GR_Ep12_Feasting on Performance in Melbourne

Melbourne Theatre Double: Speakeasy Vaudeville + Eddie Izzard’s Hamlet

Mik and Nik head to Melbourne for a theatre double: a gritty, intimate vaudeville night at Speakeasy Theatre Melbourne and Eddie Izzard’s one-person Hamlet. They rave about Speakeasy’s cabaret vibe, fast-switching acts, and a killer emcee, with highlights ranging from juggling-in-a-too-low-ceiling chaos to burlesque comedy, a squirmy glass stunt, and a crowd-up karaoke finish—plus ideas on how tighter audience play could level it up. Then it’s all praise for Izzard’s stripped-back Hamlet: empty stage, smart lighting, subtle character shifts, clear storytelling, and emotionally punchy moments (especially Ophelia). The trip sparks big thoughts about getting back into theatre and why Melbourne’s year-round arts energy feels so different to Adelaide’s. 

Speakeasy links: 

https://speakeasytheatre.com.au and https://www.instagram.com/speakeasy_theatre/.

00:00 Episode Intro
01:14 Melbourne Show Plans
02:51 Speakeasy Vaudeville Setup
04:24 What Vaudeville Means
07:36 MC Sets The Tone
10:31 Audience Split And Seating
12:38 Act One Highlights
19:46 Interval And Act Two
22:21 Finale And Crowd Moments
26:25 How To Improve The Format
29:02 Speakeasy Show Vibe
30:15 Adelaide Versus Melbourne
30:49 Vaudeville Highlights Lowlights
33:57 Eddie Izzard Hamlet Setup
37:24 Minimalist Stage Magic
38:59 Understated Character Work
41:34 Standout Moments Ophelia
44:38 Humor And Adaptations
47:00 Mastery And Audience Control
52:28 Theatre Itch Returns
58:29 Melbourne Creative Energy
01:02:14 Final Thoughts And Farewell

Transcript

Mik 0:00

Green Room, episode 12. Um, I know we promised that we would be more consistent, but we're at least consistent with our inconsistency. So this week we have got a bit of a theater review for you. Nikki and I went to Melbourne last weekend. We saw a couple of shows. So we thought we might have a bit of a chat about them, both very different, um, but both very exciting. So yeah, join us for the next hour or so while we ramble about the things we've seen and what we liked and what we didn't and what surprised us in The Green Room with Mik and Nik This episode of The Green Room is literally filmed on Kaurna lands of the Adelaide Plains. We've taken a walk up into the hills where we can viscerally acknowledge the original custodians of this land, and we acknowledge the proud traditional leaders, both past, present, and emerging. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land

Nikki 1:14

Uh, welcome back to The Green Room. Today we're having a bit of a chat about, um, some shows we've been to see in, uh, one of our lovely states. Uh, we went to Victoria, visited the city of Melbourne, and we went and saw two very different shows. Our whole intention of going there in the first place was to see the performance of Hamlet, which is a one-man show by Eddie Izzard.

Mik 1:43

And while we were there, we thought we'd grab an- in another show, and we went to the Speakeasy Melbourne and watched their vaudeville, um, performance. So we thought we'd have a bit of a chat about that. It's been a week and in the meantime, I've been crook, so taken a while to get to it. So we thought we'd go for a walk. We're sitting here in the Adelaide Hills on this beautiful sunny winter's day, trains going past, birds are in the background. It's a glorious sunny day. Uh, I'm Michael. Uh, I'm an actor, director, producer, blah, blah, blah. Been working in the performing arts and media for 30-odd years, and this is...

Nikki 2:28

I'm Nikki Allen. a husband and wife team, both involved in theater and the arts. Uh, same as Michael, really. Been a long time. We're having a bit of a break from doing too many, uh, theater activities at the moment, and we thought it would be a great time to consolidate the many years of experience that we've had.

Mik 2:49

So- Mm where should we start? What do you want to start with?

Nikki 2:51

Today, well, we went over to see Eddie Izzard, as I mentioned. We'll get back to that. But we thought we'd s- slip in, um, something different and unusual. So we looked and looked and looked. Uh, we wanted to go, because we were seeing Hamlet, the following day we thought we'd go for something a bit fun. And I found-

Mik 3:13

Not that Eddie is out of hand or it wasn't fun.

Nikki 3:14

Oh, no. But a different kind of fun. No, but you know, not, not your traditional theater. Let's go look for something different. Yeah. Um, and don't get me wrong, I love burlesque, but once you've seen the three girls come out and do their act- Yeah it's the same three girls gonna do a different act, and that's your night. And if you've seen- a lot of burlesque, then you kinda know how it rolls. It doesn't take away from the excAllence of performance, though. So looked for something a bit different, and found a vaudeville performance at a speakeasy, or what is a venue called The Speakeasy, in, uh, in the city. So we booked tickets to go and have a look at that. Really glad we booked, uh, the tickets we did, 'cause it's a very small venue.

Mik 3:55

Oh, maybe, what, 50

Nikki 3:58

people maybe? At maximum, yeah. Yeah. Um, so we b- booked great tickets. We had front center. Um-

Mik 4:04

Big shout-out to them as well. If you, if you're going to Melbourne, they're on Flinders Street, down past the Flinders Street Station, uh, towards the train there. There's the interstate train station, Speakeasy Theater. Can't remember the exact address. Look 'em up. They're in Melbourne. They're pretty awesome. They deserve some following.

Nikki 4:23

Oh, for sure. So, um, I really liked the idea of vaudeville. Um, anyone who's not familiar with it, it's basically, uh, multiple acts, a little bit... As, as the emcee said, it's a little bit like live TikTok.

Mik 4:37

Yeah.

Nikki 4:38

Um, and, uh- Yeah so yeah, a very old school, uh, type of performance. Uh, very, uh, caba- on the verge of cabaret, really.

Mik 4:48

It's cabaret vaudeville. So c- it was cabaret f- the, the environment and the setup, but it was vaudeville 'cause they had lots of different... Well, they had different acts, different routines. They had a juggler, and they had a burlesque dancer, and they had a guy doing... What would you say he does? He does, like, stunts. Stunts. Stunts. He, like, bends the steel rod in his mouth and, um-

Nikki 5:10

Puts his face in a hip of glass. We'll get to that later.

Mik 5:13

Yeah.

Nikki 5:14

Um, yeah, and the thing about vaudeville is that vaudeville was never the type of theater that people, um, where you, you were afraid to show the audience the backstage mechanisms. Vaudeville is where the famous, um... You remember the Looney Tunes cartoons, and sometimes they would get, like, a walking stick and yoink it around the performer's neck and pull them off stage? Um, so vaudeville is some- a type of f- performance where you actually see, uh, the stagehands, and you see, um, even perhaps the stage manager calling backstage, calling out backstage or entering. The machine that makes a show run is not really hidden So there's no, uh, ma- vaudeville doesn't have magic. It is just pure entertainment. So it doesn't give you that magic of, ooh, how did they do it? Um, it's-

Mik 6:15

It's pretty

Nikki 6:15

raw very open- It's

Mik 6:16

pretty-

Nikki 6:17

performance.

Mik 6:18

Yeah, yeah.

Nikki 6:18

Changing, coming on, all the rest of it.

Mik 6:21

Bang, next one. Like, yeah, like live TikTok. Bang, next one. Bang, next one. Bang, next one. And I don't know if this is correct or not, but I believe this to be correct, um, is that vaudeville is where the term "to break a leg" comes from. Mm. Because in the old vaudeville days of the turn of the 18th, 19th century, that you got paid as a performer if you managed to get on stage.

Nikki 6:52

Mm.

Mik 6:52

So you could be literally waiting in the wings for your chance to go on stage, and if you broke the leg, which is that tall, uh, vertical, um, curtain that, that creates the, the different wing spaces, the, the- Is what- the legs

Nikki 7:08

is termed as the legs.

Mik 7:09

Yeah. It's called the leg. So if you were to break the leg and break from being off stage to on stage, it meant you got paid. You got

Nikki 7:16

there.

Mik 7:16

Mm-hmm. So that's why it's good luck to say, "Break a leg. I hope you get paid." So I believe that to be where the break a leg- I'm

Nikki 7:23

pretty sure that's where chookas comes from too, because you got paid with a chicken.

Mik 7:28

Really?

Nikki 7:28

Uh, with a hot chook or something. Yeah. Anyway.

Mik 7:31

I like the idea of that.

Nikki 7:32

Um, and I still think I might do a show for that sometimes. Um, but what I really, what I really liked about this show, um, they had an emcee that was very cabaret style. Um- Oh, yeah. Very, very- whereas your, your vaudeville hosts are usually, um... I'm gonna give you a really quick impersonation of a really classic one. They've- they're usually very British with that whole like, "Where's me washboard? Oh, I seen you in the audience." Yes. "I saw you around at the parlor the other week."

Mik 8:02

She was going for a

Nikki 8:03

bit of a- "Ooh, won't tell

Mik 8:04

anyone." Bit of a cross of, um- But

Nikki 8:06

she went for a little bit of a-

Mik 8:08

Well, it was kind of-

Nikki 8:08

Sally

Mik 8:08

Bowles kind of feel Sally Bowles kind of crossed with, who was the, um, famous emcee from, from- Cabaret. Joel Grey

Nikki 8:17

Joel Grey, yeah

Mik 8:18

So she had a touch of Joel Grey. She had a touch of the Sally Bowles kind of-

Nikki 8:27

Mm

Mik 8:28

feel, like bad German accent. Mm, mm. Uh, but, but a bad German accent, but she wasn't trying to pretend it was good. Like, it was like, that's, it was self-referential, I think. That's what we're getting at. It's very self-referential.

Nikki 8:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mik 8:37

No one's taking themselves seriously at all, really.

Nikki 8:39

That's right, yeah. One, one of the interesting things about the night though is that she, she, the emcee is a very capable performer with an excAllent voice, and it's this- tiny room with not many people in it, and she walked out and she belted out the first song.

Mik 9:01

Yeah, which was, um, Seven Nation Army. A, a, a slow version of Seven Nation Army.

Nikki 9:08

Uh, that was the last song.

Mik 9:09

No, that was her first one, wasn't

Nikki 9:11

it? No.

Mik 9:12

That was her first one.

Nikki 9:12

And I'm feeling good" was

Mik 9:14

the first one. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep, yep, yep, you're right.

Nikki 9:16

Uh, yeah. And it was fantastic. It really did create an air of sizzling in the room and, and she did cast a spell. Yeah. And then she immediately broke it, going, "You're not gonna get any more of that tonight. This is gonna be fucking stupid. This is gonna be mental. You're gonna hide your eyes sometimes." And, um, and she, what I loved about it is that, uh, she broke it and she introduced the audience to how the night's gonna go down, what you're gonna see and what, what your sort of feelings you might have, and what's allowed. Now, I'm a huge fan of doing this, whether it's a highly professional thing or whether it's a kids' show. Uh, particularly in Adelaide, we have very shy, very well-behaved audiences, and it can be quite disheartening. Even though you're aware they're listening heartily, they're not responding, uh, or receiving anything, and you're thinking you're missing it as an actor or performer. When you tell them, "This is what you're gonna experience, this is how it's all gonna go down," and you've got the skills to then take them on that journey and scoop them all into it, it's a much better night generally. Much better performance. The audience is at one with you. They know what the objective is. And I really enjoyed that. Um, the seating was really odd. I noticed it straight away. They seemed to put every woman in the room on the si- on the right side, and every male who'd come to the show on the left side. And it was really strange, because the left side was often quite dead, and the right side was all over the place having loads of fun.

Mik 10:49

The left side seemed to be, this is left as us facing the, the stage- Yeah, yeah not, not, not stage- Not stage spring that's all right. But the, um, yeah, they seemed to be, um, groups of, I don't know, four or five people in a group, and they all seemed to be older, in their plus 60s. And they, they seemed to be there for a bit of a raunchy time, but they didn't quite know how to behave at a raunchy time. It, yeah, yeah. Whereas on the other side of the room, they were much younger. Yes, they were more female heavy, gender he- heavy, but they were also very much playful- Playful and there for a, they were there for a party-

Nikki 11:27

Yeah, yeah

Mik 11:28

and have a laugh. Um, so there was that kind of natural energy in the room. We,

Nikki 11:37

we sprung for the- To me, you've gotta get your audience right. You've gotta sit them in the right places. You gotta, yeah, uh, to, to really seal the deal.

Mik 11:40

We sprung for the, for the extra ticket to, well, extra cost of the ticket, so-

Nikki 11:47

Yeah,

Mik 11:47

yeah so the, the stage is, like we said, about 50 people theater, in the theater watching. The stage is a semi-circle, um, um, apron stage-

Nikki 11:57

Mm

Mik 11:58

uh, with a curtain at the back, so the audience are sitting in sort of- Slightly raised,

Nikki 12:01

yeah

Mik 12:01

a semi-circle around the front. There's a gap in the middle. And then at the back row of the room, so we're still only about five to six meters from the stage, but we're at the back in two chairs called the director's chairs. It's where the director directs the show. So you get front and center, the full- Show. So- You know, it's not your- Yeah yeah And, but also at the back, so you c- that's why, which is kind of where I like to sit as a director, 'cause I like to watch the audience-

Nikki 12:26

Mm-hmm

Mik 12:26

as much as I like watching the show. So that's why we could get a good sense of what the audience split was like. Mm. There really was a split, uh, in that sense. Mm. Um- And so, yeah.

Nikki 12:38

Yeah. But as far as the rest of the evening went, the, um, I really felt for the juggler. He was an extremely- Oh

Mik 12:45

good juggler. He was a good juggler, but the ceiling was too low.

Nikki 12:48

The ceiling was very low, so he had to rework how he juggled and pull his shoulders in and... To the average Joe, they wouldn't have noticed, but oh- He dropped a lot of balls, but- Man but, but we recogni-

Mik 12:59

and which he would feel bad about, but we recognized, 'cause we've done a bit of juggling, is that some of the tricks he was trying to pull off-

Nikki 13:06

You can't get the height

Mik 13:07

yeah, he couldn't get the height to get the time to pull the trick, so he was constantly in this... Yeah, he was, like, compressed. He was like juggling in a box.

Nikki 13:16

But he was, he was a lovely performer. Mm. Really generous, uh- He

Mik 13:20

was a street performer,

Nikki 13:20

apparently really, really generous because of that street performing aspect as well-

Mik 13:24

Mm

Nikki 13:25

where he didn't, um, go, "I'm the performer."

Mik 13:28

Everyone pay attention.

Nikki 13:29

Everyone do... Yeah. Yeah. And he played with the whole idea. I really liked it. Again, he did a great trick that I'm a big believer in, which was that he came out, he got friendly with everyone, he made friends with the audience, and then he went, "Right. I don't think the entrance was great. We're gonna do it again and I'm gonna rehearse you." Instantly everyone's their best friend, you know? It's, it's a great, um-

Mik 13:49

Permission.

Nikki 13:51

We have permission. Yeah. He go... Yeah. And, and it's a great, um- effect to bring your audience in. Uh, the-

Mik 14:01

Then what did we have? We had the-

Nikki 14:02

Oh, the burlesque came

Mik 14:04

next burlesque dancer. She was, her first one was better

Nikki 14:05

Her first one was funny. Yeah It was borderlining on Lucille Ball. Yeah Her outfit she came out in was extravagant and almost awful, but not quite. Like,

Mik 14:16

she, and she did things like she, you had to give her a round of applause every time she pulled a piece of clothing off, but then she'd pull her glove off, and she had another glove, glo- glove on underneath. So there were kind of gags in there as well.

Nikki 14:28

And she did some really awkward Lucille Ball kind of like- Yeah taking offs, which were really funny.

Mik 14:33

Pulled some

Nikki 14:33

funny faces. And when she threw something on, it landed all over some guy's face or whatever. It was very funny. And then, um-

Mik 14:40

And sexy. Like, you know, she still had- But

Nikki 14:42

sexy as well. Yeah,

Mik 14:43

yeah it wasn't, it wasn't complete send-up. It was, it was burlesque sexy, but it was, it was- It

Nikki 14:47

wasn't your classic-

Mik 14:49

No, it wasn't. It w- didn't have ego about it-

Nikki 14:51

Mm

Mik 14:52

I think, 'cause it didn't have that kind of- Yeah presumptuous ego about it that some burlesque dancers have, 'cause-

Nikki 14:57

Yeah

Mik 14:58

I'm here, and I'm doing it."

Nikki 15:00

Yeah.

Mik 15:00

Um, yeah, she, she didn't, yeah.

Nikki 15:02

Strangely enough, the most sexual performance of the evening, which isn't considered its own performance, was the emcee. Um, the emcee- Yeah probably bared the most. They were the only one- Yeah they, uh, they gave you nipple right at the beginning.

Mik 15:18

Yeah, she did those.

Nikki 15:18

They did a, a little strip with nipple, uh, caps and, and water. Yeah, that's right. And they were not afraid to spread their legs in front of the audience with their little kNikers and things like that.

Mik 15:30

Yeah. And

Nikki 15:31

yet, as sexual as it was, it had that sort of grungy German cabaret feel about it that, uh- Just all for show, yeah? You like? You know. And, um, and so it desexualized it really quickly as well- Yeah strangely enough. Yeah. And, um, anyway, her performances, all of them were great. Um-

Mik 15:53

Yeah

Nikki 15:54

working probably too hard in a small crowd, but that's what these shows are. They're about your time as a performer where you get in the trenches and you learn your craft and hone it.

Mik 16:06

Yeah. The

Nikki 16:07

second act was, uh... Oh, sorry, the, the, during all this time, there's a guy who looks like a tech. He's grumpy and big, and, um- Oh, the guy he's wandering around picking up the bits the performers have dropped, and every time he comes on to pick up stuff, we all... He's called the Kitty, and so we have to meow for the Kitty while he picks things

Mik 16:26

up. That's what the emcee made us do, yeah.

Nikki 16:28

And, um, and that was, that was cute and everything, and then all of a sudden he was an act. And you could tell that it was going to be, um, something that might make you squirm when he put the tarpaulin on the ground.

Mik 16:43

Yeah.

Nikki 16:44

But the first thing he did was bend a, uh, meta, a metal s- um- Steel a steel building rod-

Mik 16:50

Yeah

Nikki 16:50

with his mouth, in his mouth. Then he, um, smashed a plate on his face.

Mik 16:57

Yeah.

Nikki 16:57

Then he put some safety goggles on, finished sculling a bottle of beer, smashed the glass- Put it on the tarp with other smashed glass, which he smashed a few more times just to prove it. Laid down, got the bar maid to come over and stand on his back.

Mik 17:17

Yeah.

Nikki 17:18

And then not only did he let rest his face in the glass, but she then got her toe and went- Stood on the

Mik 17:25

back of

Nikki 17:25

his head donk, and stood on the back... Didn't stand on his head, but actually just put enough pressure, quick and severe pressure, that it should have gone through his face. But it did not.

Mik 17:36

Yeah. No. Came up nice and-

Nikki 17:37

And, um, the whole audience was gripping themselves, like, but everyone had to watch.

Mik 17:43

Yeah.

Nikki 17:43

Uh, it was pretty incredible- He was, he's- because he said only one other man in the world does the trick, and it's not real glass.

Mik 17:49

He was interesting, too, 'cause he was so laconic-

Nikki 17:55

Yes,

Mik 17:56

yes that he al- he almost, like, his whole shtick was to be a bored, tired kind of,

Nikki 18:02

um- An anti-performer

Mik 18:03

anti-performer performer. But he played it so well that there were some times where I kinda thought, "Wow, does he really not wanna fucking be here?" Like, he- Like

Nikki 18:14

he's

Mik 18:15

bored of it. Um- Yeah. He, he didn't let us in on the gag, in that

Nikki 18:18

sense. But the one thing I did enjoy was that he, he said, uh, "I, I've been told recently that, uh, we should not be using the, uh, gender terms of the ladies and gentlemen. So, uh, I'm, uh, just going to s- extend a warm welcome to all of you fuckers."

Mik 18:37

All,

Nikki 18:38

yeah. And then he just called us fuckers from that moment

Mik 18:39

on. He just said, "All you fuckers," yeah. Um- So he was cool. And then, and then we- I

Nikki 18:44

like the approach

Mik 18:45

followed up, I think the end of that first act was a belly dancer. She came on and did a little routine, and she was pretty cool, actually. Like, it wasn't- And then- it wasn't full traditional belly dancing with the, like with some of the- And not

Nikki 18:57

a professional performer-

Mik 18:58

No

Nikki 18:59

I would say. Uh, but the vulnerability In doing just the belly dance. Like- Yeah she wasn't doing any of those extra performing tricks. Those of you who know what I mean, know what I mean.

Mik 19:12

Mm.

Nikki 19:12

She just danced.

Mik 19:15

Yeah. Her

Nikki 19:16

dance, the belly dance. And there was something absolutely, uh, mesmerizing about it.

Mik 19:21

Yeah.

Nikki 19:21

Because she wasn't an actor, every thought that was on her face, every realization or understanding of audience w- was shown as well. So for me, it was this extra vulnerability and, and, um, fascinating just watching her go through the process.

Mik 19:41

And she balanced a glass of water on her head

Nikki 19:43

and

Mik 19:44

did things. And did all

Nikki 19:44

the belly dancing.

Mik 19:46

And that was pretty cool. So then there was interval, and then we came back for the second, uh, act, which was again led via the emcee. Not quite sure what her character's name was. I mean, I would call her Sally Bowles 'cause she looked a bit Sally Bowles-ish.

Nikki 19:58

Mm.

Mik 20:00

Uh, and she did another routine. I think that's the one she did the water, uh-

Nikki 20:04

Yeah

Mik 20:05

that she got the- So

Nikki 20:06

we kinda r- rotated the original acts around again.

Mik 20:09

Yeah, so all the same acts came out again. So the, so she came out and did a number. Then the burlesque performer came out and did her second number, which was mu- much, uh, more a kinda Las Vegas kinda showy with lots of flares and fans and that sort of stuff. She did this, she jumped up in the air and did this move where, you know, they land in the splits.

Nikki 20:29

Oh, boy.

Mik 20:30

But we both fucking flinched because she didn't, technically, we could see she didn't do it very well and landed hard on her knee. So like for just, just as both performers and directors and choreographers- we just kind of went, "Oh, shit. Don't... Ooh, that's gotta hurt." Don't

Nikki 20:46

get me wrong. Yeah. Like, I, I did so many stupid things, you know? I spent half my dance career on, on the tops of my feet rather than the soles of them, and- I, you know, and I never thought it would happen to me. Uh, but yeah, your knees do not last. Yeah. You can't keep doing those things and expect to have no repercussions.

Mik 21:07

Yeah. So-

Nikki 21:08

Um, so yeah. I really, yeah, her wellbeing worried me.

Mik 21:12

Yeah.

Nikki 21:13

Um, but I gotta say, the second half, you know, it, it is a little bit me. Uh, you know- I, I liked seeing them all again. I love the juggler's act. Uh, and something happened to him that's never happened before. He, he takes a jacket off and he gets an audience member to help him put it back on. And they

Mik 21:33

put a

Nikki 21:33

different- Put another one on

Mik 21:34

put a different one on.

Nikki 21:34

While he's juggling five balls. But the thing is, like, it's very funny because he's gotta get the timing right, so this poor person's constantly on edge, and he's constantly offering a hand, taking it away. No,

Mik 21:45

it's part of the gag.

Nikki 21:45

Very funny. Yeah. But, um, then at the very end, she did, she got down in front of him on her knees- and actually did every single part of this jacket up. Of the- The buckles, the zip, the everything. And he, you could see, he, he just kept juggling, going like, "I've never had this happen before. This is crazy." So that was, that was fun. I love it when unexpected, um- Yeah excAllence from the c- uh, the audience happens.

Mik 22:11

So the glass-smashing dude didn't come back the second time in the second act. Instead, they had a different- Not

Nikki 22:17

because he was hurt

Mik 22:18

no, no, just breaking it up.

Nikki 22:21

The last

Mik 22:21

act- Um, the last act of the night was two, was... well, not two twins, it was twins. They were s- uh, twin sisters, and they were both dressed in your typical gold mirror ball-type-

Nikki 22:33

Oh, it was fabulous outfit. They looked like mirror balls- Oh, yeah on the stage. It was great.

Mik 22:38

And they did a couple of- What an outfit they did a couple of, like, Tina Turner, you

Nikki 22:42

know- No, no, not Tina Turner. Were they? Well, they did. Did they? But they started with Whitney.

Mik 22:46

Oh, yeah. That's right.

Nikki 22:47

They started with Whitney Houston, Wanna Dance With Somebody. Iconic. Uh...

Mik 22:53

But it was a bit karaoke. It, it was a bit... Y- we, we were saying afterwards, it was like we could see them as, as teenage girls sitting in their bedroom with their hairdressers going, "We could make an act." Hairbrushes,

Nikki 23:03

yeah.

Mik 23:04

Oh, yeah, with their hairbrushes. We could do this.

Nikki 23:05

We could do this.

Mik 23:06

And, and they- And they

Nikki 23:07

can

Mik 23:07

and they can, but they didn't, but- But- But can... like, their voices- Voice-wise voice-wise, like, the... So they had, like, a karaoke track. There's no live a- band music, so they had, like, karaoke track music that the artist sang to. And that volume was consistent. Uh, but the, the MC, she belted her numbers out. Like, she belted them out. What a voice. Over the, like, really... But these twins, the two of them couldn't out-sing the music, the backing track.

Nikki 23:39

No, and you've chosen- They- Whitney. I mean,

Mik 23:41

go woo they, they sang, they hit the notes. It's not like they didn't hit the Whitney notes. They did hit the notes, but they didn't belt it. There were bits where you could hardly hear them, to be honest. Um-

Nikki 23:50

Yeah, yeah. And they- But you could hear the audience joining in.

Mik 23:53

Yeah. Um- And they looked a bit, I don't know, their moves, I don't know, they looked up at the ceiling a lot and they sort of looked around. They didn't really- They

Nikki 24:00

just waved around.

Mik 24:01

Yeah.

Nikki 24:02

You know? And, um, there's nothing wrong with that if your voice is, is the, uh, the- Oh, if you- You know

Mik 24:09

yeah.

Nikki 24:09

That's the bells and whistles.

Mik 24:10

Yeah.

Nikki 24:11

Um, but yeah, it was more like watching a com- a cori- ugh, cori, karaoke performance. Unfortunate because it was the last act of the night. However, what they did next was clever. Oh, yeah They said, "Everybody get up and sing with us, and you know- And then they did, uh- whether you like this song or not, we know you won't be able to not sing it," and they put Tina Turner's- Proud Mary Proud Mary on. And they sang with that, and everybody sang with them. And of course, everyone wanted to jump up and dance, because that music makes you do that.

Mik 24:45

And then they did Nutbush as well, and everyone got up, gets up and does that. And if you know Nutbush, City Limits, and...

Nikki 24:51

So really, it was, uh, it was like an... It probably would've been better to even just open it up as the final act of the performance is you. Who want, who who's gonna do a karaoke? Like, that would've actually been more entertaining.

Mik 25:04

Or who wants to do their own burlesque routine-

Nikki 25:06

Yeah

Mik 25:07

or something like that would've been fun, like-

Nikki 25:08

There was one moment that I thought was, uh, probably the crowning moment of the show, to be honest, and it was when th- they asked if anyone was, uh, celebrating a special occasion. And one woman said, "Yeah, it's my birthday." So she got her up on stage, as they always do, but then she said, "I'm actually gonna walk away and leave you all alone on stage to have that experience, and we're gonna sing happy birthday to you."

Mik 25:34

Yeah, yeah,

Nikki 25:35

yeah. And it was like, 'cause standing on stage in the lights alone, huh, really vulnerable. But being given all that big singing and love-

Mik 25:45

Yeah

Nikki 25:46

oh, wow, what a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Mik 25:48

Yeah.

Nikki 25:49

She could've stood with her.

Mik 25:51

She was- And

Nikki 25:51

it wouldn't have felt the same

Mik 25:53

she was a good emcee. She really was.

Nikki 25:56

Yes, yeah.

Mik 25:57

Uh, I think, uh, I was, uh, I was surprised and not surprised. So the show went, the show itself went for maybe a bit over an hour, maybe an hour and a half if you include the interval and the breaks and all the rest of it. So, uh, uh, it wasn't maybe as long as I thought it was gonna be, but then again, the venue was smaller than I thought it was gonna be. I thought it was gonna be a bit more sort of table cabaret- Mm service, but it was more seated like a theater.

Nikki 26:21

So here's the-

Mik 26:22

Um-

Nikki 26:23

Yeah

Mik 26:24

yeah. There's a few, yeah.

Nikki 26:25

Here's the thing, right? Since I've walked away from it, I've already figured out how to make the show fucking absolutely amazing, and it's not hard. Um, like- So some of the things that the performers were naturally doing that they weren't actually aware they were doing, was that they were sussing out the audience. So there was a couple of performers who had their eye on a particular person in the audience, or they really liked a particular table, and you could see them figuring out how to get to the table or whether that person was keeping an eye on them. Now there, that's the fun- They're the bits that you should, that you would be able to actually really play and take to another level. That they're, that they're never off stage or almost, you know, and that they're all making these little side... It'd be hysterical. It'd be so much fun. Your audience would be all over the place.

Mik 27:18

Yeah.

Nikki 27:18

And your performers wouldn't have the jaded, "I'm sitting backstage waiting for the next thing."

Mik 27:24

Yeah.

Nikki 27:24

Um, and it would actually pull the whole thing together. It'd be like the Muppets, but like sexy fucking cool version of it. And you're in the middle of all of it rather than doing it traditionally And making those side stories an actual thing. So your job every night, MC, is to fall in love with someone in the audience-

Mik 27:44

Yeah

Nikki 27:44

in particular. And like do you know what I mean? Like, and you're gonna set that up all the way through. You'll start here, go over here, over here. By the time he gets here, this is where this is gonna happen. Blah, blah, blah. You'll become aware of the audience here. You'll reject him there. Mm. And then you'll do that, and you know, et cetera, et cetera. It'd be that extra element that instead of, uh, distracting you, because sometimes I was distracted by watching them watching us, you know? Um, make it into something.

Mik 28:12

Yeah. Yeah.

Nikki 28:13

And, and do it well so that it actually ma- it lifts the show.

Mik 28:17

Yeah.

Nikki 28:18

Um, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So you don't get the little drops all the time-

Mik 28:21

Yeah

Nikki 28:21

where your brain goes, "What's she looking at? Oh, that guy. Huh?"

Mik 28:26

Yeah.

Nikki 28:26

Well, she was looking at him before." By now, um, I've lost the show for a minute.

Mik 28:30

Yeah.

Nikki 28:31

But that, uh, if you actually wove it in and make it incredible.

Mik 28:35

I think, I don't know how they run as a business. I, I mean, the, the nature of vaudeville is you can get lots of diff- it's like a, yeah, like TikTok was live or a box of, uh, all sorts, you know? They

Nikki 28:45

have

Mik 28:47

different performers rotating- Different performers each week all the

Nikki 28:48

time,

Mik 28:48

yeah Each all the time, you know? D- and obviously street performers, and different acts, and burlesque performers that are probably performing someone else. There's a side hustle. So everywhere, that's kind of the nature of it, and that's good. Um-

Nikki 29:01

Longevity is the question

Mik 29:02

Yeah. And I, and I, and to that end, I don't even know like, you know, does it the same MC every week, or does she switch out every time? Or like, there's, there's a lot... But hey, man, it was, it was earthy. It was real. It was- Oh,

Nikki 29:17

I had a great night

Mik 29:18

it was theater in the trenches. It was performers- Mm doing their best to entertain and put on a good show, and they did. And it was fun. Um, maybe a bit quick, shorter than I was expecting. Like, maybe it was, it was like maybe going to see a Fringe show kind of length, where I guess I kind of maybe wanted something a bit longer. Um, bit, bit more rounded. Um, uh, but maybe that depends on week to week who's available and, and all the rest of it. I don't know. Um, but the staff were all, all the performers and staff, like the performers were the staff, the staff were the performers. The bar, and the lighting, and all the rest of it. So I had, I loved that quality of it, that real underground. It did have that kinda underground kinda- um, quality to it. A sort of rough diamond kind of venue. Um, we certainly- Mm don't have anything like that here.

Nikki 30:15

Well,

Mik 30:16

we have a

Nikki 30:16

lot of it- Well, we used to during the Fringe- But- but, you know, quite frankly- Not, not- I just don't think Adelaide w- is a place that could sustain the longevity of that.

Mik 30:24

No, we just don't have the population. And, and, and- And we live- the population is so- differently spread out. Yeah It's not as, not as dense as it is in Melbourne. So it's- Mm lots of different factors like that. It's really hard to make something like that happen here. But-

Nikki 30:36

It's a- And we don't- In Adelaide in particular- Okay it's a culture where people are happy where they'd rather just stay at home and, and have some friends over and watch something or play something or have a few drinks and a meal.

Mik 30:49

Okay. So wrapping up, before we move on to Eddie, wrapping up the, uh, vaudeville show, highlights, lowlights, and, and unexpected. Go.

Nikki 31:02

Um, highlights was seeing a whole heap of different things that I've never seen before. Um, lowlights I think, uh- Uh, just the It needed something to give the magic a little kick every now and then. A little bit too much, uh, petticoat showing, not enough imagination being given there.

Mik 31:39

Yeah.

Nikki 31:39

If that makes sense- Yeah uh, for me personally. And I think the unexpected thing was that I particularly enjoyed watching people not performing as trained performers, but performing because they have a skill. It's a very different thing to watch.

Mik 31:58

Yeah. Um, for me, I kinda liked the, uh, like I think I said, the, the kinda novelty or the kinda idea that you could just duck into a venue off this main street in a major city and catch a show, and yeah, watch some crazy weird-ass stuff, and a bit of fun. Like, just that r- that kinda raw-

Nikki 32:22

Playfulness

Mik 32:23

playful- Yeah street level kinda stuff. Yeah, it didn't have that, that rough diamond kind of environment. I liked that. Mm. Uh, highlights. Lowlights were, were, uh, maybe like you say, maybe a, maybe a sense of polish. Like it's the small bit. Like, essentially there's nothing wrong, but like you say, those little- Either

Nikki 32:43

doing too much-

Mik 32:45

Those little-

Nikki 32:45

or not doing enough

Mik 32:45

yeah, or those- It's like

Nikki 32:46

yeah,

Mik 32:47

yeah. Just threading those little moments in with the MC so that there was a thread with the audience throughout, or, you know, just time-

Nikki 32:53

Surprise

Mik 32:53

yeah, little bits. Little-

Nikki 32:55

Yeah

Mik 32:56

little sort of polishes here and there- Clever on that rough diamond aspect, you know? Mm. Um, and most surprising, most surprising, um, uh, well, I was surprised that it ended. Like, I wanted more. Like, I expected to be there longer. Like, I was a bit sort of, "Oh, oh, that's it?" Like, oh. But I guess we'd been there for a while, so maybe that's a good thing. Maybe, you know, you're surprised that, oh, we guess we have been there for an hour or two hours, I suppose, but-

Nikki 33:23

Well, that's what it's like when you're scrolling, isn't it, on TikTok? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You start and then you see all these crazy things, and you stay for a while and watch them all.

Mik 33:32

Yeah.

Nikki 33:33

And, um, yeah. No, it was a great experience. I really would recommend it to anyone. Speakeasy, they have more there than just The Vaudeville. Oh, yeah.

Mik 33:41

They've got other types of shows

Nikki 33:41

as well. If I was there longer, I would absolutely- Yeah go to their life drawing sessions- Yeah their other performances. They have guest performers in.

Mik 33:49

Shows two

Nikki 33:51

or three times a week. Um, lots of queer work. Yeah. Really great place.

Mik 33:52

Yeah. Totally recommend it. Speakeasy Theatre in Melbourne. Go check 'em out. Okay, so that was the Speakeasy in Melbourne. Now we're going to talk about the other show we went and saw, which was the sort of reason we went to Melbourne in the first place, which is to watch Eddie Izzard's, uh, perform- Excuse me uh, his one... Their, her one-person, um, production of Hamlet. Um, this is part of a world tour. They've been all, all over the place, uh, before they came here. Um, they, he, they, she wasn't coming to Adelaide, so we had to go to see them in Melbourne. So we went and saw them at the Arts, uh, Theater, um, last Sunday. And, ah, where do you start? Oh my God.

Nikki 34:39

Well, I'm not gonna break the entire play down, uh, as we did with the Speakeasy because we, we all roughly know Hamlet. Um, also because that's not really the amazing bit. Um, Eddie, she simply walked onto the stage And like all performers of that quality, that's all she needed to do.

Mik 35:07

Hmm.

Nikki 35:09

And it's not because she's famous that we applauded when she walked on.

Mik 35:13

Well, it kind of is a bit too.

Nikki 35:15

It's not just because of that, though. Yeah. It is a particular presence.

Mik 35:20

Hmm.

Nikki 35:21

The same thing happened when I saw Cabaret in New York many, many years ago with Joel Grey. Um, he didn't come on and wait for applause. He came on in character and prepped, and that was enough to completely blow our brains And he did not come out in character though, and did that one thing that I love, talked to us- Yeah as Eddie.

Mik 35:49

There's a thing in Australia, we don't do it in Australia, but I've noticed they do it in the UK a lot, where the actor will, um, sometimes talk to the audience before the play starts and just prep them for what they're about to see. Certainly at the end of the play, um, the actors will often stop and, you know, thank the audience or spruik their next show or spruik the show they're doing or whatever. But this is a- an uncommon thing in Australian theater- Mm to see that fourth wall being broken immediately, not even, it didn't even start with the fourth wall. He's, she just came out and spoke to the audience and said, "I'm gonna start by breaking the fourth wall and talk to you, talk with you." Um-

Nikki 36:27

And although I know you're all aware of Hamlet, I, I want to express what, what this is about, how it's all gonna go down, and, and that this is not a comedy.

Mik 36:39

No.

Nikki 36:39

Eddie is a, she was very famous as a comedian.

Mik 36:43

Still is, yeah.

Nikki 36:44

Still is, yes. Yeah. And this tr- this, uh, theater, uh, experience is something that, uh, developed later in her life.

Mik 36:54

And it's born from, we, I watched, we watched an interview with her afterwards about this, where it's born from her, um, stand-up comedy style, which she, which she acknowledges she borrowed from Richard Pryor, which is the quarter turn. To, to, when you're telling a story that involves multiple characters, to just do a quarter turn and assume- Change character change the character. And so it's that, that sort of method that was then employed to play all these roles. The other thing about it is that, so the stage is empty. It's in a black box studio stage, maybe 3 or 400 people.

Nikki 37:33

Mm.

Mik 37:33

Um, it's, uh, in a, uh, and a, again, protruding stage, but it's raked s- seating, so we're looking down on the performer. And it's all black, and there's a s- there's a, a s- a stage lamp, um, stage left and stage right, um, facing up to create a shadow on the back curtain. And there's one stage left- upstage center on the back cur- curtain that's half on the curtain and half on the floor, which creates this down light effect, and that's the only overt lighting. There was some other- Excuse me you know, the space was lit, um, all around, but that was the only overt kind of lighting effect. Um, and that's all that was needed because you had the two floor lamps creating two different shadows, which always made it look like there were more people on stage. And then the down light just became this space where the ghost, um, lived. And, and yeah, that was it. And so it really is that sort of essence of empty space, someone to fill it, someone to watch.

Nikki 38:32

Yeah. And, and the rest is- That was one of the greatest joys about seeing this, was that- That whole Brock theory that, that there's-

Mik 38:41

Brook

Nikki 38:42

Brook, sorry. Um, that all you need is a space and someone to fill it

Mik 38:51

And someone to watch

Nikki 38:51

And someone to watch it, and that's, that is at the bare basics.

Mik 38:57

So they-

Nikki 38:58

And

Mik 38:58

boy, is it

Nikki 38:59

beautiful

Mik 38:59

they did, they did... So at first I was a little surprised, so I'll get to my bit of surprised part of the performance in that. I mean, it's one person on stage, not that you have to, um, soar at the air thus with your performance and be big and bombastic. But I was surprised at just how quiet and conversational she was with all the roles. They were really, I mean, she was miked, which, you know, I'm in two minds about. I, I appreciate mic when you're on a big stage, but in a venue like that, I would've thought the actor's voice would've been enough. But nonetheless, uh, miked, so it creates a capacity to, to speak more in a f- almost film-like voice on stage. Um, that, that was a bit sort of surprising at first, and I expected maybe m- them to burst out with sort of a bigger performance for certain roles, but they didn't. Everything was very understated in that sense. Only

Nikki 39:59

once did he really raise his voi- Did she, oh, so sorry. Only once did she really raise her voice. Only once. And again, these are very wise decisions. I mean, I remember growing up, uh, putting, creating shows with my family and, um, Dad would always say like, "If you've got one special effect or if you've got one trick, you only do it once and you do it really well. You don't use it over and over again." And, um, and in that sense, I think that that one, and one only, outburst was enough-

Mik 40:36

Yeah

Nikki 40:36

really.

Mik 40:38

But also, the, the changes of characters were subtle. Not only was the delivery subtle, but the changes and the shifts in character, say from Gertrude to the King, or Ophelia- Mm to Laertes- Mm they were, again, they were... Or Polonius was just the slightest hint of a limp. That's all. Yes, yes. Just the slightest hint, and nothing else really changed. Um, except for one character, which was the apprentice gravedigger. That was the mo- the most sort of overtly- Character work character work-

Nikki 41:08

Mm

Mik 41:08

that we'd seen. And even then, it was done in a really- Understated soft, understated way that, that really gave that role... Like that role, that- So- a- apprentice role-

Nikki 41:19

vulnerable

Mik 41:20

of the gravedigger, which you just normally wouldn't think of, stands out for me just as such a... You just- Oh you just got their whole life story from a couple- of lines. It was amazing.

Nikki 41:30

Incredible. Incredible.

Mik 41:32

Yeah.

Nikki 41:34

Excuse me. Um, I think- Definitely for me, um, one of the highlights was, was the to be or not to be speech.

Mik 41:47

Yeah.

Nikki 41:48

It, it was Uh, I've seen it in so many places, and it was just the opposite of every... I mean, I've seen some great actors do it, and do it with gentle thinking and touching out of ideas in their mind, but this was This was different. It, it, uh, it rubbed the nerve. He was rubbing on the nerve that was raw trying to find out what the connection was, quietly.

Mik 42:26

Mm.

Nikki 42:26

Rather than reading, rather than providing the soliloquy. It was-

Mik 42:33

He didn't, she didn't per-

Nikki 42:34

So different

Mik 42:35

she didn't perform any kind of madness.

Nikki 42:37

She absolutely didn't

Mik 42:39

Just, just words were delivered. And I was thinking afterwards, you really don't, do you? Because every other character is always saying how mad Hamlet is. You don't have to do anything-

Nikki 42:47

Everyone

Mik 42:47

went- to show that you're mad they do it for you. They do it all for you.

Nikki 42:50

And if they're all convinced you're mad, you don't have to do anything.

Mik 42:52

Yeah, you just So which is what she played into. So the delivery was just really conversational. I found-

Nikki 42:58

Ophelia actually really did bring me to tears.

Mik 43:02

Yeah.

Nikki 43:03

His choice, uh, sorry, her choice with Ophelia, uh, was stunning. The, the singing was so gentle, and she chose to literally take the beating. There's the line saying that she beats her chest, um, and sings continually, and he took it literally. And he would get halfway through a song, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,

Mik 43:25

oof.

Nikki 43:26

And the pain of the broken heart was just-

Mik 43:31

Yeah

Nikki 43:31

vis- it was, I could feel it. It was so, oh, you know? And it made, um, Ophelia's role, uh, and the death kind of just insanity itself. Yeah. Accidental insanity. It just, uh, rather than this whole big drama of she hath drowned herself. No, she didn't. She just-

Mik 43:56

Drowned

Nikki 43:56

off her face on hurt, pain, and has no knowing what she's doing. And that, that was just a beautiful It really, because the performances weren't so big, and there wasn't all the delivery and, uh, and, you know, da, da, da- Yeah of, of Shakespeare with all the bits in between and the trumpets and the, um, you know, five minutes worth of two acts- Yeah trying to make the most out of it before they say their line- Yeah, yeah, yeah where they've only got three lines. Uh, uh, without all of that, it ran at this beautiful pace that kept- Yeah your body within that body rhythm. When it broke the pace, it was perfect. Uh, he put in a few, sorry, uh, she put in a few gags as well that were just h- um-

Mik 44:44

And, and those

Nikki 44:45

gags- Timing, timing-wise

Mik 44:46

those gags weren't, they were, they were gags of thought. So there was a moment where Polonius, is it Polonius or Hamlet who's talking about

Nikki 44:54

the mouse trap? Polonius. Oh, no,

Mik 44:55

Hamlet. And he, a- and he- Or whoever character he's playing, but it, he makes the character hover for a moment on choosing the right word, and it's just- We

Nikki 45:03

think he's gonna say murder

Mik 45:05

it was just sublime. But he

Nikki 45:06

actually-

Mik 45:07

It was really just-

Nikki 45:07

says- It was- mousetrap

Mik 45:08

it was in the nothing-

Nikki 45:09

Mm

Mik 45:10

that, that the humor laid, not in the doing of anything.

Nikki 45:13

And when the, when the king asks, uh, of his, uh, ser- servant, like that, uh, "Well, if you know what's wrong with Hame- Hamlet, can you tell me what's wrong?" And he goes, "Yeah, sure." And he took so long to answer.

Mik 45:29

Yeah.

Nikki 45:29

Thinking deeply and studying it, and eventually just came out with, "He's fucking mad."

Mik 45:34

Yeah.

Nikki 45:35

And loved it. So there were a few adaptations to the script, but very, very well-placed.

Mik 45:40

And, and again, more, more in the, it's, it's more in the unspoken. So it leaves, it's what's not spoken by a character. It's, it's that moment when you see a character choose the words they're going to say.

Nikki 45:53

Mm.

Mik 45:53

And as an audience Excuse the train about to go past. Like I said, we're up in the hills Oh, dear Daily freight train Hi, everyone on those two carriages So yeah, that was, that was, that again, that understated. He allowed gaps and spaces for the audience to use their imagination. She did, uh, a- and, a- and you know, just... But that all comes from the understatedness of it. I, I don't know about you two, but often when I go and see a Shakespeare, you know, sometimes, 'cause you don't hear it every day, sometimes it might take you a scene or two to just tune your ear into the language.

Nikki 46:51

Yeah.

Mik 46:51

But I just, bang, right from the word go, was right there with, with it. Like, that, that was really- It

Nikki 46:55

was incredible how she did it. I don't-

Mik 46:58

Yeah, I don't-

Nikki 46:58

Incredible.

Mik 46:59

Yeah, just bang.

Nikki 47:00

Here's the funny thing too. I remember that night saying to Mik, uh, quite honestly, I do believe that is the most I could watch a show of this and I would probably miss bits with distraction Or just not quite just following what, because the actor maybe doesn't quite understand what they're saying or-

Mik 47:30

Yeah, usually if you miss the meaning of what or miss what someone said, in any play but particularly Shakespeare, if, if you find yourself going, "Hang on, what was that bit?" More often than not it's because the actor doesn't completely understand the meaning of the- Mm words they're saying, and so they can't communicate the meaning of the words, and so you miss it.

Nikki 47:55

Or they steamroller over it- Yeah go, you know, "Nreew,"

Mik 47:58

through the dialogue. And there, there's not really a moment like that with Eddie's show. There, you know, I, there were a couple of moments where I could see that they'd lost a line or fluffed a word and sort of looped back quickly to do it, and that's an actor recognizing another actor, like those mo- You just know them. But again, she didn't... I just really liked watching the way she dealt with that as an actor in the moment, going, "Yeah, just do, do, do, do,

Nikki 48:25

do." And in many cases it wasn't even so much a case that, uh, you could see her go, "Oh, fuck that." It was, "No, not good enough. I need, no, I need to get that clear. I'm gonna go back."

Mik 48:35

Yeah. Yeah.

Nikki 48:37

It's imperative they get that word.

Mik 48:39

Yeah.

Nikki 48:39

I'll go back. It's different to, "Oh, shit, hang on." Totally different.

Mik 48:45

Yeah.

Nikki 48:45

Absolutely aware, absolutely in charge.

Mik 48:47

Like, like in that s- yeah, in that sense you're watching an absolute consummate performer at the peak of their craft, so comfortable in that space, and you feel comfortable as an audience member. You're just like, "Yeah, what, you take me wherever, man. I've got total faith that you know what you're doing here." Um-

Nikki 49:05

Yeah, uh, you, you are very safe in this performer's hands. And I guess my point I was trying to say was, I, I said to Michael later that night, "I think I listened and understood, I listened to and understood more of that performance of Hamlet than I think I ever have at any other point in time." Yeah. I don't think that I've ever sat through something that long with one person just saying the words, and fully, fully grasped what they were saying and what was going on.

Mik 49:42

And we did see Hamlet at The Globe in London as well, and that was, that was your conventional, traditional, um, you know, um, bands and banners and all the rest of it. But, but I don't lo- But I, oh, I don't know. And

Nikki 49:57

it was profound, but distracting. It was profound. I mean, you're in The Globe. Yeah. A pigeon came down and landed on the stage at exactly the moment the soliloquy began. And so

Mik 50:06

y-

Nikki 50:06

And the children that were in the audience lost their actual shit. And so, you know- And the actor knews that I don't remember much about the soliloquy- except for the children and the dove. The pigeon-dove thing.

Mik 50:17

Yeah

Nikki 50:17

You know, it, it's, it's that. It's the fact that, uh, he actually, she actually provided this place where you could really get a concentrate of Hamlet.

Mik 50:28

Yeah.

Nikki 50:28

And understand it.

Mik 50:30

Yeah.

Nikki 50:31

Brilliant. It really made me aware of, um- How delightful it is to be held in the hand of a performer who's so capable. Absolutely pointed out at the beginning of the show because within the first five minutes there was an awfully strange noise in the theater.

Mik 50:52

Oh, yeah. So the, the theater, some of these theaters have a internal audio loop- for people who've got, uh, poorer hearing. And there was a member of the audience who was using headphones provided by the venue for that, but it w- had a feedback that was coming through the speaker system, and it sounded kind of like birds or something. But- Or crickets or crickets- Oh, I don't know. Or something. Awful but, but Eddie was only, I don't know, he's maybe second scene in, maybe not far in, and he just stopped, and he dealt with it. And he didn't embarrass the audience member, and he didn't make them feel bad, and he was polite, and he was, and she was gentle. He was

Nikki 51:24

prepared to walk off stage and let someone from staff deal with this- Yeah and come back and start again.

Mik 51:29

And then the staff came in.

Nikki 51:30

But he wasn't prepared to let it affect anyone's- No uh, experience or his, or hers, sorry. I keep, old habits die hard, eh?

Mik 51:39

Yeah.

Nikki 51:39

Uh, or her experience of performance. So- No but he, and handled so graciously and beautifully.

Mik 51:45

Oh, it just got applause for the way she handled that.

Nikki 51:47

Yeah. Really- And then she just went- gentle "Okay, so we're ready?"

Mik 51:50

And back into it.

Nikki 51:51

Three, two, one," and we're back. And not, just didn't even have to adjust. I was just back in.

Mik 51:57

Yeah. Yeah, really well handled. Really just, it was craft. It was watching craft. It was watching an actor do their craft.

Nikki 52:06

So when we say these actors at the Speakeasy were in the trenches do- learning, that's what they're learning.

Mik 52:13

Yeah.

Nikki 52:14

That's what they're there for. They have the techniques. They've been into the schools. They've done their time on the pavement, whatever it is, but you have to have somewhere to hone that into a craft, not just a skill.

Mik 52:28

We both immediately looked at each other at the end of the show and just went, "Oh, God. I wanna do theater again."

Nikki 52:34

Yeah. We forcibly took a year off because we realized we've never actually not been working on a theater project for the great majority of our lives.

Mik 52:41

So we took a year off to, to discover if it's, what life would be like without having a show somewhere in the background or in the future or some impending opening night looming upon us. And it has been great. It's been great for

Nikki 52:56

perspective, yeah.

Mik 52:57

But, and I, you know, I, but I can't help. It's my first love. I just wanna do it. I really do.

Nikki 53:03

Our- Just start doing it one of our head lecturers that we both had at, uh, the Center for the Performing Arts here in Adelaide was, uh, David Kendall. DK would start his first lecture with you on that first day of first year, and it was always the same thing. He says that theater has survived wars, civilizations, ev-

Mik 53:29

Censorship

Nikki 53:30

censorship, everything It can survive and it will survive without you. The question is, can you survive without it? I,

Mik 53:43

I, and I find the answer to that question is I'm surviving without it, but I'm not thriving without it. Yeah. I'm not feeling- I think that is definitely- I'm not feeling, uh, fulfilled without it. Having said that, when I think about how I could get back into it, I j- I just revert back to the same old ways we've always approached it, and we go, "Oh, fuck, I can't do that again." So I don't quite know how to scratch that itch. Um, I certainly am not gonna be happy doing community theater, and that's no disrespect to people in community theater and the work that they do- So

Nikki 54:25

when

Mik 54:25

Mik-

Nikki 54:28

But it's just not the kind of work that- Mm fulfills me to do. Like- But when Mik talks about this- Theater for me is like painting for other people. So- He doesn't just, he doesn't just mean as an actor. He's not really so much talking about being an actor and getting back out there and acting on stage as that, uh, yeah, what he uses as his paintbrush as a director is, uh, theater.

Mik 54:44

Yeah. It's my-

Nikki 54:45

Uh, the, the creation- Some people- of the work itself

Mik 54:47

Some people paint, some people write music or play music. I do theater, but you can't do theater on your own really.

Nikki 54:54

No. And-

Mik 54:55

Like that

Nikki 54:56

you know.

Mik 54:56

So yeah, I don't know, but we both came out of that just immediately looked at each other and sort of said the same thing, didn't we?

Nikki 55:06

Yeah. We gotta fight our way. Yeah. It, it reminded me that, uh, yeah, it reminded me that I do love it very much and that I do, we do both have an awful lot to give. One of the versions of that is doing this podcast because I'm too lazy to write a book. And we keep getting told we should share all of our knowledge, so we're gonna keep doing that for a while.

Mik 55:31

So this is not really a review. I guess it is a kind of review of the two shows. More of a reflection. Uh, we're not here to sort of say, you know, give it, give either show something out, you know, five stars or anything like that. We're-

Nikki 55:44

Oh- It's more a reflection standing ovation without even blinking at the end of Eddie. She deserved it.

Mik 55:49

Oh, totally.

Nikki 55:50

I wouldn't- Yeah I just, if you get a chance to see th- this show-

Mik 55:54

Yeah

Nikki 55:54

and you have any interest at all in Shakespeare or just the experience of seeing Eddie perform-

Mik 56:01

Craft of a-

Nikki 56:02

Then look- of a performer you've just got to go and see it. Yeah. It's, it's not, um, there's a lot of people doing one, one person shows, and a lot of them are great, and this is one of them.

Mik 56:15

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I saw Simon Callow in Edinburgh do a one person show, and I think this was better That's not to take anything away from Simon Callow, but just, just, just was, uh Callow, Callow by his nature is one of those- Oh, you just sit and listen to his voice,

Nikki 56:33

man. Yeah. Like, yeah. Yeah. Just go for it.

Mik 56:35

Talk. It's like watching a, a young Brian Blessed or something like- That's right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Just, whatever. Just read the phone book, I don't care.

Nikki 56:40

Just on a by the by, though. One of the things I really liked about the show was, um, there are these two characters in Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and they're often, uh, performed or over-performed- Uh, by, uh- What

Mik 56:55

are you saying? I've played both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Are you saying I

Nikki 56:59

over-performed? Um, because they're basically, like, um, they're basically just girly swots up the king's arse, right? Trying to do all the king's bidding and we- we're the teacher's pet, you know? Yeah. Um, and so because of that nature of them, and them being young and g- best mates, th- they get played as silly puppies a lot. And I loved Eddie's version of them. It was the only characters that he made his hands into two puppets.

Mik 57:27

Yeah, like sock puppets.

Nikki 57:28

So there was- But without socks, just the hands

Mik 57:29

Yeah, without the socks. So Rosencrantz

Nikki 57:31

on one side, Guildenstern on the other, crapping on at him, la, la, la, la, la, and h- and him in the middle. And his interaction with them was borderlining on Tim Curry-esque. Like, there was some, his dismissal of them when he'd, like, tell them to piss off, you know, and, and he'd just waft his hands away and they're gone now. Yeah. Ugh. Yeah. You know? Really, really brilliant. It's the, it's not what he was saying, it's what he was doing. Yeah. Because when we talk, sometimes we're saying, "Yes, I love that dress. It looks fantastic." Internally we're going, "Fucking hell, are you thinking of wearing that in public?" That's what he was doing, and I loved it. Mm. I loved it. I loved it. That was so much fun, watching him play with that. Um, and again, it was the one and only Y- if you've got a gimmick, use it. Yeah. Keep it for that. Don't overdo it.

Mik 58:27

Yeah. Anyway. So-

Nikki 58:29

Been lovely chatting to

Mik 58:30

you very inspirational weekend. It's, um, love Adelaide. We love Adelaide. We've lived here pretty much most of our adult life. Oh, this is such a beaut-- and look, we're sitting on top of this beautiful hill in the bushland on a beautiful sunny day. What more could you ask for? By the same token, it was fucking awesome to go to a live, vibrant city where you could feel like you could just... We walked past a place where Hannah Gadsby, the comedian, was doing a work in progress for a new piece. Like, you just couldn't get that here. You can't get that kind of vibrancy and eclectic-

Nikki 59:09

No,

Mik 59:09

no um, you know, difference in style and performance and quality- Mm and international and local and this and that, and people workshopping stuff. And just that, that, is that creative energy that Melbourne really does, is known for and famous for. Which- So much great Australian theater's come out of Melbourne. Which

Nikki 59:31

makes me- So it's

Mik 59:32

dynamic

Nikki 59:32

wonder why Adelaide- It's- I mean, I get that Adelaide's the festival state because we've got The Fringe Festival and we've got the Adelaide Festival, which is absolutely huge, but it only happens once a year. And now they're considering changing it to Adelaide, the Arts State, because apparently we have a type of arts, um, over here. I was just reading an article about it. We have a, we have an art scene over here that is really, um, uh, like- It's where lots of things get created. It's where a lot of the things get-

Mik 1:00:09

Are, we punch above our weight

Nikki 1:00:11

as far as- We punch above our weight- international in terms of how we, how we pump stuff out. And the

Mik 1:00:17

quality of it

Nikki 1:00:17

But it doesn't, and the quality, but it doesn't happen in Adelaide. Like, we might pump it out, but it doesn't happen here. Our, our- It, it

Mik 1:00:24

happens, it happens here because we, we create stuff here because we're so desperate to-

Nikki 1:00:29

Well, and

Mik 1:00:30

it's a- fucking do something and make an impact nice

Nikki 1:00:31

quiet place to- Yeah retreat and create something. But,

Mik 1:00:34

but the reality is that your work is generally not lauded here until you've been somewhere else- Absolutely and, and had success. There's so much more that could be done here, but it's so hard to get up-

Nikki 1:00:47

And I must admit-

Mik 1:00:48

and get out to, to, to be given validation to come back again. It's crazy

Nikki 1:00:51

That's right. And after being at Melbourne's art center, and um, and it, you know, it is huge. And it's currently go- undergoing enormous amounts of building and infrastructure to make it even bigger so that it's got two restaurants on either end. There's a ta- You can go and do all your bits there. It is enormous. And I, and I walk past our festival center, which is our art center, and, um-

Mik 1:01:18

It's quiet, empty

Nikki 1:01:19

it's quiet. It's, most of the time it's dead and empty. And it's-

Mik 1:01:25

Unless there's groups going for a show, but they don't... There's no-

Nikki 1:01:28

There's-

Mik 1:01:29

surrounding kind of-

Nikki 1:01:30

Mm

Mik 1:01:31

life or an amb- or yeah, it's just, anyway. We- There's a- Not that we're whingeing or

Nikki 1:01:35

bitching but- There's attempts at it, but I really don't know how we could claim that we are the art state when, when you can't, you can't just go and grab a show anywhere. It's not all in one kind of precinct. It's, it's really not a, a continual arts place, whereas Melbourne is a continual one. It doesn't matter what time of the year, there will be constantly-

Mik 1:01:59

Yeah

Nikki 1:02:00

entertainment of varying natures everywhere you look, anywhere you look on any given day. So yeah, that's, um, yeah, it does leave me questioning how they think Adelaide will be an arts state instead of the festival state now.

Mik 1:02:14

Yeah. Well, we gotta question how we're gonna get back into it, I guess, don't we? What we're gonna do, how we wanna do it, like find that balance of all of that. Don't know. Stick with us on the journey. We'll see if we can figure something out. Um-

Nikki 1:02:30

In the meantime, um, look after yourselves. Uh, we are looking forward to our next chat with you. Uh, what are we gonna talk about next time?

Mik 1:02:38

I don't know, but we shouldn't leave it so long between drinks.

Nikki 1:02:41

Indeed. Yeah. We'll see you really soon.

Mik 1:02:43

Okay.

Nikki 1:02:43

Take care.

Mik 1:02:44

Bye.