HOT: Art v Smart Casual, Trades Hall, Cnr Victoria and Lygon Sts, Carlton

Music. Comedy. Musical Comedy. The greatest art form of all.
That was the premise of the two man singing and dancing extravaganza, Art v Smart Casual. Actually, it was brothers Roger David and Fletcher Jones (the latter hilariously nicknamed ‘Ginger Claus’ by the former) donning checked shirts and jeans and cracking jokes, impersonating animal noises and [...]

HOT: Songs from the 86 Tram, Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne

Docklands and Bundoora. That’s a pretty big contrast. And perfect comedy material for a fringe festival hit from The Bedroom Philosopher, Songs from the 86 Tram.
The 86 is my home tram and I can tell you it’s a carriage of character compared to my former tram (No 8 to Toorak – homogenous and perfectly groomed). [...]

HOT: Metrosketchuals, Glasshouse Hotel, 51 Gipps St, Collingwood

Metrosketchual’s write-up described them as ‘the best live sketch show of the festival’ -The Pun. And despite my initial misgivings (out-of-the-way venue, never heard of them, offering me free tickets), the two guys (one of whom had an uncanny resemblance to comedian Jack Black, which gave them a head start already) delivered a hilarious show. [...]

HOT: She’s My Baby, Trades Hall, Cnr Victoria and Lygon Sts, Carlton

Opening night of She’s My Baby and it was a full house in the cosy Old Council Chambers of the Victorian Trades Hall. The intimate horseshoe shaped setting suited the show’s minimal staging – a frilly pink baby basket, comfy lounge chair and a wooden park bench.
She’s My Baby, debuting with the new production company Fifth [...]

HOT Alert: Week of 5 October

This week’s it’s all about Fringe, Fringe, Fringe:

Melbourne Fringe Festival #5 – Opening night of the drama She’s My Baby, billed as “Two Monologues, One Couple, Sixteen Years Apart” and showing at the Trades Hall on Tuesday 6 October;
Melbourne Fringe Festival #6 Comedy show 21 – ‘Cause you’ll only turn it once (probably a good thing) [...]

HOT: Who’s That Chik?, Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

Candy Bowers wanted all the critics to introduce their reviews by saying that Who’s That Chik? features ‘a girl in skin tight dance pants’. So if you’re expecting crisp white linen suits and the perfect diction of God of Carnage, you’re in the wrong theatre.
Candy B’s self-written, autobiographical show is billed as ’a hip hop tale [...]

HOT: Ridiculusmus Play Readings, La Mama, 205 Faraday St, Carlton

La Mama is an intimate one-room shoebox tucked away in Carlton, and it’s a terrible/wonderful theatre space. Terrible if you’re stuck with a boring show, as there’s nowhere to hide, snooze or make a hasty escape. Wonderful if you’re sharing the space with a witty, invigorating production, as the sense of intimacy really feels like [...]

HOT: Tale of the Golden Lease, Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melb

Melbourne Fringe Festival #3: Tale of the Golden Lease by four blokes in jeans, otherwise known as Vigilantelope.
While the rest of Melbourne was getting celebrating/commiserating over the grand final, I sat in a dark room at the Lithuanian Club and got transported to heaven, hell, the prehistoric era and a fish and chip shop. Tale of [...]

HOT: Arj Barker, Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne

Melbourne Fringe Festival #2: Arj Barker is a favourite act among Australian comedy audiences (helped no doubt by his role as Dave in Flight of the Conchords) so it makes sense that he would test out his new material on our friendly shores. So as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival he’s put together a [...]

NOT: Copernicus, Melbourne Planterium, Scienceworks 2 Booker St, Spotswood

Yes, it’s time for the wild and wacky Melbourne Fringe Festival again. After many years, my passably good to horrifically awful show-going ratio is sitting about 50-50. In the words of Forrest Gump ‘Fringe is like a box of chocolates . You never know what you’re gonna get’.
With Copernicus, what you get is a slumber-inducing [...]