Peter Hanlon, it seems, has always been a contradiction. A punk-rock loving aesthete who has scaled the upper echelons of Australia’s finance industry and still sits at the helm of the Bank SA board and who, at 63, has recently found a new career path – as an arthouse filmmaker.
Festivals
With two days to go, the 2018 Adelaide Festival has achieved a new box office record of more than $4.5 million, while the Fringe is on target for a 7.6 per cent increase in ticket sales.
Festival-goers have a packed line-up of music, dance, theatre and visual art shows to choose from as the Mad March festivities draw to a close this weekend. Here are some picks from the Fringe and Festival programs.
Adelaide Fringe
Vocal loop artist Sam Perry provides the music for Fringe show The 360 All Stars and is this year showing off his skills in a spellbinding solo show. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Part physical theatre and part comedy, with a hint of political commentary, Unsuitable is a high-energy show from Belfast that is more anti-circus than circus. ★★★
He may claim that fatherhood has toned him down but Sam Simmons’ new show is still packed with his trademark style of random, absurdist humour that fans know and love. ★★★★
With impeccable timing, landing and pace, stand-up comedian Matt Okine is worthy of an Olympic gold medal for his hilarious rags-to-riches tale. ★★★★½
Part musical theatre, part cabaret, The Executioners features satirical humour, an original score, lyrical wizardry and whimsical dance. And it’s brilliant. ★★★★½
‘Ross Noble is like an extreme extrovert on speed, providing a weird kind of escapism.’ ★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
The five accomplished dancers of Djuki Mala fuse traditional Yolngu dance with contemporary pop culture to create an hilarious, charming and high-energy mix that surpasses all expectations. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Performer and foodie Michelle Pearson serves up a hearty blend of comfort food, storytelling and singing in a MasterChef meets Australian Idol Fringe show. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
This show begins with multiple voices, all trying to help someone who’s disabled, who might not want to be helped, who might not be able to be helped: Have you tried hydrotherapy? Gluten-free? Are you getting enough sleep? Have you tried yoga? ★★★★
Wil Anderson’s new show Wilegal is basically the story of how he came to be arrested on a flight to Wagga Wagga in mid-2017. ★★★
Adelaide Fringe
The notorious Nazi doctor from Auschwitz who used Jewish prisoners for all manner of despicable experiments is questioned about his past after nearly drowning on a beach in Brazil in the sobering Fringe play Mengele. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Puzzle lovers rejoice – Escape Room Treasure Hunt has returned to Adelaide with its new room, The Bootlegger’s Dilemma. ★★★
The 360 All Stars wowed Fringe-goers last year and continue to do so again, but look closer at the Fringe guide and you’ll notice a couple of the All Stars have branched out with their own shows. ★★★★
Le Aerial takes on the challenge of high-flying acrobatics and dance, as it attempts to leave audiences in awe of our homegrown talent. ★★½
How did comedian Kitty Flanagan go with her 90-minute stab at sex, porn culture, relationships, internet advertising algorithms and porpoises? ★★★★½
Actress Maddie Rice balances humour and tragedy to great effect, leaving audiences shocked and enamoured by the hilariously honest and refreshingly risqué character Fleabag. ★★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
Is romance as we know it dead, asks Nikki Britton. How does the longing to be rescued by Prince Charming fit with strong, independent feminist ideals or the perils of dating apps? ★★★½
Darkly comic Fringe play Shell Shock gives insight into the nightmares that continue to plague soldiers when they return from a warzone. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
A one-woman stage comedy turned hit BBC TV series will make its Adelaide Fringe debut with a ‘horrific and incredibly charming anti-heroine’ taking centre-stage.
Adelaide Fringe
An intense, emotion-charged atmosphere is created in this experimental theatre show which explores the topic of immigration through the experiences of a pair of Middle Eastern women caught between two worlds. ★★★★
For many South Australians, the Ferris wheel brings back childhood memories of springtime rides at the show, but those recollections will be turned upside-down when the ride morphs into an 18+ speed-dating venue for Fringe.
The new Fringe show from the producers of Limbo, Cantina and Blanc de Blanc is a quirky and fun fusion of acrobatics, comedy, song and dance – complete with a large inflatable bouncy house. ★★★½
The jubilant moves and heartfelt passion of the Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir are infectious as the performers bring the music and spirit of South Africa to Adelaide Fringe. ★★★★
There’s never a dull moment in Rouge, a sexy, energetic and tongue-in-cheek Fringe ‘circus for grown-ups’, writes reviewer Anna Solding. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Oh, how I wanted to love this show by Cal Wilson, the feisty Kiwi with multi-coloured hair who has been adopted over the years by Australian comedic panel TV shows. ★★½
American teenager Eleanor survived World War II in Berlin. Now she’s returning to the US for the hardest year of her life – without her German mother and young siblings, but with the trauma that comes from years of war. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Stop sitting back and watching the Fringe festival happen around you – it’s time to step up and get interactive with ‘Escape from Wonderland’, writes Ali Moylan. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Loucas Loizou presents a striking and intimate retelling of the ancient Greek Oedipus myth in a one-man show being presented at the Adina Treasury Tunnels and other venues during Adelaide Fringe. ★★★
Children’s show Dinosaur Time Machine is a two-person, humorous performance in which hosts Paul and Kaz teach their audience about the mighty beasts that once ruled the world. ★★★★
Don’t think you’re afraid of the dark? You might change your tune after you experience the imaginative terror of ‘Séance’, writes Trista Coulter. ★★★★★
British playwright Henry Naylor’s new political play Borders shifts between poetry, humour and nail-biting action to smash through our mental borders, writes Alison Flett. ★★★★ ½
Knitting, whip cracking, roller-skating, whirling dervishes and a baptism are all part of the weird and whacky religious experience that is Cirque Alfonse’s Tabarnak. ★★★½
Part of a suite of three comedic plays being presented by actor, writer and ‘science communicator’ John Hinton, ‘Origin of Species’ is a thoroughly entertaining romp about Charles Darwin’s scientific discoveries, writes Jo Vabolis. ★★★★
This Fringe, at a little food stall outside the Exeter, you will be able to buy a $12 meal personally cooked by Orana and Blackwood chef Jock Zonfrillo.
A series of high-powered laser beams will transport South Australians from North Terrace to the North Pole as part of tonight’s Adelaide Fringe opening festivities.
Molly Taylor’s ‘Love Letters to the Public Transport System’ is an emotional and engaging hour of storytelling that reminds us to celebrate unexpected encounters and everyday experiences, writes reviewer Jo Vabolis. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
This year’s Adelaide Fringe has plenty of food and drink events to savour – from cocktail classes, to dining with bugs, comfort-food cabaret and a murder-mystery dinner. Some tasty new stalls and bars are also popping up in the outdoor hubs.
Malcolm Turnbull will be turning up in the Garden of Unearthly Delights over Adelaide Fringe. Well, not the actual Malcolm Turnbull but the actual comedian Lawrence Mooney, channelling the PM – with a few special guests.
Adelaide Fringe
Saltbush – Children’s Cheering Carpet has entertained kids around the world, but its co-creator says the interactive Adelaide Fringe experience also teaches parents a thing or two about Indigenous culture.
Adelaide Fringe
A Fringe experience that will have you talking for hours afterwards and might change the way you love. That’s what Red Bastard promises from ‘Lie With Me’, a show that has provoked surprising – sometimes shocking – revelations.
British playwright Henry Naylor returns to Adelaide Fringe this year with a new political drama inspired both by his experience meeting Kurdish refugees in Adelaide and witnessing the impact of the conflict in Afghanistan.
“Audience must know how to swim,” states the program listing for Wet Sounds. It’s an unusual requirement for a Fringe event, but this is an unusual show – a sound experience that transforms a public pool into an art space.
Around 6000 artists will converge for the 2018 Adelaide Fringe, with a record 1223 events ranging from the ever-popular circus-cabaret extravaganzas to shows with a political edge such as Trumpageddon and The Pauline Hanson Musical.
Adelaide Fringe hub Gluttony is set to grow again in 2018, with close to double the public space, three more tents, 45 more shows, and a much bigger food and drink offering.
