Reviews

This imaginative, risk-taking production takes the tropes of the horror genre to new and original places.  Each aspect is integrated into the whole: text, performance, design and sound.  It is, of course, frequently shocking, frightening or gruelling, but that’s the intention and the genre.  Here, playwright Amy May Nunn traps a gay couple, with an ostensibly ‘normal’ issues, into a haunted house.  But is the house haunted - or are they?

Folk is charming, moving, and funny, feeling less like a play than an invitation to pick up a tin whistle. The stage is open, welcoming the audience into Winnie’s lounge room where come-as-you-are acceptance is the order of the day.

And whilst Winne might be a larger-than-life depiction of a modern nun with several unholy habits, she, Stephen and Kayleigh come across as real people who are conflicted, challenged and relatable.

Murder on the Magic School Bus is a loving parody of the 1990s cartoon series The Magic School Bus and the book series of the same name by Joanna Cale and Bruce Degan. Featuring an eccentric school teacher Miss Frizzle, who took her class through time and space on learning journey field trips, it was popular with 90s youngsters. In this version, presented by The Lavender Collective as part of State of Play for Fringe World, Miss Frizzle takes her university students on a journey to learn about Forensics.

This gentle, queer, love story was originally written to make up the creative portion of an Honours dissertation, and plays beautifully on stage.

Charmingly performed, it was a pleasure to watch. A short play, with a great deal of heart, performed as part of State of Play at Fringe World.