Well it’s the second week of Fringe World and this is my busy week. Not Much To Tell You opens tomorrow night – woop! I’m doing a five-show run from Tuesday to Saturday. Pretty pumped to get in the theatre and meet some new audiences.
First week of Fringe was pretty hectic, too. Almost as soon as I landed in Perth I was off to PICA to watch Tim Watts and Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd’s lo-fi puppetry spectacular, BRUCE. It was pure entertainment, all managed with one bit of sponge for a puppet and some homespun genius. I took one of my besties with me, and it is always a joy to introduce another person to Watts’ plays. We both bought our own little Brucies to take home with us: Little Bruce sleeps in my socks.
I also caught the puzzlingly obscure What A Joy To Be Alive at The Blue Room Theatre. I won’t pretend to know what it was about, but sometimes I like to see a show I don’t understand. Gets the ol’ mind grapes going. My friend and I had a great time sharing our notes afterwards and finding out we’d both guessed completely differently about the show’s meaning. There were some haunting uses of lighting and performer Tom Davies’ physicality that will stay with me.
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of watching old mate Ella Bennett and her partner in comedy Marnie Allen (both ex-Pelican crew) present their “balls-out” adventure through time and space, Slumber Party Time Travel. I think Bennett is one of the most promising new comedy writers coming up at the moment, and in combination with Allen she is just ridiculous. The one-liners kept coming, as sharp as the flick-knives they casually pulled from their bras. When Allen donned a beard and wig and became the future, rat-burger-selling version of Bennett’s high school crush, I nearly busted a rib. Bennett and Allen form Slow Loris Productions, and I very much hope to see more from them in the future (even at the risk of my ribs).
Another highlight of last weekend was going down to Cottesloe Beach to protest WA’s shark cull. Seven people have been killed by sharks in Western Australia in the last three years (which I would argue is a pretty slim number considering the thousands of people who enter the water every year), and the Barnett government has responded with a bait-and-kill policy. Sharks are now being caught and shot in the head, without having attacked a human. Around 6,000 people turned out on Saturday to protest the policy. It was a pretty impressive sight (see gallery below).
On to more frivolous news – my Twitter account reach 600 followers yesterday. I am continuing my tradition of recording a special message for each hundredth follower. This time it was Sarah Breheny, for whom I will be singing a special poem from an undisclosed Fringe World location. I’ll be recording it tomorrow, so check my Twitter feed if you like watching me embarrass myself (apparently the prospect was quite popular with my existing followers … thanks fronds).
EDIT: Here be a link to the video! For @ladybface, my 600th Twitter follower.
Kaitlyn Blythe 
Hi Kaitlyn,
I don’t have Twitter or Facebook, so I can only really comment here, but I went to see ‘Not Much To Tell You’ last night and just wanted to let you know how great I thought it was. It was warm and engaging but also deeply affecting (no, truly, it was) and genuinely wise. You’re digging deep and taking big risks like every good artist should. You should be very proud of what you’ve done.
And BTW, I read your earlier post about being worried about becoming a big-headed artiste. I do appreciate the conflict between the publicity imperative and wanting to just do your thing and let people make up their own minds. Our current e-culture just makes it harder. You don’t have to be secretive about your achievements; the best idea is probably to plonk them discretely on the table at a nice, neutral moment and utter an “aw, shucks” or two afterwards.
Anyway, congratulations once again on your show.
Thanks Glen, I am humbled by your kind words. Thank you for coming to see the show – I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
I think you’re right about not being secretive about achievements. E-culture *does* make it difficult not to come off a braggart, and I don’t want to only use my social media outlets to self-promote. But at the same time, you do have to self-promote a little – and it would be silly not to talk about the most important thing happening in your life right now.
A friend of mine, another poet, made a good point – he said he doesn’t say anything (self-promotional) on social media that he wouldn’t say in person. So, if he wouldn’t turn to the entire dinner table and shout “Behold, my achievements!!!” then he doesn’t tweet it. He would, however, say “Hey check out what I’ve been working on, I’m pretty excited about it …”
Like with everything, it’s about striking a good balance, I suppose!