'll definitely have to do better, or at least bribe them with much larger peppermint frogs, if we want to see them back. Anyway Dandelion Wine are off to Europe, with Brillig soon to follow. Meanwhile I've picked up the new Dandelion Wine CD and the Brillig CD and EP, so I have some quality listening ahead of me. * Actually, having a soft-spot for Bollywood music, it looked and sounded rather interesting. Now if only I was 20 years younger and interested in clubbing. Which is to say, Nick at 11 rather than his normal 8 or 9. *** It came in third in my estimation. First was when I was outnumbered by the duo (The Hottentots). Still that did result in a nice intimate acoustic performance (how much amplification do you need when the performer is sitting right next to you), and I got to hear Sharpening the Knife live (which they don't normally play because it requires Carl to change the tuning drastically). Second was the almost unadvertised Spiral Dance gig, where, if you discount me, only one other person apart from the performers showed up, and looked quite shocked at how enthusiastically they were greeted.

all mimsy were the borogroves and the mom raths outgrabe

And if you want to find out for yourself how brilliant Brillig is, they will be performing a free concert in the bandstand at the Garden of Unearthly Delights on Saturday March 14 (between 2 - 4pm). Go see them! And afterwards you can join me for Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution.