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Australia Day – Therry Theatre

11/04/2026 Rob McKinnon🥉

Australia Day Rating

★★★★★

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Australia Day is Jonathan Biggins’ satirical look at the workings of rural councils and in particular an Australia Day organising committee. While the cast do their best with the script, Biggins wrote it in 2012, it now feels worn and the characters hollow. Some of the attempted humour is offensive (which seems to be the point) but if audience members can get past that, Australia Day is funny in parts if a little passed its use by date.

Set in 2016 in the fictional rural town of Makarrata, the play begins in the town’s scout hall as the members of the local Australia Day organising committee arrive to begin the planning for the following year’s Australia Day celebrations. The committee is composed of Brian Harrigan (Stephen Bills) the town’s Mayor and Liberal party member who is also seeking pre-selection for the local federal seat and Robert Wilson (Adam Schultz) the Deputy Mayor who is Liberal leaning but not a party member. Joining them are long standing committee members, Maree Bucknell (Kristina Kidd) the President of the Country Women’s Association and bigoted Wally Stewart (Steve Kidd OAM) who is a local builder. There are also newer members of the committee, Helen McInnes (Michele Kelsey) who has relocated from the city and a member of the Greens and Chester Lee (Ollie Xu) who is an Australian-born son of Vietnamese refugees and a new schoolteacher.

As the committee meetings unfold and Australia Day approaches disagreements develop ranging from the choice of sausages for the BBQ through to just plainly intolerant views. Political power plays and personal agendas also unfold.

Local place names are substituted into the script to add a local flavour. The whole cast perform admirably, and the play is directed competently by Jude Hines, however the limits of the script only ever allows them to develop shallow caricatures. As normal for Therry Theatre, their excellent production crew do an outstanding job in bringing the production into being.

Warning: a deeply offensive name for Aboriginal people is used in the play as well as an equally offensive name for disabled people.

Therry Theatre has a long history of brilliant productions. Their production last year of Come from Away was an absolute stand out. Compared to that, Australia Day feels like a bit of a misstep (although humorous in parts) as they are capable of much greater things and we eagerly anticipate their production of Jesus Christ Superstar in July.

Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating; 3/5

Production Details
Venue: The Arts Theatre, Angas Street, Adelaide
Performance Dates: to Saturday 18 April 2026.
Times: 2.00pm / 7.30pm
Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/DHTFT

To book tickets to Australia Day, please visit https://therry.org.au/.

Photographer: Andrew Trimmings

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2026 HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening

05/03/2026 Rob McKinnon🥉

Heartflicks Charity Film Screening Rating

★★★★★

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Following its successful debut at the 2025 Adelaide Fringe, HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening returns for 2026 bringing together brilliant short films and one magnificent feature length film from around the world continuing HeARTflicks’ mission of raising community awareness of domestic and family violence to foster empathy, dialogue and meaningful community engagement of these issues. This year the organisers have expanded the number of screenings of the films with the remaining screening on Friday 20 March to include a Q&A session with the directors of the four films to be shown that night.

Curator Steven Coy’s international call for this year’s HeARTflicks gathered a group of remarkable films and the finalist award winners were:

– Tidal, director, Sofia Poli, Australia
– The Bull, director, Jevan Chowdhury, United Kingdom
– Spider-Zan, director, Maryam Khodabakhsh, Iran
– Football Crazy, director, Katie Harriman, United Kingdom
– All Three Counts, directors, Natalie Scarman and Aron Giagu, Australia
– A Perfect Night, director, Angelo Raaijmakers, Netherlands

From the earlier screenings audience members were asked to vote for their favourite film and Australian short Wise Words by director, writer and producer Louis Dickins was chosen as the People’s Choice Award – Best Picture winner. Also, the HeARTflicks judges chose their Judges’ Award – Best Picture which was won by Aphelion by director, writer and producer Steven Willems.

On the 20 March screening, Tidal, All Three Counts, Wise Words and Aphelion will be shown.

Tidal by first-time Australian director Sofia Poli, shows the consequences of arguments in the home and how the two sisters (Amelie Stone and Zara Rose) spend time to get away from abuse and how the abuse affects everyone connected.

In All Three Counts, which features Robbie Greenwell, Nic Micalakis, Vanessa Ricks, Steven Coy and Effie Dawson, directors Natalie Scarman and Aron Giagu depict the use of power and promotes the notion that those that see abuse should say something about it.

Louis Dickins’ Wise Words shifts gears for a lighter look at the power of simple conversation and how even a chat to a stranger on a park bench can inspire change. It features Don Bridges, Ani Priyo and Louis Dickins.

These are followed by Steve Willems’ intense Aphelion, which is set in a single room. The ninety minute feature stars Nick Drummond and Talia Davida who deliver superb performances as the darkness of drug addiction and cycles of abuse engulf them. The film is raw and confronting and Williems’s film making skills are outstanding as he brings the audience into the grittiness of the room.

In Australia, intimate partner violence contributes to approximately 41 deaths each year — the equivalent of one woman killed every nine days. HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening aims to do something about this terrible statistic in presenting these exceptional films. With the added bonus of a Q&A session from the directors, the screening on 20 March promises to be a marvellous night that all should try to attend.

Profits assist Zahra Foundation.

Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating; 5/5

HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening
Remaining showing: Fri 20 Mar

Time: 7.00 pm

Venue: Cinema 1 at The Piccadilly

Booking details: HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening | Adelaide Fringe – 20 February – 22 March 2026

To book tickets to Heartflicks Charity Film Screening, please visit https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/heartflicks-charity-film-screening-af2026.

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15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical

28/02/2026 Rob McKinnon🥉

15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical Rating

★★★★★

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15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical is being performed at Arthur Arthouse, an art-deco building on Currie Street with its ‘Avant-Garde Furnishings’ signage still attached (echoing its former function) which is known for housing innovative productions.

The intimate space of The Box Theatre contains about 30 seats and a black stage where, as we entered on opening night, a smiling St John Smith sat in a wheelchair dressed in an ill-fitting surgical gown with a bandage around his head, next to him were two seats with objects covered with black cloth – one was obviously a skeleton as foot bones poked out of the bottom. Behind St John Smith was a tv screen and books.

The very affable St John Smith (a forty something man) apologised for the lateness of the start and the handful of audience members smiled back accepting his apology. He further told us that they haven’t had time for a proper tech run of the show but assured us the tech ‘God’ (Oscar) the young man in the corner would help out. St John Smith left the stage that became black, we were handed fake microphones for the karaoke parts of the show and the performance began.

Set in the 1990’s, the narrative of the show is that 15 year old Elon Musk is recovering in hospital from a beating he received at school for a homophobic slur Elon had tormented a boy with. In the hospital room Elon is visited by the skeleton ghost of South African photojournalist Kevin Carter who became famous in 1993 by taking a Pulitzer Prize photo that depicts a starving emaciated Sudanese child who has collapsed in the dirt as a vulture waits in the background. Kevin tells Elon that he will become the richest man in the world and explains the things that this will bring. Kevin further tells Elon that there will be another famine in Sudan in 2026 and asks Elon to use a fraction of his future wealth to relieve the suffering the famine will create. Later, Elon is also visited by an apparition of his father and young Elon is perplexed about what he should do with his future wealth.

Interspersed throughout the show, audience members sing along karaoke style to hits of the 1990’s. There is a Spotify playlist that upcoming audience members can prepare with – 15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90’s karaoke musical – playlist by stjohnmckay.

The one-person show by writer, director and performer St John Smith is dark and on opening night contained a few glitches which would probably be ironed out along its run, if they were unintended, although they did add an extra appeal to the performance.

15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical is a highly entertaining show (glitches included) ideal for the creative space of Arthur Arthouse and St John Smith’s performance is imperfectly charming.

Proceeds from the show will be donated to Sudanese famine relief.

Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating; 4/5

15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical
season is: Thu, 26 Feb – Tue, 10 Mar

Times: 8.30 pm

Venue: The Box at ARTHUR ARTHOUSE

For more information: 15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical | Adelaide Fringe – 20 February – 22 March 2026

To book tickets to 15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical, please visit https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/15-year-old-elon-musk-the-90s-karaoke-musical-af2026.

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Meteors

27/02/2026 Rob McKinnon🥉

Meteors Rating

★★★★★

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Meteors chronicles the journey of writer and performer Melissa Pullinger in dealing with the sickness and death of her mother from cancer. The writing cleverly entwines the narrative of the events of her life balancing humour against the darker aspects of the story. Pullinger’s performance is absorbing and connects the audience with her memories making Meteors one of the exceptional hours of this year’s Fringe.

Meteors begins with a funny anecdote of her obtaining glasses to watch an eclipse and the image of waiting to watch meteors in Tea Tree Gully becomes the connecting device of the script.

In a non-linear manner, Pullinger details other stories like a date she had at The Exeter Hotel where she tells her male companion that her mother is dead and how he relates to that in terms of the death of his cat for which she comforts him. Other stories detail how she and her mother had to speed home from a piercing Pullinger was having because her mother’s colostomy bag was full and another of her mother’s treatment of avoiding all light, so the family had to live in the dark. Pullinger further details her and her brother’s experience at her mother’s funeral, which is the first funeral they had attended, and how their neighbours tried to help the family with an overloading supply of lasagna filling their fridge and creating an abundance of still unclaimed Tupperware. She also relates her meeting with her Danny DeVito lookalike counsellor, and the effect counselling has had on her.

The single actor nature of Meteors means that there is nowhere to hide on stage and Pullinger’s performance is highly engaging and her skills as an actor are superb as she masterfully unfolds the narrative for the appreciative audience.
Connor Reidy directs Pullinger across the intimate space of The Breakout at The Mill incorporating Will Spartalis’s sound designs and compositions and signaling shifts in the script by using lighting changes. The stories exceptionally unfold on the minimalist stage with just a floor rug, a wooden chair, and a step to the stage. The other creative collaborators are Ren Williams and Pullinger’s brother Connor Pullinger.

Pullinger, Reidy and Williams are the co-founders of the Cram Collective and Meteors was developed through The Mill’s 2025 Centre Stage Residency in partnership with Adelaide Fringe through their Arts Industry Collaborations program and is their debut show at the Fringe serving as another important example why such programs are crucial for the development of young South Australian talent. While this is their Fringe debut, the Cram Collective have already created a growing list of well received productions.

Brilliantly written and performed, Meteors is an authentic story of a young person’s passage with grief through a series of deftly entwined anecdotes and a show that should be included in everyone’s Fringe program this year no matter how large or small that schedule is.

Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating; 5/5

Meteors season is:
Thu, 19 Feb – Sat, 07 Mar

Times: 6.00 pm

Venue: The Breakout at The Mill

For more information: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/meteors-af2026

To book tickets to Meteors, please visit https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/meteors-af2026.

Photographer: Daniel Marks

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