Eeeek it’s really only a week to go! Less, actually – and it’s been amazing, regardless of the shit things that happened over the weekend (one thing really, that we’ll get to later). First up, I’ve been lucky enough to see ten more Fringe shows since I last posted and one completely obscure Festival experience so, without further ado, here are my latest thoughts and musings on the shows I’ve seen. Oh and hey, while you’re at it you can read part one of my experience here!

SHOWS:

25) Pop Pop – Penny Greenhalgh -This was a totally fun and interesting show to experience. I embarked on this adventure alone (the first show I’ve seen by myself this season!) and it was definitely worth it! A little bit absurd, with plenty of laughs, watching the show was like going on a little adventure! There was a guy sitting in the second row who drove me nuts though (and I don’t think I was alone) – he was just generally being pesky and heckling but Penny was an absolute pro and took it all in her stride!

26) First World Problems – Lewis Garnham and Nicholas Huntley – so this is kinda awkward to say but this show was absolutely terrible. It was the worst hour of ‘comedy’ (if you could call it that) that I have ever had to sit though – and I once had to see a show in which two women danced to pop music while pouring red paint over themselves to symbolize the sexualisation of young women in music videos. Yes, this show was worse than a badly made feminist political statement. Nahhhhh I’m just kidding. These two guys are really funny and had great connection with the crowd – working the room like they’d been doing this for years, coming to see this show was definitely a good choice.

27) 2 States of Lauren Bok and Bridget Fahey – Woo! Love it – ladies doing comedy that is hilarious regardless of the content, however when taking into account the content – it gets even better – what?! Yeah that might not make sense but what I mean is, I love the fact that they weren’t afraid to make jokes about female specific situations – pap smear anyone (no, I’m not offering, I’m just making a point). It’s true – we’re bombarded with dick jokes day in, day out but as soon as a vag joke pops up the world seems to have a mini heart attack – chill the fuck out and have a few fucking laughs with these brilliant ladies!

28) (NOT REALLY A FRINGE SHOW ACTUALLY A FESTIVAL SHOW!!!) Vampillia – So this is a show that I chose to review because this time of year is all about ‘experiencing something different’ – and different it was! Here’s the link to the review – but basically I’d been walking around all week saying ‘yeah, I’m going to see a Japanese punk band!’ – because that’s how the guide described it. They definitely weren’t what I’d describe as ‘punk’ – more like hard core and my highlight of the show was the lady in the mustard yellow crochet poncho rocking out harder than any long haired, black t-shirted burly bloke in the venue. A truly ‘different’ experience indeed!

29) Set List – I can’t believe it took me until the end of week three to get here! Stand up comedians being challenged by surprise topics – what could go wrong?! This is a show seems like it could really define a comedian and allows those with talent to really shine – Wil Anderson was an absolute highlight of the show and his effortless comfort on the stage with whatever was thrown at him was something to aspire to.

30) Maestro National Final – The national final of the impro format of Maestro was fun for audience members and the actors alike. Although I only stayed for the first hour and a half, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing!

31) The Comedy Ashes – Based on some cricketing thingy (apparently) the format for this show saw four Aussie comedians face off against four from the UK. All devastatingly hilarious, my face was aching at the close of the show.

32) Vanity Bites Back – ouch, this one hurt. Starting off super fun and seemingly light, this show grew to be heavy, hard hitting but ultimately memorable and brilliant. Helen Duff is a truly talented individual whose ability to make the audience feel, to take them on a journey is absolutely amazing. Tackling the tough issue of the silence surrounding anorexia, this show is so powerful – just have the tissues handy!

33) This is Not a Love Song – A sweet yet memorable piece of theatre, with some great songs thrown in there for good measure. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and have been recommending it to people ever since. The humour was subtle and lovely and the emotions were raw and realistic.

34) Lunatics Beer Garden – Shambolic but once again a great way to top off the night! 35) Sarah Benetto’s Funeral – Sarah is gorgeous, a brilliant, energetic and bubbly performer! Once again, another lady whose connection with the audience was flawless, she zipped through a number of fun characters and shared with the audience her own personal hope for her own funeral. Not necessarily the most obvious content for an hour of humour, it just goes to show that laughs can be found in the most curious of places! PHEW! A few less shows to share than last time so I took a few more words to summarise them! I’ve been having an absolute blast!

EXPERIENCES:

I guess I’ve got two experiences of note to share from the last few weeks – one good, one completely terrible. Let’s start with the terrible (and possibly a bit of a #firstworldproblem…)

Walking to the Fringe Club, 1.30am and I stepped one foot in ankle deep mud. Worse, I was wearing my favourite shoes – a pair of Toms (gorgeous little material beasts), so definitely not the kind of shoes that you can just ‘wash’ clean. Tipping a bottle of water on my foot did little to help – so that was that, it was time to squelch home, one foot disgustingly mud covered. I like to think everything happens for a reason – like I needed to go home and get some sleep – plus, as I was walking home I witnessed a drunk woman with washed out green hair holding a lanky, waifish guy with a look of absolute fear on his face against the wall of The Stag and trying to make out with him. I say ‘trying’ as she had pretty bad aim. She was almost making out with the wall. Maybe I should have stepped in? But I don’t think I would have stood a chance against her… The good thing? I had an awesome morning today attending a musical improv workshop – oh and I managed to get most of the mud out of my shoe – thank god for Nappisan!