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Adelaide Fringe – Meg in the Magic Toyshop

5 March 2024 Kenneth Stephens

The Adelaide Fringe’s Meg In The Magic Toyshop is a G-rated children’s production showing in the Atrium at The Warehouse Theatre. Children’s shows are often a hit-and-miss. Especially when you start to compare them with Wiggle’s and similar. The set is simple and in lots of bold colours.

The two performers, South Australians Mia Ferraretto as Penny, the toy soldier, and Merrilyn Greer as Meg, the doll, have the characters down pat. You can easily recognise their musical theatre training reflected in the show’s excellent payoffs.

As soon as the cast entered the stage, the audience of adults and children settled down. Penny and Meg command the stage. The storyline is pleasant and straightforward, with songs and a bit of magic that keeps the audience spellbound. It is slightly old-fashioned, but that is the charm of the show.

The cast performed their roles impeccably and ensured all children were engaged from the front down to the back row. The presentation engaged the audience and ignited their imagination with its interactive approach, effectively incorporating educational elements.

This was a simple story of a lost glove and the quest to hunt down its location in the toyshop. This 45-minute show held the audience’s attention throughout, and in the end, you could see from the smiles of the adults and children that the show was a success, and the audience went home happy.

This short but sweet show was brought to the public by Vintage Vendetta Productions and was developed in South Australia. It is undoubtedly a production company to keep an eye on. And this is definitely a show for parents to keep their children entertained.

The remaining session dates and times for Meg In The Magic Toyshop are as follows:-
Fri 08 Mar: 4:30pm
Sat 09 Mar: 10:00am, 11:30am
Sun 10 Mar: 11:15am
Fri 15 Mar: 4:30pm
Sat 16 Mar: 10:00am, 11:30am
Sun 17 Mar: 11:15am

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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Adelaide Fringe – Fringe For Kids

4 March 2024 Alby T Grace

Stepping into the (mercifully cool) Octagon at Gluttony was an exciting event for Reviewer Jr, my six-year-old daughter, and she was absolutely stoked to witness various circus performances in this great venue.

The crowd was lively and excited, and the atmosphere in the room was great. Fringe For Kids is a basic variety show – each day, there are different acts, so one can only really judge it on the day you saw it. The day we saw it was good but could have been better.

The host was Minnie Andrews, whom Reviewer Jr immediately recognised. She was described as a mix of “Powerpuff Girls and My Little Pony,” she did quite well. The kids seemed to turn off a little when she sang some jazz standards throughout the show – Reviewer Jr wanted to leave for a breath of air when she sang her second song; however, as we took the air, she said she was suitably charmed by Minnie.

Following Millie was some outstanding aerial work by Nicole Walker, which was absolutely mind-blowing to Scoop Jr; she was deemed “ABSOLUTELY AMAZING”, and this accolade was well deserved. I’d venture she was the highlight of the afternoon.

The magician, Jordan Brooks, was poorly pitched for a kids’ performance; he suffered from some tech issues, and his second trick failed to connect with the audience. Reviewer Jr didn’t really get what the point of his tricks was supposed to be. Another circus performer did some great balance work, which was a little less well-received, it seemed, and a major highlight was the fantastic hoop work by Hannah Indigo. Indeed, the crowd favourite, Reviewer Jr, was ready to don twelve hoops immediately to replicate the feat.

The show culminated with a dance party presented by Life Long and Sparkle, where all the performers and the audience went crazy doing Nutbush on the stage – certainly the best moment for Reviewer Jr and a great way to end a decent afternoon of entertainment.

For bang for your buck and something that will appeal to kids aged 3 – 13, Fringe for Kids is a good bet. I found it a bit hit or miss, but some of the highlights definitely made up for the lowlights. Reviewer Jr said, “It was amazing, especially the hoops and the circus ladies. Four out of five.”

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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Adelaide Fringe – 101 Ways

4 March 2024 Alby T Grace

101 Ways to Annoy Your Parents And Other Really Old People is in the expansive and expensive Gluttony complex, presented by the supremely
confident and mostly funny comedian Matty Grey. As we waited in line, Matty went out of his way to speak to most audience members, having a laugh at the expense of parents in the line to amuse the kids.

This was a great way to break the ice as we all stepped into the May Wright tent. Matty began the show with a warning about the sweltering heat in the tent and allowed us to head out to grab ice from a nearby bar throughout if required – a good move, considering the temperature in the venue. Being a relatively mild day, I can’t imagine what the temperatures must have been like in the heat last week, so consider yourselves forewarned on that front.

I attended 101 Ways with my Reviewer Jr, my six-and-a-half-year-old daughter. So, consider this review partly my take and partly the view of the intended audience. Matty starts very strong with a funny slideshow, which brings us all in. He is generally a goofy, warm and enthusiastic stage presence, which does well to bring the kids to his side.

The antagonism towards parents is, of course, tongue in cheek, and all meant well, and the kids seemed to really enjoy being allowed to tease their seniors a little bit. Reviewer Jr was excited to remind me how much she would annoy me when we got home.

The show includes some light, non-awkward (thank goodness) audience participation, a few games, some longer stories about Matty’s childhood and role as a father, and various ways to annoy your parents. If we had critiques, he lost the audience halfway through and found it hard to get them back. No easy feat, keeping 101 kids entertained in a sweltering tent, and so, we can offer him grace here.

His finale is excellent and brings the whole crowd together, and a smattering more of that throughout could reset the kid’s attention and bring them in again. Also, personally, the “nuclear family” view that Matty employed was a little isolating for the fifty per cent of kids or parents who aren’t in that family structure. Not every Mum drinks wine, not every Dad likes cricket, and these sort of super-binary gender stereotypes are a bit old and easy humour. Even acknowledging that there are many different family structures might help all kids feel included.

The final monologue confused the junior reviewer – revealing how to annoy your parents the most. Most kids would be entering like her, expecting a sort of tool-kit of how to annoy, so the finale could be shifted to that view. Reviewer Jr said, “I just didn’t get that last bit.”

Overall, it’s well-executed and light entertainment that is good for kids and appealing for children over eight years and over. Some of the jokes and concepts, whilst not being offensive or too adult, are too complex for the very young. Reviewer Jr said, “It was good, funny and disgusting. I give it three out of five.”

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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Adelaide Fringe – Diary of a Magician

4 March 2024 Alby T Grace

The venue is the Garage International, tucked behind the town hall. It is beautiful: hardwood floors, golden chandeliers, arched windows, and fresh cool air – a good change from hot tents. The crowd is buzzing, packed with adults and children waiting quietly. The stage is well-lit and brilliantly configured. This must be in the running for the best city venue this Fringe.

Diary of a Magician opens with our titular performer — silently entering to some swelling string music, holding a leather-bound notebook and a few white cards. He deftly shifts his hands, and gradually, cards appear from everywhere – one moment they’re white, the next they’re multicoloured – one moment in his hands, the next they’re all over the stage.

The magician moves like a dancer, and everyone is enraptured. We can hear the hushed whispers of the amazed children in the audience, and they try to understand how he’s doing this. As he exits after the first section, there is a surtitle, pastoral music, and a handwritten diary entry. The show’s structure is introduced – a short, poetic diary entry will be projected on stage, followed by a somewhat connected trick. The magician never speaks.

Achieving almost complete attention from the one-hundred-plus crowd without once speaking is impressive and, indeed, a testament to the versatility and skill of the young magician. He moves like a dancer or a gymnast, and several sequences are as much about how he dashes across and about the stage as the sleight-of-hand illusions he constantly achieves.

The sequence with a firefly and a lit-up stick was the stand-out and had Reviewer Jr spellbound. Several times, both Reviewer Jr and I could see whatever the magician was palming or the thing he was attempting to conceal, and while this took a little away from the whole, the overall artistry, poetry and elegance of the show more than made up for the few fumbles.

We were in the front row and best positioned to see some of the seams. For such a complex and well-considered piece of work, it’s not surprising there are a few bumps here and there, and Reviewer Jr and I both felt this took nothing away from the work as a whole.

Watching this young magician perform this show, with the help of his efficient team, was like watching a young magician start on a road to stardom. It’s hard not to imagine him headlining the more prominent venues of the Garden in the coming years.

Keeping children’s attention is tough; doing it without saying a word is even more impressive. Add to that some wonderful movement and dance, powerful music, great tech achievements and striking, if simple, tricks, and you have all the ingredients for a five-star show.

While I’d say the performer is not quite there yet, he will definitely be in the next few years. Reviewer Jr was a little more forgiving. Reviewer Jr said, on leaving, “I LOVED IT, and my favourite bit was when he did the thing with the stick. Twelve stars out of five”.

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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