Presented by Jessie Gordon

The Ellington Jazz Club

Review by Jen Perry

Jessie Gordon saunters on stage and promises, pink cocktail in hand, that at some point during the show we were going to feel gross. She wasn’t lying.

Ronan Chapple revved on the piano as the showbegan with a Fats Waller classic “Honeysuckle Rose”. Gordon’s smooth delivery and emphasis had us in stitches as we began to open our mind to all the filthy innuendo that lay in wait. The next tune depicted a woman’s newfound love of spinach – or does it? In case you’re wondering, there are enough dirty jazz songs about food to write a book (or show) on.

Gordon explains that the golden era of swing, or the ’30s to ’50s, is evocative to some as a simpler, purer time. When men were men and women were women, and a cup of sugar was nothing more than a cup of sugar. It quickly becomes apparent that this nostalgic resonance is nothing more than a lie we tell ourselves; and if our grandparents were listening to this dirty jazz, they have some explaining to do.

Chapple wows on piano, keeping perfect time with Jessie’s interludes of dialogue. The show’s crowning glory involved a particularly satisfying bout of audience interaction, wherein we all fill in the blanks of a song for Gordon to perform. The end product culminates in a number that is so dirty, I daren’t write the title. Suffice to say, Gordon delivers in spades.

Another highlight is Gordon’s on-the-nose rendition of Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”. Slowing down the verses and accentuating the lyrics proves that filthiness comes in many forms.

If dirtiness is indeed a state of mind, Dirty Jazz proves that this is a psychological plane we should all visit a bit more often.

Dirty Jazz runs at The Ellington Jazz Club until February 12^th. 

Presented by Mo Productions

The Ellington Jazz Club

Review by Jen Perry

Sit back, relax and let the home-grown Anatomically Incorrect Gentlemen to sing you a song. Whether it’s about heartbreak in Balcatta, a spoken word version of “Macho Man” or the clichéd manhood blues, Libby Hammer and Jessie Gordon have cornered the market on what it takes to be a “real man”.

They stumble on stage at the Ellington, drinks in hand, top hats donned and moustaches firmly glued on their stiff upper lips. They are Charles Winston Spaffington Esq, and Henry James Spifford the Third, both from substantially manly lineages predisposed to repurposing family names and smart dress.

Real Men is a welcome break from the frantic Fringe program, full of glitter, acrobatics and so much visual stimulation that your eyes threaten to give out. This is a show for those who like their entertainment a bit more stripped back.

While the Ellington wasn’t bursting at the seams during the performance, the audience was committed and clearly hung on Gordon and Hammer’s every word. Their banter, sometimes incidental to the action but always enjoyable, filled the room with laughter and appreciative whistles. In fact, everyone was having such a good time that the show ran over.

Real Men is the kind of show that replicates the kind of cultural commentary we all know, love and occasionally feature in our social media feeds. Gordon and Hammer are fantastic guides throughout this process, making us feel like old friends who’ve all happened to sit down for dinner and a show. They’ve given us exactly what we want for this performance, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with for next year.

Real Men runs for one final show, February 12 at The Ellington Jazz Club. Tickets available here. 

Presented by Dave Callan

The Gold Digger 

Review by Jen Perry

We love watching people dance. Even more than that, we love watching YouTube videos of people dancing to humorous Benny Hill overlays. Melbourne-based Irish comedian Dave Callan understands this, and has brought A Little Less Conversation 2: A Little More Less Conversation back to The Gold Digger at the State Theatre Centre Complex.

Known for his years on Rove Live, as Triple J host and Spicks and Specks guest, Dave’s shaggy-haired face will be a familiar sight to most audiences. Other sights will be less familiar.

There were shimmies (a personal highlight), Shakira-esque belly dancing and of course, twerking. Dave and his supremely talented backup dancers jittered, twittered and sashayed backwards through the alphabet, giving us the most notable dance moves of the last century. These dances and occasional onscreen videos were interspersed with stand-up. Dave spent his teenage years in Perth and made the obligatory ‘Northbridge-is-awful-at-night’ joke to a delightful riff on the Spud Shed.

Everyone around me was uproarious with laughter, seemingly never tiring of Callan’s fully committed yet slightly unenthused style of dancing. A man who successfully impersonates the infamous “Jingle Bell Rock” scene in Mean Girls deserves some credit.

I found myself, however, wanting more from the performance. It was pleasant, and at times I was laughing along with everyone else; but even the topical references were dated.

Undoubtedly the most inspired moment of the show included two audience members, one of whom was Dave’s own brother. Dave instructed the two men in the ways of twerking. This culminated in a heat-of-the-moment inverted vertical twerk that proved, more than anything else, I never want to be chosen for audience participation at a Fringe show.

If you went to see A Little Less Conversation last Fringe season, you’ll know what to expect this time around. I hope that with next year’s iteration, Dave gives us a little less dancing and a little more conversation.

You can see A Little Less Conversation 2 until February 13th at The Gold Digger.

Jessie Gordon

Interview by Jen Perry

Jessie Gordon may be the hardest-working woman at Fringe World this year. Performing in no less than eight shows, her material covers everything from G-rated 1930s standards to a raunchy dissection of jazz and blues in her shows Dirty Blues: The Sinning Edition and Dirty Jazz.

You may ask how jazz could be dirty – but after our conversation, I have no doubt she has plenty of material to work from. Jessie gave me a preview of Fats Waller’s song “Honeysuckle Rose” and the double entendres referencing food and what I’ll refer to as other tasty morsels, well, they’re something I’ll leave to your imagination. She also assured me there are a couple of extremely filthy songs on offer. So filthy, in fact, we didn’t even talk about them. Some discussions are better left for jazz clubs, with dimmed lighting and a whisky in hand.

Inspired by her roots (her father is from the Deep South of America), Jessie grew up listening to American gospel from the 1940s and ’50s. She loves just about anything with swings, vocal harmonies or interesting instrumentation.

When asked what’s behind the current love of jazz and blues, with reference to the growing scene within Perth, Jessie avows “good popular music doesn’t ever go away.” While there are those who enjoy the nostalgia and ‘vintage experience’ of this period, there are just as many fans of jazz as an early American folk art form. Jessie explains that jazz incorporates “so many different things to so many different people”; its appeal is boundless.

The uniqueness of Fringe World to connect with new audiences also excites Jessie. Throughout February the city is thrumming with good vibes and rife with opportunities to see all types of performances; some that may be “life changing.” She cites comedian Ben Darsow as one of them, whose inclusive and good-natured eponymous show inspired a reflection of her own performance style. She believes Ben’s funny and warm brand of judgement-free audience participation as an increasingly valuable trait to have as a performer, and strives to reproduce it in her own acts.

Jessie is also staring in Real Men with fellow jazz stalwart Libby Hammer. Described as a “gentle lampooning of gender dynamics”, the two women bring laughs, banter and ukuleles to the Ellington Jazz Club for this new show, tackling silly and light-hearted vintage versions of songs as their moniker, the Anatomically Incorrect Gentlemen.

With every coming year, the Fringe World Festival continues to grow and expand, bringing new and exciting international acts to our sunny shores. But it also serves as an important vehicle in promoting our own local talent and performers. After all, when the dust has settled it is the hardworking local acts like Jessie Gordon that remain the beating heart of Fringe World and keep us our arts palate satiated until the new summer rolls in.

You can see Jessie Gordon in Real Men at the Ellington Jazz Club from February 10-12, Dirty Jazz on the same dates and location and Dirty Blues from February 17-21 at the De Parel Spiegeltent. She’ll also be performing with The Darling Buds of May in The Swing Revue from February 13- 17 and the Cottontail Trio from the February 18-21.  

Frisky and Mannish

Interview by Jen Perry

Frisky (Laura Corcoran) and Mannish (Matthew Floyd Jones) are Perth Fringe World institutions. Performing at the pilot festival in 2011, Frisky and Mannish have returned nearly every year since. Known for their brilliantly witty takes on Top 40 Hits and audience instructionals on how to be pop stars, Laura delivers searing vocals as Matthew provides harmony and plays keyboard. This year the pair have debuted a new kind of show with Frisky and Mannish: CabaRIOT, which comes across as more politically pointed and rage-filled than earlier runs.

Matthew admits their shows have become a community “gateway” to Fringe; perfect for punters who are yet to dip their toes into the riskier fare on offer. An offering of highly infectious, satirical pop music provides a warm welcome to cabaret specifically, and the diversity of Fringe World at large. CabaRIOT, however, arrives on Perth shores with something more important to say.

Both Laura and Matthew agree CabaRIOT is their artistic reaction to the worldwide onslaught of misery and general bad news. As they found themselves more ardently discussing impoverishment in UK housing developments than pop music mash-ups, they decided to craft a show that tackles everything from feminism and refugees to the accepted language around gender and sexual difference.

At first, they were anxious that in bringing this politically charged material to the stage, some audience members might feel alienated. So far, Laura has found the opposite to be true, while Matthew wonders whether they’re “preaching to the converted.”

The duo have a knack for creating comedy from stark and oftentimes disheartening subject matters. At one stage in their act, they demarcate the audience into three categories based on where they’re sitting: best, rest and scum. The implications go further when two audience members are forcibly removed from their seats and marooned. It was important to the performers that the language of this skit clearly stated “refugee” and that any allusions to the plight of millions be referenced as boldly as possible. Speaking to an Australian audience with a recent High Court decision looming over its collective conscience, the message will certainly be received.

Frisky and Mannish’s act works so well because despite this emphasis on rage and discontent, they manage to find the “positive angle.” They turn our hypothetical rage screams into full-on belly laughs. Here’s hoping they continue to engage and inspire us for future Fringe seasons to come.

Frisky and Mannish: CabaRIOT runs until Tuesday February 9th at The West Australian Spiegeltent in The Pleasure Garden. After that, they’re both off to Hong Kong for a few shows before Laura returns to Perth to reprise her role in La Soirée.

Presented by Sharon Burgess Productions

The West Australian Spiegeltent, The Pleasure Garden

Review by Jen Perry

Frisky and Mannish are starting a riot. Or rather, a CabaRIOT – and you’re invited. Cabariots, or acts of defiance against the status quo, are at the heart of this gold-star performance by world-celebrated British comedy cabaret double act. Decidedly more politically edgy than their previous Fringe World shows, performers Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones return to Perth in 2016 to round on things that enrage them – doing it all with panache, cheek and heavy-on make-up.

Frisky and Mannish are effervescent in their stage presence. Calling out injustice through mash-ups of popular songs, they tie in the quest for women’s rights with the search for the perfect women’s anthem, with Frisky belting out everything from Meghan Trainor’s “All about the Bass” to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”. Mannish meanwhile shoots every one of her suggestions down, rightly pointing out the problematic aspects of each hit.

Across the breadth of their show their satire hit home for the WA crowds – but no more so than in their defence of those who oppose marriage equality. The pair evidently shine when they find that balance between “common sense” and risqué political commentary.

The show is also lightly peppered by guest performances. Aurora Galore and her dazzling striptease-cum-fire-dancing sequence makes one of them, and a strangely sweet, brazen yet thoughtful routine by Adrienne Truscott another. While CabaRIOT did have a consistent thematic narrative, one foible to be found was the lack of general banter between Frisky and Mannish onstage. With a chemistry at once natural, playful and joyous, I would have happily sat another hour to witness them on a Wednesday evening.

CabaRIOT is an impressive feat of wit, politics and a finely-crafted call-to-action. If you like your cabaret with glitter, anarchy and sass, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better show this Fringe.

You can see Frisky and Mannish: CabaRIOT at The West Australian Spiegeltent in the Pleasure Garden until Tuesday, February 9^th. Tickets available here.

The Gelo Company

January 30 2016

Review by Jen Perry

Self-proclaimed Famous Sharron is “very, very famous for nothing at all.” Yet her show, consisting of a 50-minute diatribe involving various audience participations and PowerPoint slides, is an attempt to prove otherwise. With a selfie stick in hand and sequined gown in tow, Famous Sharron is famous because she wants to be.

The stage is flanked by two cardboard cut-outs of “Shaz’s” face, alternately winking and smiling. As she makes her entrance, the opening song is played just slightly too long and a voiceover proclaims the “self-correlated Princess of Perth” to the stage. The people around me smile and clap as she makes jokes about Troy Buswell, living in Balga, and intimidating Kim Kardashian. She has appeal, but the show itself lacks continuity or a thread of focus to exploit this.

The biggest laugh of the show came not from Sharron but a ‘picked-on’ audience member, who was tasked with reading out an ordinary text message in a sexy, sexy voice. Another highlight involved a Sia-like rendition of ‘Chandelier’ with a mini Shaz performing back flips and tumbles around stage as Sharron followed suit, in an albeit less coordinated fashion. While these moments were exciting, if not entirely ground-breaking, the rest of the performance rang at once too rehearsed and too unpolished.

Shaz has the spark and joie de vivre of Dame Edna, but lacks Barry Humphries’ comedic punch. I was left logically dissecting her one-liners, understanding that intellectually they had possibility for a laugh, but still lacked that ‘special touch’. To be fair, this might have been due to the Perth-centric nature of her show. As a Perth transplant, I perhaps wasn’t the audience Sharon was performing to when she asked if anyone was from a less desirable suburb, or other jokes calculated to appeal to specifically local knowledge and humour.

Regardless, a more coherent story to her performance would have elevated the baseline joy she so clearly brings to the people around her. Sharron has some way to go yet to achieve the “Dame Edna Kardashian” fame she’s going for.

You can see Famous Sharron: Fame Factor at Teatro 2 in the Pleasure Garden until Monday, February 1^st. Tickets available here.