I’m less than 24 hours into this Adelaide Fringe Fest thang and already it’s worth my checked baggage weight in gold.
My lovely hostess extraordinaire Julie (mum of my great buddy Ashley) had no sooner picked me up at the airport than she had swept me away on a beautiful driving tour of the beachy sides of this city, none of which I’d seen before. Loverly. I’m very much looking forward to both my energy levels and the temperature picking up later this week so I can go frolick in the surf without having to worry about whether my children are drowning or not. Yes. Yet another example of how ‘bliss’ gets redefined upon entering parenthood.
Then it was time to hit the city, yo!
I filled in the train ride in by mentally running through my set list, only to realise too late that I was actually murmuring it aloud. Which wouldn’t be such a bad thing (or, might I add, a rare thing) except that this was also noticed by the three bogany young men sitting a few seats in front of me, who proceeded to laugh and yell out stuff, obviously assuming that I must be nuts.
They did however, farewell me at my destination by calling out “Farewell, gorgeous.”
Which I could almost take as a compliment, were it not for the suspicion that their definition of “gorgeous” equals “has teeth.”
The upside was, the night could only be uphill from there. (Or is it downhill? I can never quite work that expression out. Do you want to be higher up? Or does being higher up imply more effort? Hmmm…)
And what a night.
Man oh man. Seriously, if you’re in Adelaide and you haven’t come to see “Titters” yet, then you must get thee to a ticket booth! The line up is amazing (and nope, not just saying that cos I’m in it). Last night’s line-up for instance:
the always adorable Liz Skitch, who I love, love, love and not just because she put the good word in for me here at Titters!;
the brilliant Amelia-Jane Hunter, who is not only freaking amazing onstage (man, her character stuff inspired me so much!) but also made me text her when I got home so she knew I was safe. I think I’m a little bit in love;
puppetry like I’d never seen before by the wonderful Gabrielle Griffin;
the UK’s Francesca Martinez, of whom I’d long been a fan and after seeing her live and meeting her, am even moreso, both onstage and off;
Jen Brister, who I’d never seen before but completely loved. Talk about stage presence…wow;
South Africa’s (now NZ resident) Urzila Carlson, who I seriously dug immediately. Partly for the fact she’s hilarious and partly for the fact that within minutes of meeting me, she took it upon herself to find me a cup of hot water to deal with this cold I’m battling.
all tied together by the MC extraordinaire, the gorgeous Sheridan Stewart.
WONDERFUL WOMEN!
I had such a ball onstage, the audience was brilliant. When I invited an audience member up onstage, the ever-eager Scott bounded up without a second thought. I asked him if he had any kids and he said no. Then I launched into some kind of rant about my dubious parenting skills, only to shortly after discover that he works for…da da da da da da: Child Protection! Oh dear Lord.
Then when I began serenading him with “Eternal Flame”, he completely broke down in laughter, then managed to splutter: “That’s my favourite song!” He wasn’t kidding. He grabbed the mic and proceeded to sing the first few bars. Awesome!!! I managed to pry it back from him, he was a brilliant sport and at the end of the show, he and his friends told me that he couldn’t believe it, as he’d only the night before been trying to convince another Fringe performer to find a way to put “Eternal Flame” into their act. SOOOOO bizarre! That’s what I love so much though about the improvised and interactive elements of show. That they open the door for truly bizarre and unexpected awesomeness to walk through. And occasional turdship. But mostly awesomeness. (We hope!)
Afterwards had a number of folks come and say hi and say very lovely things indeed, plus it looks like I’ve scored an invite to come back next year! WOOHOO!!!!!
Am putting myself to bed now to get a much needed nanna nap before tonight’s Titters. YAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!