[FRINGE] some boxes are best left unopened

In the middle of the Garden of Unearthly Delights there is a large wooden box. This is the Fringe home of Theatergroep WAK, who are presenting Niets is echt moeilijk (Nothing is really difficult). The audience is brought into the box and seated in a gallery, and the lights brought down. It's pretty dark inside the box, and it soon turns out the reason why these Dutch performers needed a specially built performance venue. The show itself is basically a silent physical comedy. Not quite acrobatics (although there is some of that involved in their antics), and not quite slapstick (again, they do invoke some minor slapstick, but nothing which the past masters of the art would consider to be so), the actors get around the language barrier by not using any (although there was at least two occasions where the body language used differed between Australia and Northern Europe enough to be lost on most of the audience. But generally it was pretty evocative. Tending slightly toward the surrealistic (it is, after all, being performed in a large wooden box), there were essentially a number of connected vignettes. The ones that involved the properties of the box (which I won't spoil for you), were the best, closely followed by a "fast food" skit and the closing driving skit. On the other hand the "kicking each other in the 'nads" and (sadly, quite literal) "toilet humour" vignettes definitely detracted from the show, adding a touch of rather puerile humour. Whilst quite professionally performed, I would have liked to have seen more of the box being used as an integral part of the show, beyond the early part of the show. The middle part was a touch prolonged, and may have lost some of the audience who were waiting for something to happen, and I found it unsatisfying as it descended into 'nad kicking and toilet humour. Although it did pick up again with the "fast food" sketch, which allowed them to rather cleverly build the set for the final driving sketch. So all in all a rather polished show, just not something I'd really recommend. It is however, one of the few shows that is on three times a night. Probably 3 stars, just on the grounds of the sheer professionalism and inventiveness of the box. Pity it actually wasn't used to a greater degree though. The actual humour was about 2 star though.

[FRINGE] dance as if no one is looking and make love as if you were being filmed

The reason for going to the Garden last night was to see Le Gateau Chocolat, courtesy of a friend of a friend who was the cellist for the show (and yes, my maxim still holds). Now Le Gateau Chocolat is the lycra-clad stage persona of a delightful baritone drag act who had been a part of the La Clique and A Company of Strangers shows in previous Fringes. This was his first solo act, and aided by his trusty clothes-rack "Bruce" (and the aformentioned cellist Lisi and pianist Dave), did a wonderful stage show, ably engaging the audience and getting them (mostly) to overcome their inhibitions and even dress up in lycra themselves. [Although the cellist in a lycra suit about six times too big for her was rather amusing cute* [cf maxim]. The motto of the show was really "sing as if you were in the shower, and dance as if no one is looking." In other words, be happy with yourself and live your life the way you want to live it, but have fun doing so. And don't be afraid to paaarrrteh! A nice artifice was that the show varied between "backstage" on "on stage" (both were on the stage). Whilst backstage he was able to change costume and sing the melancholic songs of both lost love and new love found; whilst on stage he was able to go full drag diva. And yes, he was a very talented singer, but as I do (living in the moment), I've forgotten most of the songs he actually sang (apart from Old man river). But they were good. Particularly the melancholy love songs (but then I'm an old softie at heart). As with all good performers of this calibre, his love for the music and the performance (not to mention being inordinately proud of debuting his first solo show in Adelaide where he had developed the character), was what truly made the show exceptional. * Which is a suitable alternative to seeing my traditional Fringe performance of My Friend The Chocolate Cake, I suppose. ** And if she ever reads this then I'm definitely not getting any more complementary tickets. <grin> [Although I still hold to my maxim that all cellists are cute. Even if they are a 6'4", bearded, overweight, and extensively tatooed male biker. Still cute!]

[FRINGE] can anyone explain how they number their newspapers here?

After the serving of Le Gateau Chocolat, we headed across to Gluttony, the new Fringe venue located in the tents on the west side of East Terrace (just south of the Fringe club), which unbeknownst to us, was having it's opening celebration sampler (which was rather disappointing in that, because there was some interesting music coming from the main tent, I now don't have a clue as to who performed it). Anyway, our destination was the small tent (The Bally) there, where we to watch the adventures of Dirk Darrow: NCSSI The NCSSI stands for "Not Completely Serious Supernatural Investigator." This was a portrayal of a film noir private investigator, who would use his awesome powers of psychic deduction to determine the murderer, "who he had cunningly lured into the theatre using his psychic powers ... and cheap advertising." What follows was Dirk Darrow deducing the identity of the killer from the clues provided by the audience. This was a really excellent show, and in my opinion, a return to what Fringe shows are supposed to be. Cheap off-the-cuff, and independently produced, relying on the talents of the performer, in this case Tim Motley as the eponymous private dick. A skilled magician and talented comedian of the street-busker school, he has a good sense of both the genre traditions and audience expectations, making it a fun and intimate show. If you enjoy shows such as those put on by Sound & Fury, then I highly recommend seeing this show. It's well worth it. Even if some of the jokes are rather old hat. ["Hey! They were new in 1947! Mostly."] My only complaint is the venue is actually slightly too small for the show, which means that some of the sight lines from the front row may be unfortunate if you have any technical proficiency at all. [I should know better.] Still he was highly skilled at the necessary legerdemain, even if a couple of the forces were amusingly obvious to me. But that's all part of the show. [Also, if you dislike cigarette smoke, don't sit in the front row.]

(no subject)

Looks like I've got a free ticket to go see TOS'T present Pitch at The Bally in Gluttony tomorrow today. So that's a 5:30 show, and the disappearance of my policy of taking a break between Fringe days. Anyone else going to be around the Garden (or want to see another show), later? ETA: Looks like viral plague and disease getting better of me. So I don't think I'll go. To those going to the Fringe Parade and Party tomorrow, have fun.

underpriest in charge of waterworks

This is mainly a note to myself, but I was just thinking about the societal roles in a mundane fantasy campaign (that being, one without magic). First of all, you have Those Who Toil. The labourers, and in a primarily agrarian society, they are peasants. Even craftsmen and artisan are just a higher class of labourer. So this is our first "caste." Then we have Those Who Fight. The soldiers. While a society may draw the members of this caste from the first caste, usually the right to bear weapons in society elevates the individual. If only by the fact that if there is no actual society, they can hit the labourer with their weapon and take their produce. Lets call this the second caste. Now what about the specialists, the experts and bureaucrats. In Ancient Sumerian myth, skills and knowledge were often the provenance of the various temples. The Me were literally the sacred knowledge required to perform tasks. Some of the Me overlapped that of the duties of the first two castes, in that they taught the members of those castes how to perform more specialised duties (such as make a pot or maneuver an army). So what if we make the priesthoods Those Who Teach, and by extension, Those Who Think. The last caste is those who have risen to the top of the societal heap, Those Who Rule. They may naturally be drawn from the second or third caste, but tend not to be members of it any more (in an attempt to secure their position, if nothing else). My interest here is in the third caste, that of our proposed priesthood, which exists, not because of any specific faith, but rather that it provides the specialists that make the society function. Now lets add the magic back in without changing the societal role of the priesthood. Suddenly what seems to be sacred to us isn't quite so sacred. The divine is no longer a thing of direct supernatural veneration. Instead the actions of the deity are seen in the application of knowledge. Much more in keeping with what we know of ancient religious practice. Actually I think I like this world of priest-engineers and librarians.

1984 Monopoly

It appears that Monopoly is getting a new version, complete with electronic sentinel (an IR sensor that continually scans the board) to make sure no one can cheat. Or need to count money. Or do anything else except press a button. And if it feels the game is going too slowly, it will intentionally break the rules. The Computer Is Your Friend! Beware of Commie Mutant Traitors (it's Unamerican)! And Are We Having Fun Yet?