A mix of dance, cabaret, theatre and song, this show completely draws you in. There won’t be a single moment to stand still and consider tomorrow’s to do list, or wonder if so-and-so has replied to that email. Literally you will not stand still. The show takes the audience on a promenade inside the Gaol, imaginatively using the different spaces and levels. Performers weave through and around the audience, leading them deeper into the Gaol and the story.

Three stories entwine, the Courtesan murdered by a lover, the performer forced to consort with the enemy and the surgeon limited by her female body in an era and profession dominated by men. Their stories are macabre, moving and while set in a bygone era easily resonate today.

The three main performers, Anna Boulic, Nicola Andrews and Laura Burzacott are fabulous and boy can they sing. Their three voices blend beautifully and surprisingly the acoustics in the old Gaol work wonderfully.  One note though, unless you are used to deciphering a French accent, it can be a little hard to understand what is being said in some of the scenes.

The small touches and embellishments in this show also make it an experience that engages all the senses. From taste of wine, spices and fruit courtesy of the  sangria offered as you enter the premises, to  the smells of the old building and the sense of physical confinement as you move from space to space, peering into the old cells.

I loved this show, the atmosphere, the stories and the music. A mixture of old and new, the songs are ones you will recognise with the accompaniment is provided by a Melbourne duo called the Twoks, who just might be my new favourite band.

Chants des Catacombes is here for a short season, if you want a different Fringe experience that is truly engaging, go visit the Old Adelaide Goal after dark.

As they lay bare their unachieved goals and aspirations in life though the census form, with a quick witted musical number thrown in to boot, we’re about to start on an glorious adventure into an Inheritance claim in England.   From the joys of a sub woofer to the inheritance song, the pair show us their skills as both musicians and comedians, and the combination absolutely works.

The many scene changes, introduction of new characters, intriguing shadow puppet play and the ability to cope (and weave into the show) outside Garden of Unearthly Delight disturbances,  shows us their ability to cope with an improv opportunity.

This is a very funny and clever show – made all the more personal with the odd awkward costume change or prop fail which they cover with comedic ease.

It’s original and unique…& well worth a ticket, espeically if you don’t expect a man and a puppet to be funny!

The Garden of Unearthly Delights – Umbrella Revolution until the 18 March.

Lolly P. Jones is a great character, you can’t help but warm to her and get involved in her antics. Meanwhile Liesel Knievel clearly loves playing Lolly and she is the perfect vehicle for Knievel to display her considerable comedic, singing, and sassy talent. This is comedy but with a twist, and I challenge you to find a show of 55 minutes that manages to fit in as many alliterative double entendres as Hardboiled lolly does and to music no less.

Hardboiled Lolly is a fun late night romp you want to savour and not crunch through.

Warning – Audience participation.

Reblogged from The Diane Lee Show:

This is the second Adelaide Fringe where I’ve been lucky enough to be a reviewer. Last year I saw some amazing drama through #TweetsforSeats, which was a PR initiative of CIT. This year, I’m doing the same sort of thing, but for Adelaide Art Beat. Tonight, I went to the launch of The Big Slapple, a cabaret slash comedy venue set up in Regattas Bistro in the Adelaide Convention Centre, located on the gorgeous Riverbank Precinct. It’s a tad difficult to write a review, given that it wasn’t really a show. …

[Ed's Note: Cheers to the wonderful dilesshus - thanks for representing us at The Big Slapple opening!]

WARNING: This show contains partial nudity, strobe lighting and… pop music!

Meet the Irish dancing troupe, Ponydance! They’re not at all like the Michael Flatley kind: they’re cheeky, energetic and incredibly flexible.

Paula O’Reilly calls the shots (well at least her character does): she welcomes you as you enter, dictates rules for audience and performer alike and interrupts as she sees fit. Duane Watters, is the quiet, unassuming DJ. Oona Doherty (also dubbed “Double O Heaven”) is gracefully sexy, and often partners with the “Boi”, Lorcan O’Neill, to perform some sensual sequences.

The essence of their show, Where Did It All Go Right?, explores the situations and characters that young people come across when out for a night on the town today. Seems things aren’t so different over there in Belfast… There’s still that girl who bounds clumsily about the dancefloor, that couple who may as well be having upright intercourse and that “maniac”!

I admit that I have difficulty appreciating the technical form or interpreting the meanings of modern dance, but here, the meanings could not be clearer. The Ponydance crew combine their talents as dancers with a sprinkling of comedy, a touch of audience participation and their passion for their artform. The result: a fun engaging 35 minute show, that is over all too quickly. Truly, Where Did It All Go Right? is a comedic dancing delight.

Ponydance are performing at the Stag Hotel (how apt!) and King’s Hotel until Thursday 8 March 2012 as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Tickets available here.

Taking its cue from the travelling medicine shows popular in the 19th century, Porcelain Punch provides an hour of entertainment with an old timey flavour that had me leaving with a face sore from laughing nearly non-stop. With everything from a hula-hooping strongman, a clever contortion act to child-star, Shirley Crumple, Porcelain Punch is most certainly “the pick of the bunch”. But, of course, none of these acts would have been possible without the efficacious elixir that gives the show its name.

The venue is small but the intimate setting is perfect; with Dixieland tunes welcoming the audience as we filed into our seats I remarked to my friend that I felt like I was settling in for the sort of act that wouldn’t have been out of place in an old touring circus, making me think of the show Carnivàle. I wasn’t far off as the show combines new circus, music hall style numbers and comedy to create an accessible variety act that authentically captures the spirit of medicine shows.

The creator of the miracle tonic, Professor Leonard Grad, and his accordion wielding companion, Miss Elle May Rose, navigate the audience through the various acts, including Little Timmie Strongman, the Malleable Miss Molly Minks and Miss Bugsy Belle, whilst doing their own share of entertaining. Miss Elle May transfixed me with her beautiful, haunting voice when she took centre stage for a couple of ditties on her mandolin, which she plays as adeptly as she does the accordion.

Afterwards you can pick up your own bottle of Porcelain Punch, created especially for the show by Alechemy Brewing Co. I can’t promise that buying a bottle will cure all your ills, but after spending an hour with these charming and bizarre characters, I certainly felt revived!

[Ed's note: Welcome to our newest team member Andrea Taylor (@andibgoode). Andrea plays the ukelele, has killer vintage and is the author of the delightfully prim blog www.andibgoode.com]

Performed by Jamie Jewell, this show uses a variety of songs, both classic and reasonably unknown to give the audience a glimpse of a day in the life of this sad, solitary man. He adorns his house with dead flowers in tins, and is devoted to his stuffed bear and cat.

Sadly, this show did not do a lot for me. Jewell is an amazing performer, but it felt like a string of random tunes, tenuously linked with not much of a plot. It was entertaining, but maybe would have been more so if the attempt at a storyline had been removed and it was simply a showcase of Jewell’s considerable talents.

Also – do not sit near the piano unless you’re keen for a bit of full frontal nudity!

The Lonely Man is part of the CabFringe offerings at La Boheme on 28 February and 13 March.

This one-man show, vibrant, funny, dark and spoken very quickly, takes you on a journey in the afterlife. Dockery’s description of hell leaves you wishing you’d behaved a little better, been nicer to your siblings or not indulged quite so much. His version of heaven is not what you would expect either.

Last year Dockery brought Wanderlust to the 2011 Adelaide Fringe. So many people recommended this show to me, not to mention it won the Adelaide Critics Circle Award, but sadly I didn’t get the chance to see it. Happily he’s returned this year with Bursting Into flames and I now understand why everyone was talking so much about this performer.

Dockery is entirely engaging, for a single body on a chair in the middle of the stage, he fills the space and builds his rich colourful afterlife with words and sounds. Did I mention he’s funny? Because he is.

Heaven or Hell? Personally I’ve always believed that heaven would be indescribably boring. All the good, nice goody goody two shoes would end up in heaven, all the sinful, interesting and fascinating people would be in hell. That being said, I don’t want to be in Dockery’s version of hell.

DISCLAIMER: By the time I was seated for my viewing of this show; I was drunk. 3 bottles of sparking, 4 bottles of wine’ really drunk.

[Ed's Note: We appreciate your honesty Pete. If you, dear reader, spend an evening in the Garden of Unearthly Delights, Gluttony or The Big Slapple, it's highly likely that you may end up in the same state.]

I’ve never heard of Theatre Beating before and I would dearly love to say that was why we booked the tickets, but as I said in the disclaimer I was drunk and it was the fastest way into the Gardens this night without lining up. [Ed's Note: Great tip on skipping the queue into the Garden busy nights - buy tickets to a show.] But I am definitely glad we purchased the tickets: This show was awesome.

Barnie Duncan (who has a particularly dashing moustache) and Trygve Wakenshaw are two attractive guys in high cut togas, who give you a bizarre history lesson about how one of the words greatest cities came to be. Oddly, the dance party in the middle of the show doesn’t seem too out of place…

Performances were slick, well rehearsed and not a single misstep. Truly, it’s a testament to the skill of this duo. The show was so fast-paced at times, I found myself being that annoying person who turns to their neighbour to ask what just happened. It isn’t all history, humour is woven throughout this adventure.

[Ed's Note: For a sober perspective, see David Jean's review on Adelaide Now.]

Constantinople is playing most evenings at The Campanile in the Garden Of Unearthly Delights until 18 March 2012. Tickets available here.

Tom Flanagan: Kaput

The show is a great simple concept. It is very reminiscent of The Three Stooges and Charlie Chaplin: expect silence, pretty women and ladders and buckets used for props. Little is said by Flanagan during the show (only the occasional grunt or expression of frustration), he tells stories through facial expressions and body language. He’s brilliant, such charm and character.

I’m still wowed with his umbrella-rain trick as well as the earlier feat of back-flipping off the ladder from the top. Flanagan is so endearing in his little hat and suspenders, he seems like he was made for that era.

Take the younger kids along, they’ll love him! During the performance I saw, there were a few littl’uns in the front few rows, who were so wrapped up in laughing that Flanagan jokingly hushed them while he cracked a smile himself.

Flanagan is an active Twitter user too, and easily approachable. He’ll stand out the front after the show and sell you a magnet. Definitely one of the loveliest shows at this years Fringe.

( PS – Did I mention he’s a dish?? )

Kaput at Le Cascadeur in the Garden of Unearthly Delights until the 18 March 2012, tickets available here.