Theatre Festival

Adelaide Fringe Festival: Holden Street Theatre Collection

Holden Street Theatre Collection

Holden Street Theatre Collection Rating

★★★★★

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The Holden Street Theatre is in full swing, hosting numerous shows in this year’s Adelaide Fringe(running from 21st Feb to 23rd March), and we were very privileged to be granted the opportunity to review three distinct but high-quality shows in one day.

Shellshocked
Shellshocked has its Australian Premiere at Holden Street Theatre for the Adelaide Fringe 2025. This play is by Phillip Stokes, an award-winning playwright from Leeds. The British Library recognises him as a culturally significant playwright of the 21st Century.

This production stars Jack Stokes and Lee Bainbridge as Wesley and Mr. Lupin (Sir). It opens with Mr. Lupin on stage, staring at a blank canvas on a large easel. The rest of the settings are a desk, a table, a solitary chair, a coat stand, a carafe of whisky, and two glasses.

Wesley has returned from serving in the military in WW2 and needs a job to support his single mum and three sisters. So, he applies to the local portrait painter for an apprenticeship, and his mother delivers his portfolio.

Wesley suffers from PTSD, but he is happy to get the position at a very decent wage. As Wesley gets to know Mr. Lupin, or Sir as he sometimes likes to be called, you start to notice that something is not right in their relationship. You sense that Mr. Lupin, who had polio as a young lad, feels that he has been deprived of the war experience and all it entails.

Wesley is taunted by Sir quite a few times through the course of the play. We begin to see why there is a blank canvas on stage and no other completed artwork. And we begin to wonder who the better artist is.

It becomes evident that Lupin is a bully. Slowly, this story builds up to an interesting climax, which you need to see to know the outcome. Jack Stokes as Welsey is brilliant; his character development is intense. He is certain to be an actor to watch out for in the future. He is cast well against Lee Bainbridge, who is a very accomplished actor.

This show is a must-see at the Adelaide Fringe before it goes to Broadway. A 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Dear Diary
For about 75 minutes, Kay Proudlove entertains us with a collection of stories and a few well-crafted songs. This entertaining production is a look at Kay’s adolescent life. It starts with Kay being called back to the family home to empty her childhood bedroom, as her mother wants a sewing room. This is well represented with three costume racks filled with her clothes.

A key element is the diary from which her memories spring. Here, we hear her stories of being a teenager and all the issues that entails. It starts with Kay having a night off from work and a gig being cancelled, and therefore, she is at her family home going through the detritus of teenage years.

The delivery is nice and gentle—it is like chatting with an old friend. Kay draws the audience in with her humour in her stories and songs. We hear about boyfriends, girl power, and lost music gigs. The whole story is very relatable to the audience.

The audience appreciated this show’s gentle storytelling approach, effectively conveying the narrative without being overly forceful.

So, join the journey of self-discovery, and you will enjoy the show.

4.5 out of 5

Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse For England
This rollicking production well portrays the decline of a footy (round ball) fan. Alex Hill plays Billy and is directed by Sean Turner. Alex uses the full stage at Holden Street. Alex plays multiple characters, with Billy being the main one.

This is a very physical one-man show that leads us through the story of Billy, a shy, introverted lad who is introduced to football.

Football helps him overcome his shyness and takes his mind off his job. His interest in football leads him to a gang of football hooligans. This is all set against the Euro 2020 competition at Wembley, and for the first time in a long time, England is in the comps with a chance to win.

The title of the production is based on a true incident that involved a flare and someone’s posterior. His life becomes more aggressive as he follows the gang of football fans. He feels he is fitting in and belongs to a crowd of like-minded people.

He becomes intoxicated by the stupid stunts and violence that is part of the culture of football thugs. He is introduced to cocaine, and that releases him from his cocoon, and he meets a girl. Now he must juggle a more complex lifestyle, between a girlfriend or football and mates. There is a theme of fascism in the football gang as you are expected to join in, whether you like it or not.

This production gives you an insight into the football hooligan mentality but in a wonderfully humorous way. It is a worthwhile production. Alex is an amazing talent. He holds your attention for over 75 minutes, leaving the audience feeling nearly as exhausted as Alex. 5 out of 5 stars from me.

These shows alone are well worth getting out to see, but by all means, we recommend getting down to see as many Adelaide Fringe shows as you can. To book tickets to any of the upcoming Adelaide Fringe shows at the Holden Street Theatres, please visit:- https://www.holdenstreettheatres.com/

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The Butcher, The Baker’ Serves Up Role-Shifting Revelry

The Butcher The Baker

The Butcher The Baker Rating

★★★★★

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From the opening notes, The Butcher, The Baker immediately transports you into a world reminiscent of 1930s European cabaret—glamorous, provocative, and deeply steeped in the tradition of Weimar-style performance. Written, composed, and musically directed by Ella Filar, this production is both a showcase of exuberant musicality and a shocking exploration of sexuality, identity, and the fluidity of roles that people inhabit.

Directed by Kevin Hopkins—who first encountered the script while in the Czech Republic—The Butcher, The Baker carries a distinctly European flavour. Hopkins’s stated fascination with the piece’s “grotesquery and absurdism” is evident in his staging. The narrative follows three focal characters: Honey Valik (portrayed by Natasha Broadstock), an artist deeply invested in her craft; Alex Summers (played by Claire Nicholls), a brain surgeon; and Johnny Agostino (Fletcher Dyson), a butcher who captures both character’s imaginations. Threading the story together are two captivating narrators, Myf Powell and Bruce Langdon, who serve as muses and as the voices of subconscious (and sometimes very conscious) desires.

 

The Butcher The Baker
The Butcher The Baker

What makes The Butcher, The Baker especially compelling is how it shifts seamlessly between riotous humour and unexpected shocks. In one moment, it revels in playful innuendo and high-spirited wordplay; in the next, it confronts the audience with overt sexuality or sudden shifts in character roles—often leaving you unsure whom you’re meant to be rooting for. This is intentional: the show’s dada-esque edge delights in keeping viewers off-balance, forcing us to question the “meaning” behind both words and actions on stage.

Throughout, Filar’s score is vibrantly eclectic. One moment, you might hear a quick staccato reminiscent of German dance halls; the next, soaring operatic passages or lively jazz. The band—**Martin Khromchenko and Lucke Schreiber on saxophones, Lyuba Khromchenko on violin, Ella Filar on keyboard, and Christos Linou and Bradon Payne on percussion—**heightens the sense of off-kilter fun, playing behind a curtain in costumes that evoke both a bustling kitchen and a risqué soirée. It’s a deliberate collision of worlds, perfectly reflecting the script’s thematic juxtapositions.

The production is a tight 75 minutes, ensuring audiences never have the chance to lose focus. At times, you might catch yourself marvelling at the sheer cheekiness of the dialogue and lyrics, only to be hurled into the next song or scene before you can fully process what just transpired. As you watch these characters grapple with their obsessions, desires, and identities, you may feel that you’re taken on a ride rather than asked to pick sides. This experience becomes more explicit when reading through the printed lyrics and programme after the show.

 

The Butcher The Baker
The Butcher The Baker

Chris Molyneux, the technical manager, deserves commendation for crafting a production that feels seamless yet offbeat. Lights and sound create an immersive environment, supporting the transitions between the boisterously funny and the unabashedly sensual.

If you’re seeking a conventional storyline, The Butcher, The Baker may throw you off-guard. But for anyone who revels in cabaret’s capacity to shock, surprise, and delight, this show is a feast. It’s a testament to a distinctly European tradition of theatre—a kaleidoscope of humour, sexuality, and absurdity that leaves you both entertained and intriguingly disoriented.

As Director Kevin Hopkins notes, this play’s “unpredictable plot” and “strange characters” offer a fresh, modern slant on old-world cabaret. With gender identities and roles under the spotlight, it feels very much of this moment, even as it channels the spirit of another era. Ultimately, The Butcher, The Baker is fun, fast-paced, and a tantalising entry in the Midsumma Festival line-up—and a wild ride well worth taking.

To book tickets to The Butcher The Baker, please visit https://www.theatreworks.org.au/2025/the-butcher-the-baker

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Barking Up the Right Tree

My Queer Spiritual Entropy

My Queer Spiritual Entropy Rating

★★★★★

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The Motley Bauhaus is a tiny theatre at the back of a large pub in Carlton. Its intimate nature lends itself to powerful storytelling and heartfelt performances, and that’s exactly what ‘My Queer Spiritual Entropy’ (a play by Holly Rowan & The Wilderbeans) amply provides.

We are welcomed into our seats by an accompaniment of whimsical folk music played live by three child-like nature creatures. The creatures reveal themselves to be ancient trees and through music and story they begin to share with us the delights of the natural world and their places within it. We are educated about the hermaphroditic nature of some trees which possess both male and female parts within themselves and is something which makes that tree truly special, giving it the ability to self-fertilise and reproduce without external pollinators, ensuring its species survives.

However, this same natural and special ability in trees becomes something of deep concern when it happens in humans. Indeed, it becomes not just concerning but deeply antagonistic when anything happens outside of the binary of male and female in humans.

To help us understand that differences are natural and not something to be feared, the tree shares the tale of a little girl called “Holly’ who was once happy, wild and free, revelling in her unique nature but who slowly, little by little, squashes herself into the tiny gender box assigned and deemed appropriate by society, even as it slowly suffocates her. Holly is berated for being ugly, unnatural and ‘wrong’, rejected for not being a ‘proper’ female. Holly is told that their true nature is unnatural and offensive to the family, society and world in which they live. So they try to be ‘good’ and ‘fit in’, but it slowly erodes their sense of self and their connection to their true selves and makes them desperate, self-destructive and terribly lonely.

 

If it sounds heavy in parts, that’s because My Queer Spiritual Entropy calls attention to the lived experience of many gender-diverse people and is at times confronting, forcing us to look at our own behaviour, beliefs and binary-centric attitudes to the lives and gender, non-conforming ‘choices’ of our queer folk. At other times, the show is amusing, poking pointed but good-natured fun at the accepted roles of men and women in our society and challenging our unconscious compliance with those ideologies. Plus, nothing is funnier than a little nip at the narcissistic dark side of the personal development world, which was a highlight for me.

As a theatre-goer who was, at first, a little worried the show might disappear too much into ‘experimental’ with a side of ‘end of year school play’, I was both surprised at the complexity of the non-binary narrative and genuinely moved in several places – in particular when Holly begins to find acceptance both inside of and outside of themselves. My theatre-mate, for whom this is a lived experience, found himself reflected very clearly in the material and also shed a tear or two – such was the power of the music, the silliness, the playfulness and the raw beating heart of this eccentric, edgy but very poignant play.

I believe we, as a society, have to do better in many ways, and right now, one way in which we can do better is by learning to shake off the chains of the ‘two gender’ binary because beyond ‘man’ and ‘woman’, in the complex and often challenging landscape of queer identities, there is a vast community of people whose voices deserve to be heard. I urge you to listen.

To book tickets to My Queer Spiritual Entropy, please visit https://www.midsumma.org.au/whats-on/events/my-queer-spiritual-entropy/

Photography: by Anais Stewart

This year’s Midsumma Festival runs from 19th Jan to 9th Feb. For more information, please visit https://www.midsumma.org.au/.

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Hot White Kiss

Hot White Kiss

Hot White Kiss Rating

★★★★★

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Written and directed by James WF Roberts, Hot White Kiss is an hour-long play focusing on five individuals, all sporadically linked through polyamorous & bisexual relationships with each other. Yet sparking and fuelling their individual flames isn’t oxygen, but the dangerous elements of addiction, abuse, trauma, and self-destruction.

The story, stemming from a poem Roberts previously wrote, is no stranger to The Butterfly Club. It now returns almost a year later as part of the Midsumma Festival and with a larger cast. Sticking with its previous venue proves to be an asset, as Hot White Kiss’ gritty themes fit perfectly with the grungy, basement-esque setting of the Club.

The show follows Leena, a heroin addict who cannot see the harm she’s inflicting on herself and others, and John, a wannabe poet trying to get out of the harmful addictions he’s found himself dealing with, including Leena. Surrounding them is Cilla, a drug-dealer who is obsessed with controlling Leena’s life, and a married polyamorous couple (Bill & Taylah), who see the harm from a far but do little to help.

Savier D’Arsie-Marquez (John) and Olivia Buckton Smith (Leena) stand out as the two main characters, who appear to have no positive reason to stay together. Not that it would stop them. They both portray a great amount of hurt and panic through their deliveries and expressions, that had them feeling like genuine people.

Most of the audience stayed wide-eyed and quiet throughout the performance of emotions on stage – but the few large laughs that broke through came from D’Arsie-Marquez’s ability to have fun with the dialogue in well-timed moments that made his character shine.

Hot White Kiss
Hot White Kiss
Hot White Kiss

Considering the topics of the show, it felt there shouldn’t be a personified villain to the story. Yet Cilla’s (Bridgette Kucher) Joker-like smirk and constant manipulation of Leena often evoked that anger. There weren’t many redeeming parts that made us understand why Lenna stays with her, well portraying the abusive relationships you sometimes question from the outside.

The interpersonal relationships between each of the characters are constantly calamitous. All of them using the other people as person-shaped climbing block to get higher and leaving the other bleeding down below. But no one truly ends up on top.

However, a lot of the romances between characters felt slightly fabricated. It would have been enjoyable to see there be a bit more of a connection or backstory between the two leads. One of their most interesting scenes when reminiscing their past together was more like a tease of a flame that left you wanting to understand more of their relationship.

An unfortunate and constant jarring of the show came from the music played between scenes and set-ups. The audio’s sudden slice through the tension and emitting from the back of the theatre gave an illusion of a phone going off in the seats. By the time the understanding came that it wasn’t that, the emotional tether had already been cut. If it could fade in/out or come from behind the curtain instead, it would help keep the tension high.

Overall, the show was strong in the moments it felt grounded and real between characters. And though confrontations ended with not a lot of pay off and a few things left unanswered – it felt supportive of the less than comforting ending you often get when involved with addiction and toxic relationships like these.

And if they were hoping to raise addiction awareness additionally – one man leaving the theatre who noted, “Well…I’m never going to do heroin” certainly got the message.

To book tickets to Hot White Kiss, please visit https://thebutterflyclub.com/

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