Wilson is not only the playwright of Unsex Me, but also plays the role of “award-winning actress Mark Wilson” in this one(wo)man show. This bearded beauty discusses the life of a celebrity, her passion for acting and her new role: Lady Macbeth in her father’s upcoming rendition of the Scottish play.

If Shakespeare and RuPaul had a love child, Unsex Me’s opening would be it. Wilson begins the show with a well-polished lip sync to one of Lady Macbeth’s monologues. She does this while wearing an enormous get-up designed by Amaya Vecellio that combines high fashion with Scottish traditional wear. The show goes meta-theatrical when Wilson is thanked for performing and sits down to chat about her career.

If you’re a man, there’s an chance that you might be asked to join Wilson onstage to play her boyfriend ‘Guy’. The man sitting beside me was a little timid as he was selected. While it is amusing to see the interaction that might play out between these two characters as they emulate a domestic relationship on the fictional setting of “National TV,” it is unclear what we are truly laughing at. Are we laughing because they’re both men, or because the ‘female’ character is more dominant, or are we laughing because this poor guy is put on the spot?

Wilson does an excellent job of portraying the award-winning actress, however, it’s questionable whether Wilson’s work raises its laughs from socio-political satire or from the shock factor of all the things that could happen when a bearded man plays a woman. Masculine traits demonstrated in Wilson’s character are turned into punch-lines which arguably reinforce the gender stereotypes of how women should be.

The show’s epilogue is juxtaposed against the contemporary drag act that takes place before it. Lines between Wilson, the actor and playwright, Wilson, the award-winning actress, and Lady Macbeth are blurred in a dense commentary on philosophy, art theory, suicide and more.

Details: This production is marketed to 18+ audiences only, and that’s something that should be actively followed. From the basics of striptease and nudity, to crude humour, to an elongated and simulated sex scene between Wilson and a microphone; Unsex Me is not something for children – or the faint-hearted. It was performed at Smith’s Alternative Bookshop on Tuesday & Friday March 18 & 21, 2014.

Image by Erica Hurrell

Devised by Nathan Harrison and Jake Pember, The Mayfly Project is a delicate performance work currently showing at Smith’s Alternative Bookshop as part of You Are Here. A combination of lecture, forum and theatrical storytelling, The Mayfly Project encourages audiences to think big about environmental sustainability and the ways to achieve it.

Harrison and Pember begin by introducing the character of Alex, a young mayfly who has just entered adulthood. Alex has a lifespan of 45 minutes. Harrison and Pember then introduce two clocks, (the closest thing to a set that the performance has):

Clock #1: a projection of an analog clock is shown on the ceiling indicating the time.

Clock #2: a projection of the map of Canberra on the side wall that indicates the furthest you could travel using Canberra’s public transport in the time remaining during the production (which coincides with when Alex the mayfly will die). The area shrinks slowly as the minutes go by.

While the clocks are enchanting, they lose their appeal when audience members have to crane their necks to the ceiling and side wall every time they are referred to throughout the performance.

Staged with minimal lighting and sound, Harrison and Pember manage to craft a simple yet remarkable sensory experience. The audience are asked to close their eyes, count to a minute and then open them again. Harrison and Pember take us into a trance. This simple action skews all sense of time, with some audience members keeping their eyes closed until near the two minute mark.

The duo spend the next twenty minutes talking about time itself. They bring up examples such as John Cage’s As Slow as Possible and tell tales of other characters named Alex, this time human, each living lives of different lengths. Then, with 25 minutes remaining until Alex the mayfly retires to her death bed, the two put forward a thought-provoking question: “Are we being good ancestors?”

The performance lecture ends and Smith’s Alternative soon becomes a forum on sustainability. Deep philosophical thoughts pour out of the mouths of well-groomed girls and bearded hipsters, but those with softer voices go unheard over the operational sounds of the venue’s kitchen.

While the performance ended 20 minutes in, I was compelled to stay for the 45 minute life cycle of the mayfly, despite my personal disengagement from the forum.

Details: In just under an hour, Harrison and Pember do well at creating a meditative space, skewing all sense of time to the best of their ability in a cosy and creative venue like Smith’s Alternative. If free didactic performance is your style, I recommend checking out The Mayfly Project at 8:30pm Friday 21 March before its Canberra life cycle comes to a close.

Bio: Coleman Grehan is a freelance theatre artist and music composer currently residing in Canberra, Australia. Born in Singapore and raised in Brisbane, he graduated from Queensland Academy for Creative Industries in 2012 and recently graduated from an internship with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre in 2013. He currently is studying a Bachelor of International Relations/Bachelor of Arts at Australian National University. Coleman is currently devising a butoh/live-art piece entitled “HIM” to take up to Brisbane as part of Anywhere Theatre Festival 2014.

Image by Rachel Roberts

Cut Snake, written by Amelia Evans and Dan Giovannoni, follows the lives of the craziest trio you’ll ever meet; there’s Kiki (Catherine Davies), a cabaret performer who wants to dance the tango with a bearded lady on Mount Kilimanjaro, Jumper (Kevin Kiernan-Molloy), a young man in love with a snake, and Bob (Julia Billington), the brainiac who figures out the answer to the million dollar question. Arthur Productions have crafted a wondrous, absurd comedy that still presents a touching coming-of-age narrative.

This quirky hour-long play, presented in partnership with Canberra Youth Theatre (CYT) and Gorman House Arts Centre (GHAC) was performed in CYT’s home studio, C Block Theatre. The blanket fort-like set, together with the intimate small capacity venue exuded a warm and cosy feel. Audience members were offered the opportunity to sit either on the stalls or on a pillow on the floor. As a new arrival to Canberra, this was the first production I’d seen in C Block Theatre, and I was a little disappointed to see how many seats in the stalls had a railing obstructing the view of the stage. Take note: the seats with the best views were at the front or to the very sides of the stalls.

Cut Snake made up for its ‘vanilla-flavoured’ (with the exception of a remarkable scene involving cigarette lighters) sound and lighting design with some serious talent. These actors are also dancers, acrobats, musicians, budding puppeteers and much more. These exemplary performers managed to show a wide variety of talent without the event becoming a variety show. However, Billington, playing Bob, stole the stage with her versatile character work and charismatic stage presence.

Director and devisor Paige Rattray managed to balance comedy with the more poignant moments of the show almost seamlessly. The audience was drawn in from the moment the house lights went down, responding willingly to Kiernan-Molloy’s order to applaud at the beginning of the show.

As well as being a highly entertaining show, Cut Snake thrives on its well crafted narrative. Evans and Giovannoni create a series of strong motifs that reappear throughout the play ever so subtly. Once you leave the theatre, you’ll begin to piece together seemingly absurd scenes and realise that there’s much more to the show than you realised.

Details: Cut Snake was performed at the Gorman House Arts Centre, C Block Theatre, on the 13th and 14th of March, 2014. Unlike many events at You Are Here Festival 2014, it came with a cost but for the mere price of $20, this production was well worth the value.

Bio: Coleman Grehan is a freelance theatre artist and music composer currently residing in Canberra, Australia. Born in Singapore and raised in Brisbane, he graduated from Queensland Academy for Creative Industries in 2012 and recently graduated from an internship with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre in 2013. He currently is studying a Bachelor of International Relations/Bachelor of Arts at Australian National University. Coleman is currently devising a butoh/live-art piece entitled “HIM” to take up to Brisbane as part of Anywhere Theatre Festival 2014.

Image by Arthur Productions