Caroline Buckle
The Pun 2011 Reviews »
Lately I had noticed that there appeared to be a trend a’brewing in our fair nation. The popular marketing tool for any aspiring musical theatre composer is to now base his or her “little-battler” show on a particularly recognisable Australian icon (be that human, animal, vegetable or inane “ozzie” pastime) and add the words “The Musical” to the end of it.
As a fellow performer, I think it’s awesome that more Australian writers are giving the limelight a go, and producing low-budget shows that aspire to push boundaries. There have been …
The Pun 2011 Reviews »
Hang the controversy – Tommy Tiernan is one bloody funny Irishman. Actually, hang the Irish – he’s just plain funny. When you’re outnumbered 650 to 2 in favour of the Irish, you’re either at a really tragic game of Gaelic Football or you’re an Australian audience member at a show headlined by the land of potato’s favourite rascal.
I hadn’t yet had the good fortune of seeing this lovable and slightly unstable rogue live and my viewing pleasure had always taken place in front of my (or someone else’s) TV. I …
The Pun 2011 Reviews »
A “best of” compilation can be a wonderful trip down memory lane, and when you’ve got 21-years-worth of solid material to choose from, it’s hard to go wrong. With Enough Already, The Scared Weird Little Guys are hanging up their zoot suits and calling time on a partnership that has spanned three decades.
I’ve seen these guys a few times over the years and have always enjoyed their energy, musicianship and tight harmonies. What is so impressive about their shows is how well they work together, how in sync they are …
The Pun 2011 Reviews »
I’ve been playing with the idea of writing and performing a show myself lately. Taking the plunge and putting myself out there for all to judge. So what’s holding me back? Guts. Pure and simple.
That’s why I attend these small cabaret performances, ready to cheer and bat for the underdog. I’m already on their side. So it takes quite a bit to push me to the dark side.
Unfortunately, this occurred during Eleni Avraam’s one-woman show Toxic Waste: A Love Story, billed as “…a surprising look at both sides of a …
The Pun 2010 Reviews »
Ark Barker needs no introduction. Literally. He welcomed himself onto the main stage at the Melbourne Town Hall, in the familiar third-person style that has become almost a signature. Barker is a lovable rogue, with observations that are at all at once inspired and inappropriate. He’s a professional at delivering metaphorical situation comedy – exploiting the “what-ifs” of life with laid back candor. The sell-out crowd made it clear why he is a regular favourite of Melbourne audiences, with the laughs solid throughout the show.
There’s nothing “outside of the box” …
The Pun 2010 Reviews »
On a sultry Thursday evening, the Butterfly Club smells of the sweat of performers past. It could not be a more fitting venue for the ensuing tale of an erotic underworld as Tommy Bradson, known in this place as split-personality hermaphrodite Charlie Martini and Alastair Estair, creates a sordid narrative that is punctuated with songs of sex, love and lust. So sordid in fact, that half the audience had left by the end of the 90 minute show; I had placed a bet with myself that this would occur when …
The Pun 2010 Reviews »
Isn’t the title Advice you Shouldn’t Need a slight contradiction? I mean, Elsbury is handing it out anyways, regardless of whether one needs it or not. And it’s true. I didn’t really need it. Not that it mattered. It’s funnier that we’re laughing about people who do require these blatantly obvious observations of everyday life. We’re all in it together, laughing at middle Australia.
The guidance dished out by Elsbury falls somewhere between pub-chat banter and satirical comedy. At times some of the jokes feel like they had more in them, …
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