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Published: Monday, 10 February 2020 09:48

Written by Greg Letts

Set in a not-so-distant future where China has stepped in and taken over a disaster wracked Australia, The Empire being performed by the Actors Hub as part of Fringe Perth is a bleak mixing of The Matrix, Pokemon Go, Call of Duty and The Hunger Games, along with the comments section on YouTube!

Firmly under the thumb of their new Chinese masters, 80% of Australians take refuge in “The Game”, an augmented reality program where they can return to the good old days of Australian values and experience the freedoms they are denied in real world.

But despite the best efforts of the triad of power at Hubris (The Game's developers), The Game is not safe. There are rumours that people are vanishing and turning up dead months later, if they are ever seen again at all!

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Published: Saturday, 08 February 2020 15:41

Written by Greg Letts

My partner and I went out a bit later than usual to take in The Wives of Wolfgang at Fringe Perth. Usually we prefer to catch an early evening show, but we are suckers for a good cabaret and The Wives of Wolfgang, with its premise of a wife unburdening herself at her husband's funeral reception, was too tempting to resist.

So there we were at the Girls School at 9.30pm, waiting in line like good little schoolchildren with the rest of the audience for the teacher to come lead us through the school to our venue, Chemistry (I assume the old Chemistry Lab). I think there were a few of us experiencing PTSD flashbacks as we were instructed to stay together and follow the people in front of you closely so you don't get lost!

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Published: Thursday, 06 February 2020 09:38

Written by Greg Letts

When the media release for a performance talks about brides turning into cockroaches, you know you are in for something a bit different. In the case of The Bride, that difference is an hour of insane and zany physical comedy!

Cockroaches give just about everybody the “Ewww!” response, but don't let that put you off heading into The Blue Room Theatre to watch this terrific little gem. It's held in the Kaos Room, which turns out to be aptly named!

Performer Nadia Collins contorts and distorts her body with gleeful abandon, as she portrays the tribulations of a bride who has awoken on her wedding day only to discover she is now a cockroach! But can she make it to the altar on time? She'll need the help of the audience to get there!

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Published: Thursday, 06 February 2020 08:51

Written by Lee-Ann Khoh

A musical about the Spudshed guy?

I had no idea what to expect when I went to see Tony Galati the Musical, but it was a full house that joined me on a stiflingly hot opening night. And boy, did the musical deliver.

Through entertaining songs and choreography, we are introduced to Galati’s Sicilian roots, his family’s market garden in Perth, his highly publicised battles with the potato board, and his now-iconic Spudshed supermarkets. The show does take some creative license (which is acknowledged) as it tells us the story of a loveable Aussie battler.

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Published: Wednesday, 05 February 2020 09:55

Written by Nita Teoh

As the saying goes “sex sells”, and given that it was a full house at the Blue Room Theatre yesterday evening for the start of 30 Day Free Trial, I guess it does!

30 Day Free Trial is the brainchild of Charlotte Otton and Andrew Sutherland. Each co-creator achieved stardom and awards at Fringe World last year with Charlotte’s Feminah and Andrew’s Poorly Drawn Shark respectively.

They are a dynamic duo on stage to say the least. Laugh out loud, groan, cringe funny...their banter back and forth takes the audience on a wild ride with confessions on sex adventures, porn use and where it all goes wrong. The icing on the cake was the cringe-erotica slam poetry!

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Published: Monday, 03 February 2020 10:23

Written by Nita Teoh

Just wondering - how many hours do you spend consuming porn on the Internet each day?

Not a question you would really want to ask someone, and if you did and they were candid about it, perhaps you would be shocked.

The Actors Hub takes a confronting look at porn and addiction in its latest production at Fringe Perth – “The Innocent Pawn”. Being advertised as part entertainment and part education, I wasn’t sure what I was in for.

The actors kicked off the night’s proceedings with how this all got started, and how we have always had pornography in some shape and form throughout time immemorial - after all the human interest in sex does date back quite a bit!

Although in no phase of history has porn been as pervasive and easily accessible as our current times. There is a whole generation of young adults whose over consumption of technology and constant dopamine hits has reached the stage of de-sensitisation.

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