The Producers – Tulpa Magazine

Ethan Andrews: The Youngest I Am Ever Going To Be

In a small room at The Producers (appropriately named “the Niche”) that couldn’t be much more than 5 metres square, and seat forty people at a squishy maximum, Ethan Andrews delivered a performance that was worthy of a venue many more times the size. Despite this show being his debut at the Adelaide Fringe, he still managed to draw a large and diverse audience, and have everyone chuckling for the full 45-minute show.

Opening with a few prods at the hopeless nature of New Year’s resolutions — and the existential crises that arise from Golden Gaytimes every first few months of the year — Ethan then moved on to growing up in a town called Singleton, a rural mining community that lives up to its name by having one of the highest ratios of men to women in Australia. With guidance from a questionable self-help book, Ethan decides to follow four steps to find his happiness: leave, stay, do nothing, and accept it. Using these key “steps” he finds himself on the opposite side of the world, in another mining community; let down by the Hemsworth brothers; and single in Singleton wondering why he took the advice of a one-cent self-help book.

This show had everybody in the room laughing from the get-go, and captures why Ethan deserves to be the recipient of NSW’s Young Regional Artist Scholarship, instead of the government giving the money to a “country hospital that doesn’t have enough beds.” If you see one comedy show this season, I strongly recommend this be it.

Words by Kirsty van der Veer

4½ stars

Ethan Andrews: The Youngest I Am Ever Going to Be is playing at the Niche at The Producers on March 11. Tickets available here.

Aidan Jones: The Abersham Flat

One of the things stand up does best compared to other styles of performance is presenting an anecdote or true story in a way that feels so much more genuine. You really believe the outrageous and larger than life story being weaved before you. This is something Aidan Jones excels in his show, The Abersham Flat.

Here we follow his adventures doing what many of us only fanaticise about, moving to England to follow your dreams (in stand up) and ending up in a dodgy London flat. Here Aidan must deal with a particularly difficult roommate, conman and all-round-weird guy, Andy. This story is interweaved with other anecdotes from Aidan’s life, including the story about meeting his biological father, and a very complex STI scare.

What results in a highly compelling and hilarious journey that truly takes you on a real rollercoaster of mostly highs. It’s clear from his stage presence and performance that Aidan is no stranger to the stage. His light, self-deprecating style, and willingness to turn such personal and sometimes embarrassing stories leaves a sense of raw vulnerability which sucks you in.

Definitely a talent to look out for, check out Aidan Jones: The Abersham Flat.

Words by Simone Corletto

4 stars.

Aidan Jones: The Abersham Flat is playing at the Nook at The Producers until March 18 (excluding Mondays). Tickets available here.

In Conversation with: BAD [w]OMEN

After a tremendous performance of BAD [w]OMEN: Mirrors, Tulpa wanted to get in contact with BAD [w]OMEN’s Jennie Hall to have a chat and find out how their show came to be.

Why the Adelaide Fringe as a place for your show?

We love the Adelaide Fringe – two of us have worked as staff here for the last few years and it’s such a unique and exciting festival. Given our history working for the festival too, we felt like we understood its dynamic and had enough good people behind us here. It’s also not quite as intimidating as Edinburgh in terms of a place to debut a show, so it was a no brainer!

How did the show originate? All three of you? A conversation? Did you seek out other collaborators after the original idea?

We all separately wanted to do a show, and then one drunken night at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, we just committed to it together. The group has always been just us three – we all had such a similar idea about what we wanted the show to be, and Chloe and Rosie had previously done comedy together, so it seemed perfect!

What’s the deal with the silver morphsuits? It’s an Adelaide summer!

Yeah look, we didn’t think that one through properly – haha! There’s a couple of reasons. The show is called Mirrors because we hope that audiences see something of themselves or a world they recognise in our satire, so getting reflective suits was a fun way to visualise that. Also it’s important to us to have a brand and visibility. A lot of people stop us and ask what we’re doing, or say they’ve seen us around and it’s because we’re recognisable.

Why should people come to see your show? What sets it apart?

Our show is a sketch show with a twist – it’s an attempt at something new, and at making something that sends a message without being preachy. We’re massive on taking the piss out of people to take away the power they hold and I think that’s quite unique in terms of a Fringe show. Also there’s party poppers, glitter and amazing tunes!!

If you could go back in time, what would you tell/warn yourselves of, in the making of the show?

Potentially get more breathable costumes!! Honestly think if we could go back in time, we’d maybe actually give ourselves a little more time. Doing a season with a brand new show is always hard, and inevitably it gets really intense. We’d probably tell ourselves to just give ourselves a break a little bit more – rest, spend time alone, eat well and try and stay healthy mentally and physically!

Interview by Liam McNally.

Thanks to Jennie Hall and the BAD [w]OMEN team.

BAD [w]OMEN: Mirrors

You know what takes dedication? Wearing a silver latex jumpsuit outdoors on a sticky Adelaide evening. The ladies of BAD w[OMEN] had no trouble running, jumping, dancing and beating one another up with plastic baseball bats in their silver outfits, even with the humidity bearing down on us like a musty cave bear.

BAD w[OMEN] has all the trademarks of a standard sketch show – from handmade props and costumes to slapstick and easily recognisable archetypes of characters for each scene. But this show also went beyond the standard – tying all the seemingly unrelated sketches together into an insanely interconnected storyline.

What’s more, sketch by sketch the audience was exposed to a strong underlying theme of feminism and women’s struggles against workplace sexism – dished out left, right and centre by the recurring voice-over of sketch-show boss and first-class sleaze-bag ‘Dave’. The show tackled the really meaty issues of women’s day-to-day struggles through punchy and provoking humour that never felt preachy yet stuck with us well after the show was finished. This was definitely more than a run-of-the-mill sketch show. This was something more ambitious, and more satisfying to watch. It was comedy with substance – and that’s always something worth sticking around for.

This is a show that gets the audience engaged with the characters of the story – something which is unusual for a sketch show but which played out triumphantly for BAD w[OMEN]. With each passing scene the audience found themselves wondering what would happen to our Spanish lesson heroine Maria, or the book club of bubbly-guzzling newly-minted feminists. And when we weren’t seeing the strings of these stories come together we were treated to some sensual Fringe box-office service, an intense Harry Potter rendition and the antics of the Producers’ own resident ghost.

Over-the-top, sharp, timely and non-stop funny, this show is a must-see for lovers of comedy and people looking for something rather different yet oddly familiar to sink their teeth into. It’s comedy with heart and balls (the lady kind). In BAD w[OMEN]’s own words, ‘join us as we tackle the big stuff. And the small stuff. Because when you take the piss, you take the power.’

Words by Lisandra Linde

4.5 Stars.

BAD [w]OMEN is playing at The Producers until March 2 (except Mondays). Tickets are available here.