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KINDER Surprises: Where Drag Show Meets Storytime

5 October 2024 Emelia May

KINDER Rating

★★★★★

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‘The library is open. So sit down, be quiet, and listen up.’

Just around the corner from Melbourne’s Fringe hotspot, Trades Hall, producer and actor Ryan Stewart presents their debut show ‘KINDER’ – and between you and me, I’m all in for Goody Prostate’s message.

When an unexpected phone call turns drag clown Goody Prostate’s evening upside down, they’re left with just a single night to whip up the perfect act for a local library. Amid frantic costume changes and a rising tide of existential dread, Goody faces more than just pressure to perform – they juggle protests and politics, history and herstory, fruit loops and family. What begins as a whirlwind of colour, music, and fashion soon unravels to reveal a long-overdue reconnection with their inner child.

‘KINDER’ serves up a provocative response to the rise in reactionary politics surrounding children’s exposure to queerness. It’s a bold, high-wire act of queer history and social commentary, wrapped up in what can only be described as a drag-show-turned-revelation. The show explores themes of conformity, the complexities of the queer experience, and the importance of community care as Goody grapples with a deep sense of responsibility to nurture that in the next generation.

Ryan Stewart is a force to be reckoned with as the kooky, lovable, delightfully unhinged Goody Prostate. From slapstick one-liners to disarming bursts of vulnerability, Stewart navigates each of Goody’s highs and lows with a well-timed flick of their fan. Watching Goody’s mask slip, transforming from performer to person, is as poignant as it is wonderfully human. The intimacy of the space only intensifies the feeling – when Goody locks eyes with you from the centre of the room, you’re no longer part of the audience; you’re part of the story.

And Goody’s story resonated throughout the room that night. There was laughter, there were tears – it was a shared journey, with Goody reflecting emotions we all knew well: joy, pain, estrangement, liberation. This is what really struck me most about ‘KINDER’, this sense of community. There was no better place to be than right there in that chaotic, messy apartment, where both performer and audience shared complete understanding. This is the true power of theatre: to strip away the pretence and lay bare the raw, glittering heart of the human condition.

That’s not to say it wasn’t oodles of fun, too! Armed with a bubble gun and bedazzled lederhosen, Goody Prostate is unstoppable. Stewart strikes a perfect balance between introspection and laugh-out-loud hilarity – clowning around, bursting into song, and tearing through costumes like a kid let loose in a dress-up shop. It was a bedroom-floor fashion riot, and I loved every second of it.

Parenthood, childhood, the inner child – ‘KINDER’ explores it all. It’s about being a child, knowing a child, and nourishing the child you once were (or never got to be). It’s a celebration of never fully growing up while trying to be the grown-up you always needed. ‘KINDER’ isn’t just a performance; it’s a love letter to the self.

And what a way to kick off this year’s Melbourne Fringe! You can catch ‘KINDER’ at Trades Hall until October 6th, and if you can’t make it this weekend, no worries – Goody will be taking the stage next weekend at Upstairs @ Floridia in Flemington.

Check out ‘KINDER’ here: melbournefringe.com.au/event/kinder

Remaining Sessions:-
Sunday, 06 October 2024 – 8:00pm – Festival Hub: Trades Hall – The Square
Sunday, 13 October 2024 – 6:45pm – Upstairs @ Floridia
Sunday, 20 October 2024 – 6:45pm – Upstairs @ Floridia

For more information about the artist, please follow https://linktr.ee/arypresentation

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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Karate Man – A Brilliantly Clever Interactive Live Action Comedy

19 September 2024 Linda Lokhee

Karate Man Rating

★★★★★

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If you have ever played a video game, you’d feel the excitement of pressing a combination of different buttons on the controller and moving your character around the screen – to fight villains, explore different rooms and make decisions. The game always has a goal, often several, with riddles and various quests to complete before the goals are met, before you finally win the game. Perhaps it has taken hours to play. Imagine this. You know what I mean. Now think about the characters jumping out of the screen and are standing right now in front of you, swaying from one foot to the other, patiently waiting for you to give them a command on your controller. Your game has come to life – and you get to make decisions about what happens next. This is what happens in this comedic show Karate Man.

Co-creators and directors Bruno Dubosarsky and Daniel Scarratt have produced a truely unique and hilarious interactive play…and play we did! All audience members participated and became immersed into the story, by taking turns with the controller and pushing buttons, directing Karate Man to do what they wanted in response to the story’s many challenges.

The buttons were typical gaming commands such as kick, throw, punch, jump, grab as well as move left / right/ down and up, all of which Karate Man had to do immediately on command as soon as the it was read out by the game’s narrator. The sound effects added to the authenticity of a video game, complete with repeating sounds when the characters were waiting to be directed what to do.

This video game character was portrayed perfectly by Bruno Dubosarsky and done with such robotic fluidity that it was believable, his movements imitating the basic gaming commands of the 1980’s video games. As you can imagine, the fight between Karate Man, moving in a step by step controlled fashion (eg “right, right, jump, right, kick. Left, left, down, punch”) and his arch enemy Ross Roundkick, played with cheeky wickedness by Daniel Scarratt in the year 198X was hilarious and one of the highlights of the show for me. I was laughing so much as poor Karate Man was directed to move in ridiculous excess due to the audience still getting used to using the controls at the beginning of the show – it would have been exhausting for Bruno. At one stage, Karate Man was directed by the controller “left, left, left, left, left” right off the stage – the audience was crippled with laughter! I had never been to a Choose Your Own Adventure show like this before, and I loved it.

The story of Karate Man takes us into the lives of Karate Man and his wife Kara. Her name being half of his name seemed to be on purpose, and added to the cheesy charm of the show. Kara was played by Stephanie Ryan and her mannerisms of a video game character were spot on. Karate Man had to complete some challenges in this game and the audience was given three choices which led to different scenes and more goals to achieve. As the audience were making the decisions about where Karate Man was going to go next in our rendition of the play, I could see how the show would completely change on different nights. It would be interesting to return to experience another scenario and set of goals.

The supporting cast, Tim Dunk as the Time Fish, Juliet Rae Timmerman as Alex Coober and Maddie Atkins lent keen exaggeration into their video game characters and were very entertaining. All of the actors at different times were so funny, and I believe that some lines may have been impromptu.

The script was clever and contained some references to pop culture embedded. Prop designer Stephanie Ryan kept the stage simple. A few painted large posters were used, as well as a few other props, and was all this show needed as it was more reliant on the physical comedy and the script.

Shown as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival 2024, Karate Man was spectacularly funny and one of the most original interactive shows to hit the stage! Instead of playing video games at home, head out to the PACT Centre for Emerging Artists in Erskineville to have your own personalised adventure with Karate Man.

Show run: 17-21 September 2024
Tickets: $30 – $38
www.sydneyfringe.com/events/karate-man-a-live-action-video-game

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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Adelaide Fringe – The Sun and The Hermit

2 March 2024 Alby T Grace

There is, undoubtedly, a preponderance of clowns in The Fringe these days. It’s a form that has grown increasingly popular among performers, with every third Fringe show and their dog having studied at Gaulier last year. Due to this, finding a really interesting, unique and funny clown show is becoming increasingly rare.

Not so with The Sun and The Hermit. Belinda Anderson-Hunt takes the stage from the entrance door after some kooky house music makes us pause for a moment. The house music, like everything else in this show, is a choice – and after Belinda has made a series of really unusual, off-kilter, but fantastic choices, we’re left convinced by the skill and complexity of this performer.

The “plot”, such as it is, involves Belinda’s neutral character entering the stage, revealing a variety of old, dusty props and costumes, then taking on various characters. Most are barely verbal, and many appear cartoonish. The initial opening sequence is explosive and hilarious, making us all lean forward to discover what Belinda will do next.

I shouldn’t spoil anything much about the show – partly because I don’t want to ruin any surprises, and partly because I have no idea if it will happen again when you see it – but there are moments, especially in the first fifteen minutes, you have to see to believe. If you can see, through your crying laughter.

As the piece settles, it sufferers a little from becoming a bit same-same, but that’s ok – Belinda is such an open, raw and clever performer that we will go anywhere with her. While the core of the Sun and The Hermit is humour, and it is very, very funny, lurking around the edges are some dark, disturbing, and strange happenings. Shades of Beckett’s Footfalls strike me momentarily; later, I wonder whether I’m meeting a new character from Lynch’s Eraserhead.

Sitting with Belinda as she journeys through these various iterations, we are left to think about motherhood and growing old, the transformative power of honesty, and the unbearable honesty of being a child.

Any criticisms I have are mild and probably irrelevant on a second viewing – as Belinda tells us, at the completion, the show is different every night, and we may have witnessed one of the most bizarre incarnations.

Overall, it’s fantastic. Belinda is a deeply charismatic and authentic performer, and we don’t feel a moment of artifice as she hurls herself headlong into each new iteration. The spirit of Fringe is here in the room with us, Frank Ford looking down on the stage and smiling – this is the edge-of-your-seat, don’t-know-what’s-going-to-happen-next sort of stuff we’re begging to see.

The Sun and the Hermit is only on for TWO MORE NIGHTS! Book your tickets and head to the Migration Museum at 9.50 pm on Saturday and Sunday to experience the hilarious madness. It’s a trip well worth taking.

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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