Monthly Archives: September 2011
Melbourne Fringe: Touring With a Toddler Installment 3: Small Crowd, Big Love.
Night two. With Melbourne weeping like a postnatal mother last night, I was bracing myself to perform for an audience of three. But oh ye of little faith. SIX! Six audience members, I tell you! I am moving UP! They were delish. I wanted to smother them in chocolate and nibble on their lobes. We had a grand time together, even when my radio mic attachment commenced a dance with gravity down my tights mid-show. My recovery efforts brought new meaning to the term “an intimate audience.”
Then, at the end, the “Sexy Six”, as they shall now be forever known, blessed me with a standing ovation. I was so over the moon about it that I asked them if they’d mind waiting til I got my phone from backstage to take a photo. And thus, it was re-created!
But it ain’t all the performer’s dream of six bums on seats, baby.
Oh no.
Today my poor little man, who has unfortunately come down with a little headcold, accompanied me on a tear and tantrum riddled (with occasional glimpses of lovely) outing to Brunswick. (Where, incidentally, I used to live many moons ago when Miss 8 was just a wee babe.)
Fortunately the library turned out to be the winning ticket, we arrived just in time for the end of storytime, followed by butterfly making. Which of course, Cassidy was all over. For exactly two minutes and fourteen seconds.
I got to sneek a peek into some op shops (sadly, pouncing on bag sales is just not in the budget this year!) but I couldn’t help looking. And drooling. And drooling. I’m sorry Melbourne. I have now marked my territory. Just thank your lucky stars I chose the right end to do it from.
Melbourne Fringe: Touring With a Toddler Installment 2: Opening Night
Just one of many beautiful sights at my show's venue, Revolt Melbourne.
As I type this I am trying to oversee, with very little success, Mister 2′s nap-time, my persistence in this mission only due to the selfish knowledge that it could equal nap-time for me.
Aye.
Last night was Opening Night of “The Unexpected Variety Show” at Melbourne Fringe and it was BEWDIFUL.
Mister Tim Ferguson and my adrenalin-filled self.
Seriously lovely crowd, very full of smiles and laughs which makes the show umpteen times more easy and fun to do. The word suggestion for last night’s improv song (if I haven’t already told you, before the show the audience writes down words into a suggestion bucket for one of my characters to choose from to create a spontaneous song mid-show) was “testicles.” As my character, Beatta, said, drawing said suggestion out, “There’s always one, isn’t there? Or is that two?”
Only one person laughed.
Or is that two?
Sorry, joke is clearly not working, I must let it go now…faretheewell.
Post-show I caught up with some rocking folks, including the very awesome, hilairs-balls and lovely Tim Ferguson (above), who suggested I start working on my next show now (I already have an idea in mind…) and, well, I won’t say too much in case I jinx it but there are exciting possibilities around. AGH! Also caught up with my beautiful-in-every-way friend and co-producer Rachel who brought me my first show flower (a toy one, a very wise move given the life expectancy of any actual flora in my household), wondrous Bec who brought me champers plus a LEGO set for my son!!!!!) and some fabooshy mummy bloggers who came, saw and posted!
Some beautiful things are being said about the show:
A couple of lovely folks blogged about it too. Check out Diary of a Mad Cow and A Green Cow‘s reviews. BTW, though both bloggers end in “Cow”, they are not related as far as I am aware. Do I simply appeal to the lactating market? And if so, any breastpump companies out there wanna sponsor me?
I am so incredibly chuffed. Especially when given that this time yesterday I was trying to convince my toddler to pick himself up from his face-down tantrum sprawl on Flinders Street (true), with my eyeballs hanging out of my head with fatigue and questioning the wisdom of actually attempting to do a 2-week festival stint like this, well…I guess I’m saying that to actually receive this lovely feedback that it’s connecting with people just really does make it feel like the difficulties are WORTH IT!
Oh Melbourne. How I heart thee.
Firstly, cos my fringe run is off to a most rocking start. Secondly, because you have op shop displays like this.
Melbourne Fringe: Touring With a Toddler Installment 1
Tech run today. Happy times. Started off with Mister Two making himself well at home in the theatre. Hey, he has been onstage since he was a foetus, so I guess it makes sense.
The space at Revolt Melbourne is UNBE-FREAKING-LIEVABLE. Seriously. Agh. I am going to do my darndest to do a video tour of it just to share some with you, it is better than robot space-cake.
Then a slight technical hitch in the form of my planned piano for the run not working out after all. The beyond amaze-balls Rebecca from A Green Cow (who, I must add, has displayed stunning friendship without having ever even met me in real life! I mention this as I have been musing greatly lately over the difference between “friends” and “acquaintances”,) promptly did her darndest to help find me a suitable replacement. I felt most loved.
Tech runs, in-house photography, a quick phone interview with a local paper (they’re taking a pic tomoz of me, Cassidy and the puppet = a craze-a-tois) followed by a phonecall that made me do a happy dance: wonderful Allan’s Music + Billy Hyde saying they would provide me with a most faboosh keyboard for the show run. What can I say? Beyond thrilled. You will have to excuse me as I bestow my thanks upon them with shameless mentions here on CM. I am so grateful I am just full of great!
The journo today asked me what it was like having my toddler with me while I try to stage a show. Day two and a night away from the opening show of the fest, I can say this: it’s exhausting (not that I didn’t think it wouldn’t be.) But, I get cuddles!
*Note: realising the above paragraph is so lacking in insight or wit that I just want to plead it as a brilliant demonstration of the fatigue of which said paragraph mentioned. Next.
In other news, this made my day.
So happy. And exhausted. Opening night tomorrow! AGH! TO BED!
FAQ on my Melbourne Fringe run!
My typical point of view while at work/play on my iPhone. My office looks tidy, huh? That's cos you can't see the floor.
I’m off to jump on a plane tomoz (and have packed some Allens snakes just so I can amuse myself with a pop culture reference) to Melbs, and in starting this grand adventure, I thought it was a fine time to do a FAQ sesh. Damn I love FAQs. They make me feel so…frequented.
1. How long are you going for and how many shows are you doing?
2 weeks! 12 shows! 1 nervous breakdown!
2. Are you flying solo or are you taking the fam?
A leetle bit of both. After much deliberation, I opted to bring my littlest, Mister two and a half. Ergo, this blog series during my fringe run shall be officially knowns as “Touring With Toddlers”.
3. What are you going to do with him when you’re performing?
I’m leaving out pellets. Oh don’t worry. It’s a really big bowl.
4. Are you nervous? Excited? Terrified?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
5. Can I come?
No. I don’t like audiences. They throw off my chi.
Oh FINE then! Here are the deets. JEEZ.
The Unexpected Variety Show
Melbourne Fringe Festival
Revolt Melbourne
12 Elizabeth Street, Kensington
27 September – 9 October
Tues-Sat 7.30pm (60 minutes) Sun 4.30pm
Full: $20, Concession: $15
Buy tix here.
” If you get a chance to see Jenny Wynter perform take it and run! She is amazing! I laughed so much I cried and then cried because she is so incredibly real and honest. LOVED IT!” Ang A.
” What a fantastic show – warm, witty, touching, hilarious – inspiring work, laughed and cried all the way through – Jenny Wynter – YOU ROCK!!!!!!!! Lisa D.
“It’s the show that every Mum on the planet should see. I can’t wait to see it again and again.” Andrew A.
A Song Inspired by YOU! “Rainbows” suggested by Allison B
And so it begins!
(Damn I love quoting Gandalf).
Here’s the first song so far, inspired by the lovely Allison who suggested the word “rainbows”. I had a lot of fun creating it; it was all quite fast, mad and furious, what with my kids doing their pre-bedtime thing and all and trying to get a bit of shoosh for two minutes to record it. Silly me for choosing rat-hour to record. Ah me.
(My daughter filmed this, by the way. Jawsome, yes?! I do hope that means she’s now tax deductible.)
Thanks so much for you beautiful people for helping me spread the word! More songs are a-coming.
For those of you new to the game, welcome! If you’d like to suggest a song for me to create, all you gotta do is jump onboard the team and help get the word out about my upcoming Melbourne Fringe show. Deets are over here.
Lots of big love and Rainbow Brite dolls,
Jen. xx
Help My Show at Melbourne Fringe and Get a Song Inspired by YOU!
As you read this, please imagine me down on one knee, a gentle breeze blowing through my locks and a sweet milkmaid playing a harp in the corner.
Dear darling friends,
In one short week I shall be taking my one and only solo show “The Unexpected Variety Show” down to Melbourne Fringe Festival. AGH! As you may know, I am rather nervous about getting bits of buttocks on bits of chair.
Please, pretty please, would you be part of Team Unexpected and help me? If so, I will not only jump for joy but I will jump TWICE! Once for me and once for all of you! Not only that, but in celebration of our success, I shall write a song inspired by your suggestion.
If you help get the word out in any of the ways below, you can email me with an idea for a song. It can be one word or a full title. And during and after the fringe festival, I shall write these songs, film them and post them right here online. My deadline is the end of October.
There it is. In writing. 2 people help me = 2 songs. 50 people help me = Jenny has a creative heart attack (and/or there may be some songs combining multiple suggestions!). Either way, shall be at least mildly entertaining. Are you in?!
WAYS TO BE A PART OF TEAM UNEXPECTED:
- send an email about the show to like-minded folks;
- write a quick mention in your Facebook status update. Personally, I love the creative/commanding ones:
- tweet about it. If you use the tags @melbournefringe or #mfringe I will even ding a bell somewhere in your honour.
For your use: here is the link to the official show page on Melbourne Fringe Fest’s website:http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/the-unexpected-variety-show
PLUS:
If you know anybody in Melbourne:
- please invite them to come see the show. Bribe them or trick them if you must. Tell them Robbie Williams is doing a secret gig. In drag. Singing none of Robbie Williams’ songs. The show is called “The Unexpected Variety Show” so as they will not be getting their “expected” Robbie, you will technically not be lying.
If you are in Melbourne:
- please come! I’d love to see you there! Especially in the first week when I am convinced it is gonna be otherwise empty and I will feel like a great big dork. Well, you know. A greater, bigger dork. And pretty please hang around after to say hi so I can cuddle you in a glorious, platonic yet super-loving fashion.
If you have seen the show and enjoyed it:
- please write a quick review on my facebook page (or if you’d prefer, you can email it to me). This is so so so valuable as it’s one thing for me to spruik my wares, but what audiences actually think matters umpteen times more. I know, right? Cra-zeeee
Thanks so much for listening, reading and/or helping. Actually,the first two equal the third anyway. What can I say?
Love lifts us up where we belong. Go TEAM!
Yours with love and lollypops,
Jen. xx
The Unexpected Variety Show
Melbourne Fringe Festival
Revolt Melbourne
12 Elizabeth Street, Kensington
27 September – 9 October
Tues-Sat 7.30pm (60 minutes) Sun 4.30pm
Full: $20, Concession: $15
Book: 03 9660 9666
Tix.melbournefringe.com.au
How NOT to spend your final prep days for your Melbourne Fringe Show
I could just weep. Pigeon tears. Possibly with feathers.
May I just whinge a little bit? Okay, cheers. I am so freaking frustrated as, courtesy of the Brisbane Powerhouse show, I now have the most beautiful, juicy footage of my show on film, footage which I was hell-bent this week on editing in a most stunning fashion. You know, editing it so incredibly that upon one glance of it, mermaids would drown themselves.
Anyhoo, I was most incredibly excited about this as, to tell you the honest truth, dear friends, I am just a wee bit PETRIFIED about my Melbourne Fringe run.
Not because of the show. I am very happy indeed with the show itself. But rather, I am frightened because virtually nobody in Melbourne knows me. Those who met me when I lived there years ago do, of course, namely cos I am just so damn unforgettable. Not for any performing reasons. More because how could you forget a blonde lady wearing a white shaggy jacket dancing on tables and shouting “We are the walrus!” at every pub that would grant her entry? Ah, Melbourne. Your abundance of class makes my stunning lack of it ever more apparent.
Point is, I am not terrified about performing the show, I am terrified that nobody is gonna come.
Sooo…I thought a nice juicy youtube vid would solve all of my problems. As online vids tend to do. If youtube can’t save the world, then heaven help us all.
Well, fine then, OKEEEEEEE, maybe we wouldn’t have world peace, but at least, I thought, instead of fringe folks deciding to go see some other show, that at least with an online sampler, a few of them might actually be able to SEE what I do…before deciding to go see some other show.
Sooooo……I have somehow managed to spend this entire WEEK (yes, with capitals, hard-core, yes?) trying to get my computer to recognise the footage which it WILL NOT DO. I can see it, but as for editing it in any fashion, c’est impossible. (Yes, French. Hard-core, non?) My computer is so unhappy, you see, that it has turned into a narcoleptic. So unhappy am I with its narcolepsy that I find myself slapping it, screaming at it, all but throwing a bucket of cold water on it, while screeching in a southern American drawl to “snap yourself out of it, come on, let’s get you some whisky!” I’ve even decided to call it “Earl.”
I could cry.
Not just cos I don’t have the footage but cos in my desperate, stubborn bid to make the video trailer happen, I have spent these past seven crucial lead-up-to-festival days letting the computer process, sleep, process and sleep, rather than using it to do the fifteen gazillion other things I should have been doing to get the word out. BLAHHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHHG!
Now excuse me. I’m off to throw my computer in an ice-bath.
The Unexpected Variety Show
Melbourne Fringe Festival
Revolt Melbourne
12 Elizabeth Street, Kensington
27 September – 9 October
Tues-Sat 7.30pm (60 minutes) Sun 4.30pm
Full: $20, Concession: $15
Book: 03 9660 9666
Tix.melbournefringe.com.au
Show page link: http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/the-unexpected-variety-show
Debrief from Brisbane Powerhouse Show
The stage is set!
Friday night’s show at Brisbane Powerhouse was an undoubted highlight of my comedic life thus far. A beautiful crowd, in fact even as I walked out onstage I was so overwhelmed by both the size and welcoming response that I somehow managed to hurl an expletive (in an otherwise mostly clean show) within the first minute.
I have decided the one issue that needs remedying is the sound. I need to be micro-maphoned!! I wanna see if I can get a Britney style one for Melbourne Fringe, as I do love the freedom of having my hands free to focus on my exemplary dance skills.
The lead up to the show itself was far from the blissful day of relaxation I had planned. No, in true “unexpected” fashion, as I was packing my costume the night before, I notice a giant tear in it.
Gulp.
So it was that I spent much of Friday rifling through vintage stores in Annerley and seeking feedback and fashion advice on twitter! Thanks to you guys for your help!
Change room tweeting. Ooh yeah.
Desperately running out of time, we settled on a basic little black number in the hope that I could spiff it up.
Ze winner!
Then an hour before the show I get a text from my heavily preggers sister saying that she’d come down terribly sick and couldn’t make it. Those of you who have seen the show will understand why this news gutted me, given her very personal connection to the whole thing. I totally understood of course, but was just so sad she wouldn’t be there to share it.
That and I had hair issues.
I have gotta get better at this quiff thang.
It was about then that I started to panic. My dress. I had no bling! What to bling it with!?!! Bring on the bling!!!!
Enter my friend and rockstar creator, Kath, who, with some shoulder massaging and cheering from my hubs and best friend and company, got me back to happy and excited. 10 mins before show time we did a quick rearrangement of the costume and you know what? I freaking loved it!!!
My rockstar prepper, l'extraordinaire...Kath!
Then the show. Aaaaaaggghhh. So much fun. It was filmed too. As soon as I get my computer to convert the footage into something I can actually SEE, I shall share some bits on here for shizzle! I adore performing it and cannot wait to do 2 weeks straight in Melbs! I am mildly freaking out about ticket sales though, given that nobody knows me down there. But all I can do is what I do and let the rest take care of itself. If anybody has any strokes of word-spreading genius to offer, I am all ears!
This incredible night was topped off with much lovely kiddy-wrangling (damn, I am nice to them when I am elated) and finally, my sister ‘s baby was born!
Bonnie Rose. My ovaries are pulsing.
As I held her in my arms on Monday, only hours old, I think all the emotion of performing the show (again, those of you who have seen it will know exactly what I mean) caught up on me and I fell into a bawling sopping mess.
It’s a crazy, beautiful life, innit?
The hubbster & I savouring a final cheesy moment in MAH dressing room!
Chris Daniel: A Comedy Influence You May Never Have Heard Of
Unless you had the tremendous fortune to meet Chris in person, you are more than likely to not know who he is.
While writing “The Unexpected Variety Show” – debuting in Brissie tomorrow night and about which I am beyond excited, given that so many old school friends, family members and many more people are coming along I am unofficially christening it “my second wedding” – I have thought so often of this incredible man.
Allow me to share a little from my show program:
Chris Daniel was literally the first person I met on the comedy scene. I was a nervous little newbie, about to jump onstage for the very first time a the Triple J Raw Comedy Competition. After arriving WAAAAY too early (in an ill-conceived move to calm my nerves), Chris marched right up to me and won me over with his smile, his charm and the revelation that he too, was new to the scene. Excellent.
Chris, aside from just being his wonderful self, was to me, also representative of all the good things about comedy. Taking joy in just doing it. Taking joy in others’ success. Taking joy in…life.
There is a line I sing in this show: “others leave stage far too soon…” When I wrote that, I was, very truly – and very sadly – thinking about Chris.
Years after his all-too-soon departure, Chris continues to inspire me. To strive to – whether onstage or off – just find the joy in it.
This show is dedicated to him.
I received the most beautiful email the other day that literally brought me to tears (moments before doing a gig, no less!) from Chris’s beautiful “queen” as he called her. She wrote to tell me that she is coming to the show, and gave some beautiful words of encouragement including “you will be fabulous on Friday but remember what makes you fabulous is that you have given it a go.”
Which is exactly what Chris would have said too.
Peace.
