Adelaide Fringe reviews 2024: Limbo, Tom Gleeson, Hans, An Evening without Kate Bush and more
With more than 1400 shows on offer this Adelaide Fringe, it can be tough to know where to start. As we cross the halfway line, check out our latest show reviews.
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With more than 1400 shows on offer this Adelaide Fringe, it can be tough to know where to start.
As we come to the end of week two of festival season, check out our latest show reviews.
Riot City Wrestling: Fringemania
Professional wrestling
The Peacock at Gluttony until March 18
4.5 stars
The launch pad that helped propel global superstars like WWE champ Rhea Ripley and powerhouse Bronson Reed, Riot City Wrestling shows may just be the best kept secret in Adelaide (unless you’re part of their existing passionate and growing fanbase, of course).
RCW’s series of late night Fringemania shows at Gluttony will leave even brand new audiences under no illusions as to why pro wrestling has become a non-mainstream modern cultural institution for millions around the world nowadays, and why RCW itself is at the epicentre of a burgeoning local and Aussie scene.
If you’ve ever wondered what all the fuss is about, here’s the perfect demonstration.
RCW’s homegrown Adelaide brand of sports entertainment is up there with the best “indy” wrestling shows you’ll see anywhere in the world. There’s hard hits, there’s jaw-dropping stunts off the top rope, comedy, drama heroics and villainous shenanigans in spades.
It is spectacularly good fun to watch.
More a high-octane taste test than a full-blown indy wrestling show, rising star performers like Mat Hayter, Delta and tag team sensations The Parea deliver a top class 90 minute showcase of what happens when sport and entertainment collide at the hands of performers who really know their business.
The Gluttony show has RCW’s dedicated fans on their feet and in full voice from the opening bell, and from there they become as much a part of the experience as the dramatic athletic spectacle in the ring just metres away. (It’s also one of the few shows at Fringe where the crowd’s loud and unsolicited banter is considered fair game, and is answered in kind).
It’s a thoroughly sports entertaining night.
– Ben Brennan
Limbo – The Return
Circus/cabaret
The Spiegeltent at The Garden of Unearthly Delights until March 17
4.5 stars
There’s a reason Limbo’s dark circus spectacle has long maintained global sensation status.
Exhilarating and seductive, The Return is no exception, taking the audience on a tantalising journey through acrobatics, fire eating, tightrope and pole dancing set to the spellbinding sounds of wacky ring leader Sxip Shirey, with his electric mane and crisp white suit, alongside Grant Arthur and Mick Stuart.
A visual feast, no detail is spared, with each costume – as scant as they may be – meticulously designed. Kaleidoscopic lighting is executed to perfection, and impressive special effects add an alien-like atmosphere. It’s a performance polished to the nth degree.
Mouths hang open in awe as fire eating singer Clara Fable takes her moment in the spotlight, while sexy aerialist Maria Moncheva elicits gasps from each member of the crowd.
Elsewhere, Aussie dancer Hilton Denis and his mischievous charm add a cheeky layer to the allure.
But the most mysterious of them all is Frenchman Mikael Bres, who sings – manbunned and topless – watching his castmates in astonishment while limping across the back of the stage with a walking stick.
The acrobat reportedly ripped a calf muscle and is currently out of action outside of his musical prowess.
In an otherwise perfect show, his presence (while visually significant, I’m sure other audience members would agree) is the only element that confuses the unfolding narrative.
– Bella Fowler
Tom Gleeson – Gear
Comedy
The Vagabond at The Garden of Unearthly Delights until March 16
4 stars
When I first booked to see Tom Gleeson in his show, Gear, I was expecting to see his grumpy, hardened character audiences have grown so used to from his appearances in shows such as Hard Quiz and Task Master.
So, I was surprised when he burst onto the stage full of smiles and ready to perform what ended up being a rather lighthearted set.
While I acknowledge that I am probably not the target audience for this show as a twenty-something individual, the audience were captivated by Tom and his stories from a long career in comedy from the moment the hour-long set kicked off.
The show starts with Tom sharing his self-confessed “dodgy opinions” which had me a little concerned about what I had gotten myself into. However, as the set progressed, Tom became funnier and funnier. Not a single joke fell flat, there were no awkward silences, and his crowd work was witty and non-aggressive.
You can tell Tom is a true professional when it comes to his craft. He knows exactly what to do to appeal to his audience and his recollections of interactions with some of the comedy world’s most famous faces will have you in stitches.
If you are looking to see a well-polished comic this Fringe season then Tom Gleeson is your man.
– Ruby Stewart
Hans: Disco Spektakulär
Cabaret/comedy
The Flamingo at Gluttony – Rymill Park
5 stars
Like a fabulous phoenix rising from the ashes of the Sunrise studio, Adelaide wunderkind Hans has made his gloriously camp return to the stage with a rollicking Disko Spektakulär packed with hits, acid wit and an assault of infectious energy.
Just more than a year after Hans’ near-death experience on a cruise ship in Turkey, the international superstar (self-proclaimed, although it rings truer every year) shows no signs of slowing.
The show features all the Hans hallmarks his fans have come to love – sequins, feathers, balloons, eye-wateringly aquamarine eyeshadow and undeniable musical talent.
It’s comedic prowess where Matt Gilbertson’s alter-ego shines, plucking unsuspecting members of the Hansy Army from their chairs during a set of sharp-tongued satire and finishing the show with a raucous display of costumed crowd work.
Only gripe? The plastic, sweat-stained walls of Gluttony’s Flamingo tent almost feel too small to contain the German’s explosive talent.
The b—-- is back, darlings. Don’t miss it.
– Emily Olle
Blood of the Lamb
Theatre
Migration Museum, Courtyard of Curiosities until March 17
5 stars
America’s penchant for protecting the unborn is put under the microscope in this gripping theatre piece that will make pregnant women want to steer clear of Texas, for example.
Nessa has had a traumatic medical emergency on a flight from California to New York which is diverted to Dallas, Texas.
As she collects her wits, she discovers that she is not being interviewed by a surgeon but by Val, a lawyer.
The death of her baby in utero has been confirmed and Nessa has just entered a grotesque, legal nightmare where the rights of the dead baby she carries may outweigh her own rights to life.
The drama plays out between two very accomplished actors. Dana Brooke captures the impossible strain of being traumatised by the death of her baby while dealing with an unprecedented point of Texan law.
Elisabeth Nunziato is Val the lawyer and mother of seven, having her professional sheen and ethical precepts gradually stripped away as she and Nessa grapple to find some common ground.
It is a powerhouse, thoroughly contemporary political theatre from woe to go, tightly realised by director Lyndsay Burch from the 2022 play by US playwright Arlene Hutton.
– Tim Lloyd
An Evening Without Kate Bush
Cabaret
Le Cascadeur at The Garden of Unearthly Delights until March 2
5 stars
Going Bush is a warm, whimsical and delightfully weird experience for diehard fans of the reclusive cult icon – aka Fish People – and newbies.
Deeper and cleverer than a tribute act, this is quite possibly the perfect Fringe show.
British cabaret artist Sarah-Louise Young commands the tiny stage in a Valentine to Kate Bush and all who love her.
There’s a fabulous set list honouring KB’s famous four-octave range, from Babushka – in Russian – to Don’t Give Up (not the Peter Gabriel bits), Army Dreamers and Running Up That Hill, which introduced her to a new generation through Netflix’s Stranger Things.
There’s magical audience participation – prepare to howl like Hounds of Love. There’s laugh-out-loud comedy as Young duets with a mop and affectionately parodies the signature Bush choreography, from ‘‘shifty cat’’ to ‘‘pulse’’ and “rollercoaster’’.
More unexpectedly, there’s a profound, touching connection between Young and her audience. Does she sing Wuthering Heights? Well, of course, but in a way that is one many special surprises on the night.
– Jackie Tracy
“Abracadabra, B*tch!”
Magic/comedy
The roundabout at Fool’s Paradise until March 17
4 stars
Reuben Moreland presents the perfect concoction of humour and magic in his show Abracadabra, B*tch!
This is a guy who clearly seems to lack the ability to be embarrassed as he uses his own insecurities as the butt of every joke. From entering the stage in a pickle costume to sharing his mortifying experiences at magic camp, Reuben had the whole crowd on his side from the beginning with his self-deprecating humour.
His magic leaves you with a confused frown on your face and compels you to turn to theperson next to you and say “how did he do that?”.
Just when you think he has reached the climax of his trick, he adds yet another mind-boggling layer. While audience participation can sometimes be cringe worthy, Reuben involves his audience in an easygoing and non-intrusive way.
He is genuinely just a likeable guy which means everyone is happy to get involved in his antics.
If you need a laugh and little bit of magic in your life, go and see Reuben for all of that and so much more.
– Ruby Stewart
Geraldine Hickey – Don’t Tease Me About My Gloves
Comedy
Le Cascadeur at The Garden of Unearthly Delights until March 3
4 stars
What’s Raynaud’s disease, you ask? So does hugely likeable comedian Geraldine Hickey, who explores grief, pain and unexpected sobriety with a masterclass in pub chat-style comedy.
The usually genteel performer warns early that this show features “more swears than usual” and “a bit of yelling” as she explores a recent diagnosis in a deftly woven set.
But rusted-on fans fear not, her eventual outburst only adds a sprinkling of charismatic spice to what remains wholesome comedy at its finest.
Many performers’ opening nights feature a few hiccups and awkward pauses, but Hickey’s experience shines as she fills any quiet moments with beautifully executed audience participation.
A soft landing at the end of the show brings down the energy ever-so slightly. But, sitting in the delightful world Hickey has created, your heart will be warm enough that you won’t mind.
– Emily Olle
Sherlock Holmes: The Last Act
Theatre
Studio 166 at Goodwood Theatre and Studios until March 17
4 stars
Memories of super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes come down to us in an avalanche of names and events that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle cemented into the imagination of the world.
Here, playwright David Stuart Davies and performer Nigel Miles-Thomas recreate them but in doing so re-make Holmes himself.
It is 1916, and at the death of Watson – his Boswell – Holmes is facing existential oblivion.
Miles-Thomas, in a setting with little more than an Edwardian chair, table and golden smoking jacket, captures us with headlong strings of deductions that define his first meeting with Watson.
His skill is to deliver Holmes and Watson and a host of other characters within the Conan Doyle playbook so that fans of the books will be entirely intrigued while the images he conjures up can be read by any newcomer.
When Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty struggle to eliminate each other on the lip of the Reichenbach Falls, we are in that space, augmented by effects.
When the truth of Holmes is revealed in his meta-fictioned youth, the flaws central to his character; his drug addictions, his absence of sentiment and his impossibility in the 20th century, are made brilliantly, and brutally clear.
– Tim Lloyd
The Garden Feast
Eat and drink
The Garden of Unearthly Delights – dinner on March 4
5 stars
Set beneath the trees in the picturesque surrounds of The Usual Suspects Wine and Piano Bar comes this unique dining event under the stars.
The enclosed space comfortably fits five long tables with up to 300 guests, and the delicious three-course meal is prepared by Morgan McGlone (Sunday, ex-Belle’s Hot Chicken) and Nathan Sasi (Nomad, Mercado and Adelaide’s Leigh Street Wine Room), with a little help from event curator, Africola’s Duncan Welgemoed.
Among the tasty dishes are a King George Whiting sandwich, slow-roasted porchetta with salsa romesco and a fig vacherin with raspberries and vanilla cream for dessert.
A selection of wines are available and performers including Libby O’Donovan and magician Ben Hart entertain the guests on this beautiful February night.
There’s one more dinner to come on March 4 with Kiwi chefs Rewi Spraggon, Tama Salive, and Rob Elliott taking the reins. The Fringe has never tasted so good.
– Antimo Iannella
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