@olivercoleman is the guest host on today’s #smartArts on @3rrrfm . I’m listening right now! We’ll chat about #melbournetheatre at 11.30. #communityradio and #indiemedia continue to rock so much.
ALF ALPHA’S COCKTAIL HOUR
@thealfalpha@grouse.melbourne
My final #micf show was a perfect Melbourne Independent Celebratory Feminist afternoon, with vulvatails.
I first saw Alf Alpha at #melbfringe and was excited to see how the show has developed.
Being a cis bloke, with world’s best tight black and orange 2-piece suit, Alf thinks he can save queer spaces by opening his own lesbian bar - but the lesbians question what the fuck he thinks he’s doing.
Come for the drag and fancy drinks (omg, such amazing clittails), but this is show about the importance of protecting queer spaces and sharing the importance of safe, welcoming spaces. It starts as a question about what’s happened to all the lesbian bars in Melbourne (oh, capitalism, demand and rent) and ends celebrating a safe queer coffee shop that opened in Swanston Street in the 1950s.
Alf’s realisation that maybe he’s not the fruity saviour he thinks he sneaks up on the audience as we also realise that Alf’s space isn’t safe.
#melbournetheatre
#dragkings
WORK IN PROGRESS
Daniel Kitson
#micf ended for me with ticket karma as one ticket was returned for Kitson’s matinee, which had been sold out for ages.
He doesn’t do media and I love that.
HERO COMPLEX
@sammyjcomedian
See #indiecomedy in this last #micf weekend, take a chance on someone you don’t know, but fit them around ‘HERO COMPLEX’.
I first saw SJ 18 years ago & my review was embarrassingly condescending; I keep it to show new writers how NOT to write. I saw him again that year & became a fan. I’ve been a massive fan of his comedy, theatre, tv & radio (that I only ever was awake for the last bit of) ever since. His writing is astute & political, while always being welcoming & generous.
I saw this show in 2016. It was so damn good, but this version is extraordinary. It’s storytelling genius that keeps the audience besotted.
I don’t want to ruin a moment of it, but you saw it last time … well, things have hotted up in 10 years.
#melbournetheatre
MEL MCGLENSEY IS NORMAL
@melmcglensey
Oh, to be normal.
Normal is acceptable and might even be the way to get a spot on the festival gala.
Maybe combining clowning with live electronic gaming is normal.
Of course audience participation is normal. (Yes, you will want to be chosen.)
So why not let the audience choose what is normal?
Surely this exceptional normalness – and superb tits – will get Mel on the show that goes on the telly.
See #indiecomedy shows. See people who question the snore ideas that normal is something we can quantify, let alone aspire to.
It's also directed by @sharnema_nougar , who is directing some amazing #MICF (Melbourne Independent Celebratory Feminist) shows this festival.
See the total MICFs. Be a MICF.And don't fuck anyone who says you should be more normal.
#MelbourneTheatre
FEMINIST TRASH
@sugarbitscomedy@themotleybauhaus
Toss me in the bin without a thought of recycling because I really really love this trash.
I’m at the very tired (and at home to sleep) end of the festival, but my absolute recommendation for the last push is FEMINIST TRASH.
Stephanie, Nicola and Tess (directed by @sharnema_nougar ) epitomise #micf: Melbourne Independent Celebratory Feminist.
Dressed in black leotards (more onesies) and lace up comfy shoes, they pirouette in the squishy bits at the bottom of the bin to explore why feminism is still talked about as being ick. Why do women question other women? Why are we thought of as feminist failures if we need or ask for help? Why are our bodies still our only value and seen as gross?
Their clowning and sketch is as original as it is profound and ridiculously silly.
And “The feminism left my body when …” is my favourite song of the festival.
See #indiecomedy in the last week. The big shows are great, but taking chances on emerging and new work is how you get the bragging rights of “I saw them when …”
#melbournetheatre
SPARE A THOUGHT FOR JANA WENT
@lamamatheatre
This isn't in #Micf, but it's damn funny.
Three middle-aged school friends meet at an expensive airBnB for a weekend of drinking and indulging, but the power goes out and there are noises in the attic.
I was there from the first "It's from the op shop" to "Not the Bowen Estate".
Confronting privilege or luck or hard work and all those things we say we'll never do as we age, it's every weekend, every coffee, every lunch, every everything I've done with old school friends.
Such exciting new writing that speaks so directly to its audience that it's hard not to take it personally. I hope to see it on bigger stages very soon.
And three of the best performances of the year.
#melbournetheatre
B48Y CRASH LANDS ON EARTH!
@lukas.mainkeys@themotleybauhaus@skint.producing
I love seeing a #Micf show I know nothing about and getting totally drawn into the world and the character.
An alien crash lands at The Peel and wants to learn how to be as fine as RuPaul, with help from the audience and perfect props made from cardboard and foil.
Drag is so much more than a wig and heels. It's about identity and how we are seen by our community, family and strangers – who rarely see the same person. Never say a yellow onesie and a purple Muppet fur isn't fine!
Its bigger story, about queer identity and acceptance from the ones who are meant to love you, creeps up and unexpectedly hits in the feels.
PS. Too tired for a selfie.
Took the night off from #micf and #melbournetheatre to join every other middle-aged hipster in town to stay up way past our bed times and be 90s rock chicks with @regurgitators
