Kirsty Dale

Do You Want Lies With That?

Do You Want Lies With That?

Do You Want Lies With That? Rating

★★★★★

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I love Fringe festivals. And Qtopia’s Pridefest is essentially a Fringe festival for solely queer art so it’s even better! One of the highlights of Fringe is diversity in programming and everyone having space to produce their weird and wonderful shows. On Friday night, I got to peek inside Burger Queen’s mind for an hour. She put on a cabaret/comedy hour about being fiercely queer, proud of yourself and maybe just a little bit jaded with the current dating pool in Sydney.

Though there was only a small crowd on Friday, Burger Queen had something about her that made us want to participate and bring the energy to the room. She is a drag performer from Western Sydney who considers herself an elder queen, a queen of wisdom and advice for younger queens as evidenced with her friendship with Anita Book. Their intergenerational friendship was platformed throughout the show and this was very heartwarming. Anita is a young gun queen who I’m sure has a wonderful drag career ahead of her. She treated us to a lipsync of a classic 80s Bananarama banger in which her attitude and charisma were palpable.

There were some great song choices in the and Burger Queen’s voice was well suited to many of these, especially the song from Muriel’s Wedding. I especially enjoyed her original song which was called “All You Can Eat” – I can’t wait for this to come out on Spotify. Truly inspired. Some of the other songs could have done with some editing, sometimes you can get your meaning across and keep the show moving in a more punchy way by slicing up the songs a little.

 

Do You Want Lies With That?

 

I really enjoyed Burger Queen’s vulnerability. At the beginning she seemed nervous as she wasn’t connecting with the audience much. However, a couple of songs in and with some chatting, she opened up and was both engaging and endearing. Her comedy was relatable, though at times repetitive and often self-deprecating. I loved the cheekiness of referring back to notes (and perhaps resonated with the neurospiciness of this) although I do think this made it harder at times to connect with the audience. It seemed that perhaps every show Burger Queen does is different, depending on how she feels on the night. The show I saw didn’t hit some of the points I was looking forward to based on the description, namely grumpy customer service and an indictment of capitalism.

I would have liked to see Anita Book take a more active role, as it became a little one note with her reading on the side, maybe she could have passed the black folder to Burger Queen, been a back up dancer for some songs or helped facilitate an outfit change to add some dynamics to the staging and the show. The lighting was well utilised and the conversational tone of the show put the audience at ease.

Burger Queen’s subversive statement of wearing crocs on stage and the idea of the costuming, aka wearing whatever you want was powerful, but I believe there could have (always) been more rhinestones. Overall, this show was a big fuck you to the expectations placed on performers and was a really gritty, fringe style, self-produced chaotic hour in a way that makes you love it.

To book tickets to Do You Want Lies With That?, please visit https://tickets.qtopiasydney.com.au/Events/Do-You-Want-Lies-With-That-.

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Recovering Eldest Daughter

Recovering Eldest Daughter

Recovering Eldest Daughter Rating

★★★★★

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Rachel Tunaley’s “Recovering Eldest Daughter” was a riotous way to spend Saturday night. It was her first time performing in Sydney but not my first time watching her perform. I saw her show “Motion Sickness” in Adelaide Fringe in 2025 and absolutely loved it, so I was very interested in seeing what she had cooked up this year. The show’s description gripped me from the outset with mentions of mental illness and eldest daughter syndrome, and it did not disappoint. However, I do not think you need to be an eldest daughter to enjoy the show. It was cleverly Australian and relatable for anyone who has dealt with a perfectionist, overbearing, control freak in their life or just has a family really.

I attended with my housemate and we have both been dealing with another, departing housemate who has her share of mental illness and neurospiciness. “Recovering Eldest Daughter” was the collective, cathartic release we, and all the audience, needed. Rachel cleverly used audience participation to keep engagement and make it feel like a group therapy session. Her connection with the audience was electric and quips breaking the fourth wall were inspired, especially when she was admonishing us for laughing hard in a “serious” song or commenting that she couldn’t have “made it” since she didn’t have a full house. My housemate and I did not stop laughing through the whole performance.

 

Recovering Eldest Daughter
Recovering Eldest Daughter
Recovering Eldest Daughter

 

Rachel used brilliantly simple lighting, staging and props to convey big ideas. I always love shows that use a projection to their advantage, especially in this age of social media. Recovering Eldest Daughter did this extremely well with real clips from Rachel’s life showcasing that she has always been a self-proclaimed “Drama Queen”, as well as lyrics for audience sing-a-long participation and really driving her points home visually. Straight away we knew who she was and where the show was going which is reassuring as an audience member. Voice over was also used to add layers and introduce us to other characters though it was just Rachel on the stage.

When I saw motion sickness (if I remember correctly) Rachel was using songs we knew but changing the lyrics to fit the story. This time, it seemed to be original music and that she has found her own voice and something more to say. The pace was perfect, it allowed you to really take in the message but we were not able to get bored. Rachel is a very talented performer with a powerful voice and not only for cabaret or musical theatre style tunes but busts out into rap too. Her dancing and physical comedy was hilarious and she really committed to the bit. “Intrusive thot” was a huge highlight for us, we even bought merch! Throughout the show, Rachel was very open and vulnerable, sharing quite a personal story about her journey to acceptance of her mental health diagnosis and work healing her inner child. Who knew it was as simple as a cheeky dopamine purchase!

I highly recommend seeing this show while Rachel is in Sydney, it’s a very professional and personal take on musical comedy and I think it won’t be long until she is off to Edinburgh!

To book tickets to Recovering Eldest Daughter, please visit https://tickets.qtopiasydney.com.au/Events/Recovering-Eldest-Daughter.

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Ordinary Days

Ordinary Days

Ordinary Days Rating

★★★★★

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Ordinary Days, produced by Bold & Blunt Creative and performed at Flight Path Theatre, takes us on a journey to New York in the early 2000s. An off-Broadway success, the sung-through musical follows the stories of four characters working through the challenges of everyday life. The story touches on art, taking chances, dreaming big, building relationships and recovering after trauma. There is nothing too complex in the plot but there is joy to be found in interrogating smaller moments not usually portrayed on stage.

There were two main storylines; one was romantic and the other was about friendship, I loved this. It is beautiful to see a platonic relationship platformed and I found that Warren (played by Ethan Bourke) and Deb (played by Producer Chantal Elyse) had a lot of chemistry. The other two characters were a couple grappling with the difficulties that come with moving in together and taking the next steps – Claire (played by Associate Producer Jordan Berry) and Jason (played by Lachlan Ceravolo).

I was lucky enough to see the opening night show and he performances from the four cast members were very earnest. As the show went on, I felt the cast become more confident, and the characters more vulnerable. Bourke was a highlight for me; he was very charismatic and made the audience want to get to know him. Ceravolo gave us a very convincing, though at times, one-sided love story. Both Elyse and Berry had wonderful voices. I especially loved the duets, group numbers and the songs where the passion and frustration of the characters peeked through – this felt distinctly human!

 

Ordinary Days
Ordinary Days
Ordinary Days

 

The pianist was a highlight, tucked in the corner of the stage, playing for the full 90 minutes – no intermission. I enjoyed the music a lot and was surprised with how immersive the singing was with only the piano. Songs seamlessly connected as scenes changed, and at times I forgot that we had live accompaniment. Congratulations to the Musical Director – Joseph O’Reilly.

The set was simple but effective with the New York skyline created out of posters and flyers, and just a couple of desks. Both lighting and sound were used well to signpost the mood changes, which was essential with the pared back set design. The cast used the space masterfully, popping out from within the audience and the theatre door which aided the audience to feel engaged and part of the story. There were laughs at the funny quips and audible gasps when Warren tripped, we felt invested in Deb finding her thesis and Claire having a personal breakthrough.

Overall, this was a very wholesome production from a team who has clearly worked extremely hard. There are a lot of lyrics in this musical, it’s impressive. For fans of RENT or AmĂ©lie who love whimsy, it’s worth a watch.

To book tickets to Ordinary Days, please visit https://www.flightpaththeatre.org/whats-on/ordinary-days.

Photographer: Andrea Magpulong,Philip Le Masurier Photography

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Sugar Might Be Addictive…

Sugar

Sugar Rating

★★★★★

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2

Wow! What a yummy treat this cabaret was. I ate it up and didn’t want it to end! Tomàơ Kantor sucked us into the story from the get-go with clever use of current pop bangers that we all know, and love. From Chappell Roan to Gaga, the Sugababes and TikTok hits, the music always encapsulated the story in an interesting and unique way. The rollercoaster of emotions throughout was relatable and we were rooting for the very lovable Tomàơ as Sugar. Honestly, in this economy, who hasn’t contemplated taking the “easy way out” and becoming a sex worker after watching Pretty Woman. Especially easy to relate to if you’ve ever been a struggling uni student living in a share house.

TomĂ ĆĄ performance of this (as far as I can tell), true story, was powerful, fun and playful. I loved the use of the poppiest of songs arranged in a cabaret format. I died when Prada played. They gave us clever costume, prop and set use, great vocals, dance breaks and played multiple instruments. What a multi-talented and intelligent performer! The characters were all interesting, well-defined and had a point of view. The story was clear. I feel as if this is a show you could see many times and notice new clever intricacies each time. TomĂ ĆĄ and Bullet Heart Club (Ro Bright – show writer & Kitan Petkovski – director) deserve high praise for this!

 

Sugar
Sugar
Sugar

 

Don’t be distracted by the sparkles though. Not only was it funny, but there were poignant moments as well. These included some insight into why sex work is often not “easy money.” This is a job which requires incredible sacrifice of self and often places the worker into perilous personal situations where they have no power or recourse for wrongs committed. This window into sugar-babying throws light on some inherent class divides and the power imbalance of these transactional relationships. There was subtle commentary on internalised queerphobia too, and I had goosebumps when they started singing the last song.

The show included considerable (optional) audience participation and use of house lights which made for a very immersive theatre experience. This hooked us in for the ride and made us laugh. Word of warning, if you are uncomfortable with descriptions or portrayals of sex on stage this is maybe not the show for you. However, those who are down, you are in for a thrilling collective release. I was unsure how the audience would react at the Hayes, but they loved it! TomĂ ĆĄ is so charismatic and charming that we feel as if we are a friend getting the tea.

Ultimately, such a fun journey, I laughed and sympathised with Sugar. I would heartily recommend going to see Sugar if you get the chance. This debut cabaret has already won multiple awards, and rightly so, Tomàơ is a talent to watch. Look out Edinburgh


To book tickets to Sugar, please visit http://hayestheatre.com.au/event/sugar/.

Photographer: James Reiser

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