Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - Page 59
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Independent Theatre: Latest shows ............. Page 61 Fundraiser: Perfect night at Beaumaris ............ Page 61 Radio Confidential: Ratings analysed .................. Page 62 Cheryl Threadgold: Community Theatre news ........... Page 64 Jim and Aaron: Best DVD-film selections ...................... Page 68 PLUS THE LOVATT”S MEGA CROSSWORD
PYRAMIDS AND PIMMS More deception, diabolical magic
● Caroline Ferguson, Mike Brady and Yvonne Malik at the opening night of Pyramids and Pimmsat the Butterfly Club, South Melbourne, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Solo show for audience of one ■ Arts House presents An Appointment With J Dark from April 18 to May 6 at the North Melbourne Town Hall. An Appointment With J Dark is an intimate site-specific work and a solo show for one audience member led through the labyrinthine of the Arts House buildings at the North Melbourne Town Hall, including spaces usually closed to the public. Participants are invited to rendezvous at an appointed hour with an enigmatic stranger named J Dark, where every meeting is a unique and dynamic experience broadly described as playful, confronting, intimate, transgressive, moving and delightful. An Appointment with Dark predicates all participant’s willingness to be engaged and challenged while examining private thoughts and feelings during the encounter with J Dark. The creators of An Appointment With Dark, Katerina Kokkinos-Kennedy and Melanie Jame Walsh, focus on creating intimate, interactive, site-specific and durational performance works allowing strangers to encounter one another intimately. “We’re particularly interested in awkward moments, in the notion of personas and in hijacking existing social structures to bring people face to face ... We see live art as an opportunity for dialogue between people from many different walks of life – and our projects aim at enabling participants to think and speak about the things that deeply matter to them; the things they may not usually talk about,” explained Kokkinos-Kennedy and Walsh. Venue: Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry St, North Melbourne Season: Wednesday, April 18-Sunday, May 6 Time: Wed – Sun, 3pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm and 9pm. 35 – 50 minutes no interval (pending audience engagement). Tickets: Full $20, Conc $15 Bookings: artshouse.com.au or 9322 3713. - Cheryl Threadgold
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL ■ The Butterfly Club is an unusual venue and it is perfect in many ways for what could be a runaway hit for this year’s Comedy Festival. Pyramids And Pimms is a hilarious and thoroughly entertaining romp by two talented and funny women who I suspect have projected a large part of their own life experience into this excellent work. Caroline Ferguson is best known for her work as a traffic reporter, mostly on 3 AW and Magic 1278. Yvonne Malik, Melbourne's only current femaleArab comedienne. They have written and produced Pyramids And Pimms themselves and have enlisted the help of actor and producer Ross Daniels as director. The plot is built around the accidental meeting of the snobbishly eccentric Toorak matron, Davina Smythe-Jones (Ferguson) and the boganesque and socially challenged Lay-lah Wazir (Malik). They become trapped in a wine cellar during a Toorak party where Lay-lah has been booked as a ''Billi Dancer”. Davina sneaks in to raid her host's diminishing supply of Pimms No 1, disturbing Lay-lah who is about to change costume for her next dance. What follows is an uproariously funny exchange of adverse culture and diverse points of view. Reservoir and Toorak collide in a explosion of 'cultural diversity' and boy!, it’s very funny. Davina laments the passing of the 'White Australia Policy' and Lay-lah is happy in her own world of ostentation and trappings of the 'artistic' life she lives. They both discover that, whilst their worlds are light years apart, they share certain things in common that gradually emerge during their 'cellar time' together. Well written, well performed and well thought out, don't be surprised if tickets become hard to get once the word spreads that Pyramids and Pimms is a great piece of comedy and well worth seeing. Excellent! Venue: The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank St, South Melbourne, near South Melbourne Town Hall Bookings: comedyfestival.com or The Butterfly Club, 9690 200. Call after 5 pm. Tickets: Full $22. Concession and groups of 8 or more $18. Tight -arse Tuesdays $15 - Ikem Yarbyd
● Talented magicians Luke Hocking (left), Alex de Rambelje and Vyom Sharmka get plenty of laughs in their entertaining new show A Modern Deception: More Diabolical Magic. Photo: Malcolm Threadgold ■ Three of Australia's most entertaining young magicians, Vyom Sharma, Alex de la Rambelje and Luke Hocking, showcase their talents in the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with A Modern Deception: More Diabolical Magic, playing until April 14 at the Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria. Their first show sold out in last year's Melbourne's 2011 Comedy Festival and with the latest show recently enjoying rave reviews in the Adelaide Festival, the talented trio has returned to their hometown with a polished, new production featuring cutting edge magic that enthralled last Friday’s large opening night audience. Cleverly using comedy, magical flair and projected images to search for modern deception to please a modern audience, each performer at times becomes a foil for the others' well delivered comedy. The audience laughs loudly when one says "If illusion goes wrong, it becomes a reality". More deception, because these deft-handed magicians are so spot-on that nothing ever does go wrong and we remain captivated with their performance, dexterity, misdirection and time travel. There is also fun interaction with the audience who, even when close to the performers on stage, remained as baffled as the rest of us as to how the magical tricks happen. For instance, one man's signed $50 note was discovered folded inside an uncut lemon! Three illusionists creating deceptive magic in the one show is a triple treat. Add showmanship, wholesome comedy, a slick pace and energizing vitality and the end result is a terrific, entertaining show for all ages. Performances: Until April 14, Wed - Sat at 7.30pm. Venue: State Library of Victoria, Village Roadshow Theatrette, Entry 3, 179 La Trobe St., Melbourne. Tickets: $20 full price, $18 concession, Groups 10 or more $15. Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 or at the door. www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/amodern-deception-more-diabolical-magic/ - Review by Cheryl Threadgold
Radio couple’s NT trip ■ Retired radio couple Angela and Keith McGowan are leading John Howie’s Central Australia Music Tour from April 27 to May 11, taking in Adelaide, Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon, Alice Springs, The Ghan and Darwin, through Travelrite.