All posts tagged: #melbourne

Fish… not just another 4-letter word

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We were lucky enough to be invited along to check out Fish, on it’s sold out opening night at the popular Melba Spiegeltent in Collingwood, and despite what the name may imply, this latest piece from the team at the Rollercoaster Theatre Company actually had little to do with, well… fish. Instead the theme focused on another four-letter word – fear. Not the kind of ‘clown under the bed’, ‘monsters in the closet fear’, – the real, everyday, average person fears. Things like spiders, car horns, terrorists, overzealous romantic pursuits from management, getting sick again… etc. All of these topics were tackled by the talented cast in a slightly quirky, off beat performance which was a mix of sketch, song and dance – and included a hilarious yet humanising parody of Donald Trump. All in all, the show was quite magical, with lots of laughs despite the heavy content covered. A little political, a little wonderful – and real shame it wraps up after only 3 nights. A little about Rollercoaster Theatre Company Rollercoaster is made …

WKM Review: Fully Made Up

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We were recently invited to the fabulous Butterfly Club to check out opening night of Fully Made Up – An Improvised Cabaret, starring multi-award winning comedian Jenny Wynter. Combining cabaret, comedy and improv, this performance brings to life a veteran cabaret starlet, who’s entertaining evening soiree is entirely comprised of stories, songs, memories and monologues – inspired (in true improv style) by the suggestions of the audience. Improv alone is hard enough, but throw in the added challenge of creating an on-the-spot, rhyming, reasonably relevant show tune to random suggestions like ‘squid’, ‘grapes’ and ‘eat the frog’ and you’ve got yourself a pretty darn entertaining premise. Slipping just once, with real class and a super quick redirection, Jenny absolutely nails her latest show in a satin draped display of raw, fabulous singing, silly monologues and general awesomeness. We would have loved a few more songs and less monologue in the first half of the show, as this woman sure can sing, but overall we loved the show, and laughed the whole way through. An enviously …

Review: RENT

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Last night I climbed the stairs to the Athenaeum 2 theatre to check out the Federation University student performance of RENT. Don’t judge, but for someone who adores musical theatre, I’d never seen this iconic show, so it was fairly safe to say that, I was pretty excited to be seeing it for the first time. Most people are familiar with the premise of RENT. Set in the late 1980’s, in the colorful Alphabet City precinct of New York’s bohemian East Village, a group of struggling, penniless artists live, love and try to survive. Ahead of its time, RENT looks at the fear, horror and loss associated with the AIDS epidemic of the time, and lightheartedly tackles topics like sexuality, drug addiction, homelessness and corporate greed. Performed in a relatively intimate space, the set was super funky, with the audience members sitting right up close to the action, allowing the cast to interact with them on a more personal level. The cast was nothing short of brilliant, each performer perfectly matched to their character, and …

Dine with Heart This May

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For all the food lovers out there with their heart in the right place, Dine with Heart during the month of May is a great way to enjoy a night out, completely guilt free, while at the same time supporting Sacred Heart Mission, an organisation assisting people experiencing homelessness and social disadvantage. Restaurants and bars all over Melbourne have jumped on board to organise fun and delicious events to fundraise for Sacred Heart Mission’s Meals Program which offers free, healthy meals to people in need. Restaurants who are on board this awesome initiative include Donovans, the Craft & Co, Little Blue, St Ali and so many more. Highlights include: Second Act St Kilda | May This shiny new neighbourhood wine bar on Fitzroy Street are donating $2 from every dinner sold in May. Cirque D’Ali – St Ali | 5 May 2017 Circus performers, jugglers, magicians and all manner of performance will delight in this intimate version of a big top, coinciding with lively music to transport guests to a vibrant atmosphere that delights all five …

MICF Review: Nikki Britton is Romanticide

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We recently head along to check out super face-paced, anti-romance comedy – Nikki Britton is Romanticide as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. From the moment we arrived, we were hit with hilarious, laugh out loud comedy from a lady that says everything we are all thinking as she shares her own true stories about dating, single life, getting older and the mysteries behind life. Every single girl within the room caught themselves out nodding along as her continuous comment “This doesn’t happen to normal people” reminds them of their your own cringe-worthy stories. Being that they are all her own true stories, it does get emotional at times as she describes a heart-break and unbroken hope for true love but always lifts the crowds moods quickly in her hysterical fashion even if that does involve acting out seeing her ex and then falling into a tower of Tim-tams, which quickly melted under her. Nikki tied her performance together with a continuous reference to the two characters that she is in life – a …

MICF Review: Burn the Witch

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Last week we checked out Melbourne International Comedy Festival show Burn the Witch on it’s opening night at the Butterfly Club, a tale set in a small English Village in the 1650’s, a village which keeps experiencing the mysterious disappearance of their children. Witchhunter General Dunlop and his comical, cockney assistant, Jennifer are engaged to get to the bottom of the conundrum and take the audience on a whodunnit style journey to get there. Written by and starring Martin Dunlop and Bec Petraitis, Burn the Witch has a great story to tell, a story that unfolds naturally for the audience with intelligent jokes, ironic humor and energy in abundance. The acting was brilliant, both Martin and Bec really engaged with the audience, and continued to hit the mark with their constant, sometimes dark, humour. For us, the speed of the execution was the only let down, particularly at the 10pm timeslot, the narrative moved from scene to scene at lightening fast pace, which made it a little hard to follow. And did they end up …

MICF Review: Songs in the Key of Awesomesause

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Matt Kilpa’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival show starts with an introduction song which instantly makes us think of the Mighty Boosh, and it’s a great way to describe Songs in the Key of Awesomesauce, sort of inspired by Flight of the Conchords, throw in a touch of the Boosh-style quirky delivery – and mix it with some cool, original material, for 45 minutes of laughs. One man, a guitar, and a bunch of funny songs. Matt’s debut solo show show is pretty fast paced, the songs are nice and short, just long enough to be punchy, but not too long that the audience drifts off, as he very easily moves to the next subject matter. Our personal favourites were the initial workings of his ‘Captain Planet the Musical’ project, where everyone knows that Planeteer Ma’Ti has the lamest power – the power of heart, a topic that any kid that grew up in the 90’s knows about, a parody set to the Dolly Parton classic, Jolene (about a certain red-haired politician), and a song about …