Concrete Playground’s Sydney Festival 2014 Diary

The Concrete Playground team is out and about soaking up the Sydney Festival in January. Here's what we've found so far — this diary will be updated as the festival progresses.

Bullet Catch

January 17-20 at Carriageworks

It might seem glib to predicate a show on a trick with a live gun. But that's only if you haven't seen Bullet Catch, written and performed by Scotsman Rob Drummond. It's part magic show, part theatre, and I'm in awe the whole time — not all because of the illusions. Maybe because of the insight into human psychology that allows him to perform acts of mind-reading and manipulation, Drummond has created a piece that is incredibly emotionally and intellectually involving — taxing, even (in the good way). I can scarcely imagine what it's like from the closest seat in the house; one audience member is picked for show-long participation that includes sharing personal memories, reading letters from an accused murderer and, eventually, shooting Rob in the face. At this performance, the strong-minded Liz is a total star. I hope, after a few drinks, she looked back on the experience fondly.

-Rima Sabina Aouf, editor

Hot Dub Time Machine

January 10, 11, 18 and 25 at the Spiegeltent

A few days ago my colleague Jasmine referred to Hot Dub Time Machine as a "glorified jukebox". I wouldn't say that statement is inaccurate so much as incomplete. Hot Dub Time Machine is a perfectly theatricalised glorified jukebox. The secret power source, 'hot dub', fuelled by your dancing; the special 'Hot Dub Power-Up Dance Move Multipliers' dedicated to each decade; DJ Tom Loud constantly hyping the crowd — they all combine to compel you to dance, particularly in a confined milieu like the Spiegeltent, and particularly with a crowd of true believers like these. Every minute, the song switches, and we receive it with screams and rapture as though it were the actual artist appearing live, and they had just started to play their most well-known and loved song. It's an incredible ride; either get on board or go home.

-Rima Sabina Aouf, editor

Bullet Catch one of the most amazing performances I've seen - and I don't just mean the magic. Emotional, thoughtful, involving. #sydfest

— Rima Sabina Aouf (@rimasabina) January 19, 2014

I, Malvolio

January 16-19 at Carriageworks

Tim Crouch wants me to laugh at his naked butt. Me and everyone else in the room. He is wearing longjohns soiled in every possible way, covered with flies and utterly pathetic. His character, stuffy steward Malvolio, was in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night bullied, tricked into thinking his mistress was in love with him, publicly humiliated and institutionalised. Naked butts are funny. Victimising the weak is wrong. What's a theatre patron to do? This is just the kind of inner conflict and confusion Crouch wants to illicit. That he manages to do so during such an accessible, entertaining and well-constructed show is what marks him as one of the UK's most admired theatre makers. He's also just a terrific performer to witness, disarming even while pee-stained.

-Rima Sabina Aouf

Oedipus Schmoedipus

January 9 to February 2 at Belvoir

If you listen to many Sydney theatre reviewers, you'll believe there's something wrong with you if you enjoy the opening act of Oedipus Schmoedipus, apparently the festival's most divisive work. But I'm here to say it's bloody brilliant (emphasis on the bloody — it's basically writer-performers Zoe Coombs Marr and Mish Grigor killing each other and themselves in numerous vivid ways). The comedic timing, the ingenious weapon/blood-pack concealment, the improbable wailing of 'Love the Way You Lie' — it's impeccable. There are other highlights in the hour that follows (including creative use of a couple dozen new volunteer performers squirming on stage each night), though its persistent weirdness can get alienating and a bit tired later on. Oddly enough, considering the show's whole premise is riffing on the theatrical canon, it's fans of said canon who will likely hate the result. Intrepid arty genre-hoppers, your presence is required.

-Rima Sabina Aouf, editor

Amadou and Mariam's Eclipse

January 9-11 at the Town Hall

As a sighted person, it was hard not to become somewhat disoriented when the lights cut out at Amadou and Mariam's Eclipse. Once you adjusted to having lost a sense, however, it was really quite an amazing insight to, for at least an hour and a half, experience the world as a blind musician does. The joyful and vibrant performance is broken into 11 songs, each marking an important milestone for Amadou and Mariam's, woven together by narrative interludes written by Malian poet Hamadoun Tandina as well as elements of scent. Yes, you read that right: scent. This aspect of the performance was somewhat more subtle. If you were unaware that the fragrances were being piped into the hall purposefully, you would assume that the person sitting next to you had maybe been a little trigger happy with their new perfume. Did the performance benefit from this pleasant add-on? Not so much. But the idea of presenting the audience with a rich array sensuous experiences is certainly an interesting one.

-Rebecca Speer, senior art writer

Summer Sounds in the Domain

January 11

Children, teens, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents converged on this year's Summer Sounds in the Domain. Maybe that's because Hot Dub Time Machine — a short history of chart-toppers since 1954 — promised something for everyone. Or maybe it’s because Chaka Khan's been doing her thing for so long that her music conquers generational divisions. We'll never know. But the first hour saw the 100,000 or so members of the Domain crowd on their feet, unanimously getting down to the likes of 'Let's Twist Again', 'Superstition' and 'I Will Survive'. Being amongst a Sydney crowd so decidedly uninhibited was definitely refreshing, but it was difficult to see Hot Dub Time Machine as anything much more than a glorified jukebox. The promised mixing and mashing were pretty minimal. Chaka Khan, on the other hand, delivered what you'd expect — a couple of hours of searing funk. Backed by a powerful band, she moaned, grooved and belted her way through all the classics, decked up in a sparkling silver and black jumpsuit. Of course, the favourite, 'I'm Every Woman', was saved up for the finale.

-Jasmine Crittenden, writer

Amanda Palmer

January 9-19 at the Spiegeltent

It's a rare artist that can have you nearly crying over the death of her step-brother and then laughing about, um, pubic hair (you guessed it!) — within the space of three minutes. It also takes someone special (if not extraordinary) to successfully challenge this reviewer's utterly uncharitable cynicism regarding amateur ukulele-ists. Amanda Palmer did it all during her first hour in the Spiegeltent on Thursday, January 9. As the opener for a ten-concert series, it was everything you'd expect of a Palmer extravaganza — funny, surprising, funnier, bizarre, hilarious, sad, over too soon — performance that's honestly, unashamedly interwoven with the fragility, confusion and the ecstasy of real life. New tunes ('Map of Tasmania', 'Vegemite'), Dresden Dolls classics ('Coin Operated Boy'), a chilling version of Australian ballad 'The Drover’s Boy', and two unexpected guests (one naked) all featured. Palmer promised that no two nights at the Spiegeltent would be the same.

- Jasmine Crittenden, writer

LIMBO

January 8-26 at the Spiegeltent

LIMBO is the latest in the dirty, artsy, mischievous Spiegeltent circus tradition, and it's a pretty great example, the best in some time. Charm is the strength of these performers from Strut & Fret. And actual strength is also a defining skill, as they hop around on their hands, balance their colleagues on their heads and swallow flame. They're jacks of all trades, including beatboxing and tap dancing. Although there's a little too much 'filler' in the first half, they work up to some breathtaking and theatrically finessed stuff — and the fact that all the music is created live by resonator guitar, tuba, pedals, mixing bowl and other sparse instruments just adds to the magic.

-Rima Sabina Aouf, editor

Chilling at @carriageworks for the @sydney_festival with a Hendricks G&T in preparation for #lavoixhumaine - perfect Friday evening

— Jack Arthur Smith (@jackarthursmith) January 10, 2014

La Voix Humaine

January 9-13 at Carriageworks

There's no doubt La Voix Humaine — one of the festival's headline shows based on Jean Cocteau's 1927, self-destructive solo monologue of one woman’s fatally catastrophic mental decline post-relationship breakup — represents the hardships, both haunting and harrowing, of one of life's most relatable emotional disasters. However, at times, sadly, this modern adaption is a little confusing and somewhat inconsistent when translating to a 2014 audience. Overall, a deeply affecting performance — credit to Halina Reijn’s representation of a severely pathetic, broken woman — but, previously billed as one of the world's greatest solo plays, might leave you a little disappointed.

Jack Arthur Smith, writer

Turns out we love jumping. #sacrilege at #sydfest a big hit.

-Concrete Playground

Sacrilege

January 8-26 at Hyde Park

Sydney Festival might have cracked the Rubber Duck formula. For the second year in a row, they've found a showpiece with that special combination of factors that fills grown adults with childlike glee and small children with... their regular glee. Sacrilege is a 34m replica of Stonehenge by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller. A 34m inflatable replica of Stonehenge you can bounce on. They let on 100 people at a time in ten-minute blocks, and the crowds are loving it and loving Instagramming it. We grabbed the last bounce of the day just before 9pm, and it was 95 percent adults losing their shit (but still respectfully minding their manners).

-Rima Sabina Aouf, editor

#sydfest Village in full swing. The place to be for the next 2.5 weeks.

-Concrete Playground

Festival Village

January 8-26 at Hyde Park

First thoughts on the Festival Village? It is a big win for festival director Lieven Bertels and SydFest 2014. The fairy lights, the beach-ball lanterns, the Messinaweiners, the smoke peeling off the Food Society barbecue, the bars, the books, the seating options strewn all over — this is just the kind of city beer garden Sydney lusts for. With two major venues and the already much-loved inflatable Sacrilege in its bounds, the Village is a true festival hub — one that you don't need a ticket to enjoy. Is it massive and involving enough to surpass Festival First Night? Very nearly.

-Rima Sabina Aouf, editor

The big bouncy #sacrilege goes up in Hyde Park for #sydfest.

-Concrete Playground