Genevieve Hudson🥉 - Whats The Show

Coco: The Time-Travelling Tart

09/03/2026 Genevieve Hudson🥉

Coco: The Time-Travelling Tart Rating

★★★★★

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Fast-paced, a little unhinged, and riotously funny, Coco takes audiences on a journey through the raunchier side of historical events. Already known and loved in the UK, Coco has boldly come to Australia in 2026 to give a sneak-peak into what really happened with many iconic figures such as Napolean, Queen Elizabeth the first, and right back to the original apple-tart herself, Eve.

Typically, there’s the expectation in Fringe season that everyone lets their hair down and just enjoys some entertainment. Intimately seated in the Yurt of the Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, audience participation is an absolute must rather than just an option, as your hesitation or failure to respond will often lead you to take a bigger role in the evening’s entertainment that you might have planned. A delightful combination of Clowning, storytelling, and character comedy, Coco feeds off her audience’s laughter, shock, and heckles. Coco, a highly absurdist persona of comedian Max Norman, is a self-proclaimed enthusiast for champagne and shenanigans of the salacious variety throughout her historical ventures. Joyous and irreverent, she channels Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous with her statuesque frame, blonde hair, sunglasses, but with a much cheekier and more devious undertone. Drawing her audiences in with her smooth voice and cheeky grin, she cleverly keeps them engaged through courage and connection as the show progresses. From collaboratively creating pyramids in Ancient Egypt to electing a new Pope, this raucous expedition across time will have you complicit in some of the historical shenanigans that occur.

While the set is largely minimal, Coco certainly more than makes up for it through charisma and movement through the space. The sound and lighting do play large parts in moving the story along, predominantly through the initial setting of each era and the all-important time travelling taxi. From coloured lights and mini torches, simple sound cues, dry ice, and apples suspended on string, these subtle elements only enhance the performer’s efforts in storytelling.

While the later timeslot may deter some people, it certainly ensures that no one under 18 will likely wander this way. With a couple of warnings and a maturity rating for 15+, it assuredly indicates that this is not the show to bring your family to – unless you’re all adults with a quirky sense of humour. If you’re looking for something fresh, chaotic, and queer this Adelaide Fringe, Coco the Time Travelling Tart will have you laughing from shock and hilarity throughout.

To book tickets to Coco: The Time-Travelling Tart, please visit https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/coco-the-time-travelling-tart-af2026.

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Kitchen Witches: Stirring the Pot

03/10/202503/10/2025 Genevieve Hudson🥉

Kitchen Witches Rating

★★★★★

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Tea Tree Player’s debut production of Kitchen Witches, directed by Lachie Blackwell and written by Caroline Smith, opens behind the scenes of a basic white kitchen film set for supposedly the last time. During the completion of Dolly Biddle’s final ‘Baking with Babcha’ episode, she is interrupted by longtime frenemy and chef Isobel Lomax while on air. The heated barbs that fly somehow inspire an opportunity to co-host a show, to be produced by Stephen Biddle, Dolly’s son. From there the ensuing arguments and revelations both on and off the air challenge them all to consider a more flexible definition of family, however dysfunctional it may appear.

The small cast worked well together to create a colourful palate of flavours that mixed seamlessly. Dolly Biddle, played by Michelle Hrvatin, was domineering from the beginning as she demonstrated changes in accents, costumes, and relationship dynamics throughout. Also with great comic timing, Hrvartin’s much louder persona was a fantastic contrast to her castmates. Jo-Anne Davis’s portrayal of Isobel Lomax began as delightfully simpering and superficial in comparison and growing into something floaty and gentle later. The unpredictability and hostility between the two women, despite often being in close quarters, is quite entertaining.

Often a mediator between the two witches (“with a ‘B’”) is Matt Bryker-Oman as Stephen Biddle, the long-suffering producer and son of Dolly, and is often stressed due to spiteful shenanigans. Bryker-Oman’s first stage appearance since school, his performance provided grounding and relatability amongst the tumult of the kitchen set, particularly in the second act where his character is challenged from a variety of ways. Torin Hill, as Rob the Camera Guy, provides a stable yet mostly silent presence throughout the show as he assists in setting up and operating the camera within the studio atmosphere. Hill’s few lines, despite ample stage time, certainly prove that quality over quantity can prove to be particularly memorable.

The inclusion of the audience as part of the live studio experience was a clever device, complete with handpicking ‘celebrity’ taste-testers, prompted reactions, and the sounds of genuine laughter instead of canned tracks. While some of the specific mentions of ‘audience’ names sounded a little rehearsed at the beginning, this became much more natural as it went along. Similarly, while the initial dynamics on stage felt a little hesitant, momentum was quickly gained and maintained as the show progressed.

The set itself was also impressive despite its simplicity. As all cooking shows need food to work with, even staged ones, with a working fridge/freezer being used for edible props and a sink with running water to always “wash your hands”. The amount and variety of aprons used throughout was quite amusing and were always complementary to the character that was wearing them, as did the rest of their costumes. Rather than the use of traditional wings, dressing room doors are used to further create an intimacy with the audience with proximity, and moving from the back of the stage. Lighting changes were also used sparingly but particularly to signal being on air with a brighter white light and a warmer tone for off air.

Without being indicative of a particular era, Kitchen Witches is a fun and surprisingly heartwarming show that carries some relatability in each of the characters. An enjoyable night out for some witchy cackling, a brew, and a show.

To book tickets to Kitchen Witches, please visit https://teatreeplayers.com/production/kitchen-witches/.

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Murder at Checkmate Manor

24/05/2025 Genevieve Hudson🥉

Murder at Checkmate Manor Rating

★★★★★

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A company well known for their pantomimes, comedies, and British farces; Tea Tree Players Theatre Company offer something within the same vein but perhaps at an all-new extreme. Julie Datson’s production of ‘The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery – Murder at Checkmate Manor’ will take audiences back to the era of cheesy country town hall entertainment, complete with dated fashion parades, cute quizzes during interval, and constantly breaking the fourth wall.

At the doors of the theatre, the audience is greeted and invited in by Thelma (Hayley Mitchell) who tells us she has recently been crowned ‘Miss Farndale 2025’, loudly and excitedly ushering people in. The unorthodox and absurd tone of the show is further consolidated as people are seated with elements of the small, deliberately flimsy set falling apart and the crew coming onstage to attempt to ‘fix’ them. With set walls appearing to be rushed in quality, the stair rail frequently wobbling out of place, the chess set often collapsing, chairs malfunctioning, and curtains constantly drooping, complete chaos is expected to follow.

The cast matches this level of calamity with their characters’ deliberately bad acting, including the monotonous recitation of lines, poorly timed or incorrect entrances, skipping pages of dialogue, forgotten or incomplete costume changes, uncontrollable giggling, and the correcting and prompting of each other on stage. As the show progresses, moments range from entertaining to excruciating as the plot is lost amongst the theatrical carnage, and while the identity of the murderer may be obvious, the ending is not.

With the challenge to act badly well, the actors certainly rose to the occasion and were clearly able to have a lot of fun with it. Chris Galipo channels the benevolent Mrs Reece, overwhelmed by having taken on too many characters whilst hosting and managing the community event as well. Mitchell’s Thelma is earnestly demanding in her attempts to be the centre of attention, enthusiastically delivering many of her lines to the audience rather than her co-stars. Jo-Anne Davis’s awkward performance as Felicity is comical, as she tries to navigate which side of stage to come through and juggle the incredibly quick costume changes between Butler Pawn and Colonel King.

Meredith Kreig is hysterical as Audrey, whose various characters involve a deadpan voice or giggles at inappropriate moments. Finally, Ashleigh Merriel as Sylvia, who plays Inspector O’Reilly, is fantastically matter of fact and tired of everyone else mucking around. Together, this cast lean into everything that goes wrong and encourage each other to reach the extreme of their scene.

While the set was compact, the space was used well between the five performers as it wasn’t often that they were all on at the same time. While the large white armchair, stair railing, and chessboard were central pieces, there were photographs and various ornaments scattered around were small details that added nicely to the community feel. Lighting and sound were used to keep the gags going, particularly when black outs came too early or late, the wrong sound effect was used, or just to emphasise comic timing. However, it can also be said that there comes a point where less is more, and some niche references to home video narration will go over the heads of those under the usual demographic of about 65.

Sprinkled through with the occasional innuendo and plenty of shenanigans, this production was filled with many moments where they’re so bad they’re good.

To book tickets to Murder at Checkmate Manor, please visit https://teatreeplayers.com/production/the-farndale-avenue-housing-estate-townswomens-guild-dramatic-society-murder-mystery/.

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The Rep Presents: The Other Place

26/04/2025 Genevieve Hudson🥉

The Other Place Rating

★★★★★

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Sponsored by Dementia Australia, the Adelaide Repertory Theatre’s production of ‘The Other Place’ by Sharr White portrays an emotional journey of the impact this disease can have on the surrounding people. As Dr Juliana Smithton struggles to accept her ‘medical episode’ and unexpected diagnosis, the people around her attempt to adapt and cope with her changing moods, sudden accusations, and large gaps in memory. Told entirely from Juliana’s perspective, the unreliable narration of the play leaves the audience wondering which moments were real and which were her deluded imaginings to make sense of her reality.

Robyn Brookes performance as Juliana is consistent, not leaving the stage from the very beginning of the one act play. Brookes shows great range as her character begins calmly and almost flatly, transitioning to cruel and cocky, before plummeting to desperate vulnerability, and finishing with quiet acceptance.

Jules’ devoted husband Ian, played by Scott Nell, displays a few beautiful moments of heartbreaking desperation as he tries to reason with his wife. However, there are times where an overuse of hand gestures and melodramatic tone hint to a lack of chemistry in this partnership. Brendan Cooney plays multiple minor characters as Man, reliably supporting his castmates with his solid stage presence and delightful diversity of characterisation. From the technician at Juliana’s presentation, to her disgraced post-Doc student, to her doctor, Cooney’s timing was great to watch.

The standout performance must go to Tegan Gully-Crispe, who plays Woman, mastering a variety of characters including the Doctor, Juliana’s daughter Laurel, and the woman who now owns the other place. From her consistency and diversity in American accents, Gully-Crispe exuded a centeredness from within each of her characters that suspended disbelief, allowing the cool professionalism and warm empathy to come from the same person.

The stark minimalism of the set, reminiscent of National Theatre Live in the UK, gave way to quick changes in location within seconds, the main pieces being a rolling chair and a couple of stagnant benches on either side of the stage. White windows intersected to cut off the back of the stage to create a more enclosed space and to bring the actors closer downstage. While this was assisted with the occasional change in lighting for diversity in ambience, the back windows were underutilised in their capacity to deepen the space within some of the more isolating and projected scenes.

Basic lighting was used to imply a change in time and place, but could have also been used to more clearly differentiate the transitions between moments of reality, delusions, the past, and narration. Ominous sound cues were used initially to help those transitions, but they weren’t consistent throughout the play. Costumes were simple yet captured the essence of each character without being unnecessarily complicated. Head microphones were also used by each of the actors instead of projecting vocally.

David Sinclair’s gentle direction of this sensitive topic allows the character-driven story to highlight the fallibility of humanity and the need to support each other. While slow to start, it grows in both strength and vulnerability, encouraging the audience to reflect upon the direct and indirect impact of dementia. If you’re in the mood for some thoughtful theatre as we move into the cooler months, come along to see this beautifully bittersweet performance.

To book tickets to The Other Place, please visit https://adelaiderep.com/season-2025/the-other-place.

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