Get set to binge on the Fringe

For ten glorious days Nelson will be buzzing with theatre, comedy, improvisation, dance, music and puppetry. Nelsonians will be able to see an eclectic mix of regional, national and international acts as part of this years Nelson Fringe Festival. Judene Edgar takes a look at the line up.

The Nelson Fringe Festival is back, bringing Nelson the new, the unique, the unexpected, and the experimental. “It’s like a smorgasbord – you can start with a bit of theatre, then try some dance, and then finish off your evening with some comedy,” says Nelson Fringe Festival director Giles Burton. And like any good smorgasbord, Giles says that it’s the perfect opportunity to try something you’ve never had before – and better yet, “you don’t have to travel the world to see great shows”.

With festivals and shows impacted by Covid, Giles says that many artists have used the opportunity to try different things, adapt and re-think shows and plays, and rework existing stories into new and light-hearted formats. “For the audience, it’s a great opportunity to take a risk and try something new, because even if you think you know a play, odds are, you’ve never seen it done this way before!”

Piece of Work Productions is putting on not one, but two adaptations – Metamorphosis and Woyzeck. “I’m quite excited as they’re two really interesting shows,” says Giles, “and Woyzeck is one of my favourite theatre pieces.”

Mike O’Malley joins Michaela Sheehan and Keith Marshall as the cast of three in each of the two plays. In Woyzeck the cast take on 18 roles, creating music and sound effects live, while piecing together a fractured story in this fast-paced mix of comedy, tragedy and song. Woyzeck tells the story of a lowly soldier who agrees to become a medical experiment – but is it his diet of peas that leads him into the forest with a knife, or the rumours of what his wife has been doing with the peacocking Drum Major?

In Metamorphosis, the cast of three take on 13 roles, presenting a delightful, comical, physical theatre adventure that asks – “are you normal?”. In the play, Gregor Samsa is a normal man. He has a normal job, a normal family, lives in a normal house, and has normal dreams … until the day he wakes up to discover that he’s turned into a giant insect.

Along with director Anton Bentley, it’s a reunion for Mike, Michaela and Keith, having first performed together in the 2016 Fringe Festival in Bananaruma, which won audience favourite. They then reunited later that year in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown for Nelson Musical Theatre. “It’s great working with people you know and get on well with,” says Mike. “The plays are fast-paced, full of physicality and a bit off the wall, so it’s going to be lots of fun.” And having not acted for a few years, Mike says that he’s looking forward to “coming back home to the stage”.

Also looking forward to returning to the Nelson stage is Wellington-based improviser Dylan Hutton who last performed here in the 2018 Fringe Festival show, Don’t Push the Button. Along with co-conspirator Austin Harrison, they are performing their comedy improv show Pudgy Mediocre White Men Solve Your Problems. Brian (Dylan) and Dave (Austin) are, as the title suggests, here to solve your problems with their “pretty unconventional ways that you wouldn’t think would work – and probably won’t,” says Dylan. “These two blokes have coasted through life with lots of privilege and lots of confidence, and feel very qualified to give people their advice. But there’s also the underlying story of friendship and the value of male friendships … but mainly there will just be laughs,” he says.

Also bringing the laughs is Sajeela Kershi from the UK with her show Free Speech & Rah-Rah Skirts!. Combining themes such as cultural identity and feminism with light-hearted delivery, multi-award-winning comedian Sajeela first found fame with her politically-fuelled show Immigrant Diaries. She performs regularly on BBC, Comedy Central and Free Speech Nation, and runs her own comedy club in the UK which, until it outgrew it, was run in the back room of a pub run by a Kiwi.

Not one to shy away from a difficult subject, in her latest show she will be delving into post-pandemic geopolitics. “Humour can lighten social and political tensions,” she says. However, her show does come with a warning message: “contains a pinch of cultural guffaws and generous sprinklings of jokery wokery. Hearts and snowflakes may melt.”

A regular performer at comedy and fringe festivals, Sajeela is looking forward to coming back to New Zealand. “I love Fringe Festivals. They unite communities and they bring an array of interesting, diverse talented people to a town,” she says. “Making people laugh, entertaining them, making them think from a different angle, is the payoff for all the late nights missing social events with family and eating rubbish on the road!”

Joining Sajeela is fellow British comedian Charmian Hughes with her show She!, a homage to bond-girl Ursula Andress, Te Papa’s colossal squid and her big sister. Described as a “mad aunt on acid”, Charmian studied clowning but says that she was unable to uphold the mime vow of silence so ran away to play stand-up comedy clubs instead.

Charmian was last in New Zealand in March 2020. Yes, then! She was scheduled to perform She! in the Dunedin Fringe Festival when New Zealand went into its first lockdown. She was stuck in the North Island for over a week before finally making it home via Canada. But now she’s back and keen to bring her brand of obsessively-silly comedy to New Zealand audiences once more.

Local comedian Glenn Cousins is involved with three different shows, but he says that they’re not all comedy. “The Fringe Festival is a great opportunity for both performers and audiences to try new things,” he says. “It’s great to have a platform for local people to host small productions that have great quality that people can afford to see.”

He’s partnered with Akiko Miyamoto to bring her adaptation of the classic tale Jack and the Beanstalk to life, using puppets. “It’s a Japanese-infused version of Jack and the Beanstalk with a blend of puppets and real characters,” says Glenn. “Akiko makes her own puppets and has created a fun, family-friendly interactive show which is a unique take on a classic story. She does amazing work and plies me with Japanese food after rehearsals,” he laughs.

When he’s not playing the giant chasing Jack down the beanstalk, you can also catch Glenn in Backroom Comedy Presents The A Team, a night of Nelson’s comedy “big guns” for some shameless shenanigans, tomfoolery and jocular hijinks. His third show is No Clue, a classic who-done-it improvised theatre show based on the board game Cluedo. “If you like a little murder with your improv then it’s the perfect show for you,” laughs Glenn.

Giles says that each year they try and have a mix of shows including performances for younger children, to give them opportunities to see and experience theatre. Along with Jack and the Beanstalk, younger audience members and their families might also like magician Steve Wilbury’s Ahoy Me Farties magical adventure or Nikkie Karki’s interactive theatre show The New Tales of Quinn.

With 84 performances, 20 regional shows, 15 national productions, 10 days, 5 international acts, 3 venues and 2 workshops – what are you waiting for?!

Nelson Fringe Festival runs from 23 March – 1 April at Red Door Theatre, Studio One and the Refinery Artspace. The full programme is available online at nelsonfringe.co.nz.