Silly Little Things - Theatre Review

Star Theatre Two at Star Theatres, Fri 23 Feb, 2024.

Laura Knaggs has written a delightful story, and tells it beautifully. She plays the part of Rosie, a young woman who is finally free of an oppressive long term relationship and desperate to celebrate her freedom;  start a new more exciting life. But it turns out she’s not that good at making decisions on her own. Her best friend is dealing with her own problems, her nosy neighbour keeps making life difficult, good men are hard to find, and her flower shop is going under. And the last thing she wants to do is give in and go back to her mother for help. Perhaps a few more shots of tequila will fix things? They don’t.

Rosie takes us all along this frustrating, entertaining ride with mostly good humour, sporadic misplaced optimism, and an honest vulnerability. She’s pretty hyper early on and it’s as if her speedy enthusiasm is plunging her into train wreck territory. But luckily for Rosie a near disaster opens her eyes just enough to help her see the good that’s right in front of her.

She still has that lovely bouncy personality but it’s not so manic now. She’s calmed down and has become a much nicer, smarter person.

So there is a moral to the story if you’re looking for one. Or you could just sit back and enjoy Knagg’s charming manner, the tightly scripted narrative, her impressive range of acting skills, and great sense of comedy. She’s a natural, and is clearly very much at home on the stage.

One small peeve – I think the title of this show belittles it. There’s a lot more going on here than Silly Little Things, but I guess that’s how Rosie may have seen things at the time.

This review also published on The Clothesline.

K Mak At The Planetarium: Adelaide Fringe 2024 Review

The Planetarium, Sat 17 Feb, 2024

K Mak’s website says they are the brainchild of cellist Kathryn McKee, and describes their music as ‘a distillation of classical, alternative and electro-pop music.’ That’s handy because I was struggling to identify their genre. Not that you always have to pigeon-hole the music we listen to. Things don’t always fit into convenient categories and K Mak at the Planetarium is a case in point.

It’s initially a little confusing trying to decide whether to focus on the music or the projected visuals until one eventually accepts that it’s meant to be an integrated experience. And it works really well.

Just relax back into the chairs of the planetarium and let the whole experience wash over you; let the sights and sounds take your mind and soul wherever they want to go. And my mind certainly wandered far and wide across the universe, and then deep down into microcosms of throbbing liquids and bubbling gases. Watch a parade of planets, rockets launching, asteroids, deep space, star signs, the blazing sun. Kaleidoscopic patterns, magical plants, sea creatures – it’s essentially a celebration of the natural world, with a dose of psychedelia.

K Mak’s music was always interesting and perfectly complementary – a neat combination of persistent rhythms with ethereal melodies carried by keyboard, cello and violin. The sound was not always totally in synch with the visuals but that didn’t seem to matter. It was very much a case of you connecting the music and the visuals in any way you wanted. There was nothing prescriptive about this event. No program as such, though there was an occasional comment introducing the next piece. But you make the connections; you join the dots.

Be immersed in childlike wonder. You might however find your adult self contemplating how insignificant we all are in the presence of the power and beauty of the universe. And that’s not a bad thing is it? Certainly puts things in another perspective!

This review also posted on The Clothesline.