25 August 2017

How to Fringe 2017: Caleb Darwent and Nicholas Gray

Caleb Darwent
Nicholas Gray
We write original musical theatre shows and independently produce them.

Bed Reckoning
12–17 September
The Butterfly Club

SM: Their The Adulteresses at last year's Fringe was rather glorious. I tweeted "High camp, high class, an absolute delight – with a bit of smut."


Paul Jones, Bianca Bruce, Andre Sasalu, Jack Beeby. Cast of Bed Reckoning. Photo by Wendy Scriven

If you could invite anyone to your show (and you knew they would come), who would it be?
Cory Bernardi. He might learn something about racism and homophobia.

The Melbourne Fringe in three words.
Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!

A favourite Melbourne Fringe memory.
The lights going down on opening night as the first Melbourne Fringe production I was involved with began.

What is your experience as an independent artist being part of the Melbourne Fringe?
Very positive! We’ve grown as artists, made connections to other artists, and been exposed to a diverse range of artistic experiences as part of the festival.

What makes the Melbourne Fringe unique?
Anyone is able to take part in the festival, and it has a clear mission to push boundaries, challenge audiences, and give a platform for voices outside of the mainstream.

What’s your advice for choosing what to see in the Melbourne Fringe?
Choose things that will challenge you, and that aren’t the kinds of things you usually expose yourself to! Make sure you see shows by minority voices, such as queer people, people of colour etc. – not just to support and encourage new work, but because you might learn something, or have your perspective expanded, even just a little.

Do you think there’s a better system than star ratings for reviews?
Ideally there wouldn’t be any kind of rating system for reviews – just well-written analyses that can go into detail about what works and doesn’t work in any given show or piece, and the reader would engage with the review in the same spirit. Realistically, people want to know in as short a time as possible whether a show is worth seeing or not, so some sort of ratings system is inevitable. But since we have to have one, why not get rid of stars and make them something prettier? Rainbows, perhaps?

Five shows/events you will not miss at the 2017 Melbourne Fringe.
Church curated by Mama Alto
Absolutely Normal performed by Showko
The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez
TRANSCENDENT
For the Ones Who Walk Away presented by St Martins