Dear Yukoners,
Warm greetings from Adelaide, Australia! Bloody hot greetings more like it.
Your very own Yukon Gold Comics (Jenny Hamilton, George Maratos, Stephen McGovern, and I) are going through a creative comedy makeover by shaking their pasty white skin cells and useless winter fat amongst tree-hugging koalas and randy kangarooters.
Luckily the mad crowds in this “country town” of 1.8 million have been heaps easier to handle thanks to our dear Adelaidean producer Eva Hamburg taking us cabin-feverish Canucks under her wing.
Some of you may remember Eva who was most recently brought up to the Yukon by Katherine McCallum to direct God of Carnage. A fabulous host, she has generously taken us to the beach, on bush walks, for a classic Aussie afternoon BBQ at her beautiful home and to Cleland National Park.
From atop Mount Lofty, Cleland’s wildlife sanctuary is where we saw dingoes and Tasmanian devils get their daily feed. We hugged koalas, fed emus and pelicans, and watched two young kangaroos go at it for over half an hour.
Impressed by their stamina in the incredible heat and pounding sun we waited for the big finish, which never came.
What did come was a loud and excited young Japanese tourist who got right up behind the male for a picture, and the subsequent inspired performance of a second male kangaroo trying to get in on the action on the other end.
I’m not sure how many tourists get to see a kangaroo-human foursome, but I will say that Cleland Park was well worth our Fringe Artist discounted rate of $10.
Oh right, the reason we are here: the Adelaide Fringe Festival.
I have been meeting heaps of amazing artists and industry peeps, seeing many inspiring shows, and even running into some old friends from the small world that is the touring performance community.
One of them is Daniel Nimmo, who I used to perform with at the Lunacy Cabaret in Toronto. As well as many different street and theatre acts, he does a show called the Loonatic Spectacular, which is a modern vaudevillian cabaret hosted by a witty and unique interpretation of the man on the moon.
With over 900 shows in the fringe alone, not to mention the nine other festivals happening throughout Mad March, it is especially hard to compete with the high-production-value, commercial acts here. Thankfully, Adelaide seems to have a great appetite for raw, bare-bones, true fringe performances, so we’ve been doing well.
Halfway through our run of A Grizzly Took My Bébé in our funky yet sweaty venue at Tuxedo Cat, we Yukon Gold Comics are learning a lot about “fringing”, and keeping our sunburns to a dull roar.
Speaking of dull roars and learning experiences, the Clipsal 500 car race is one of the zillion other events happening this weekend. The bogans (Australian version of rednecks) block off the city streets and get loaded all day long while watching ridiculously expensive cars driving in circles, filling Adelaide with the sound of giant amplified mosquitoes being chased by rabid dingoes. It drones on and on, around and around, drowning out some of the unfortunate Fringe shows that are done in circus tents.
Oh wow. I just looked up to see there is also an air show happening, I guess. If I didn’t know any better, I would think I was in a war zone. They really like to blow their load all at once here.
The beautiful thing about this Mad March in Adelaide, is that the bogans and fringe freaks, rich rollers and poor peddlers, performers and punters, locals and young Japanese tourists, deafening fighter jets and juggling clowns, kangaroos and homesick Yukoners, all come together to celebrate the same thing – the blissful summer life. Ours is coming soon Yukon!
Love your patriotic Yukon friend,
Claire
