Playing at the Motley Bauhaus, Carlton until October 3. More information and tickets via melbournefringe.com.au
If you’re up for a bit of existential dread and some weird and wonderful poetry, then Em Barrett’s brilliantly odd show Ode to a Grape is just the ticket.
Barrett’s Fringe debut is a confident and delightfully uncomfortable 50 minutes spent in the company of her demented comic creation Johann, a pretentious German poet who views the world as a place that exists only for pain and suffering, and that poetry itself is “only pain”.
Ode to a Grape is presented as a book launch for Johann’s latest collection of poems, and the audience is instantly transfixed by Johann’s unusual demeanour and his self-serious ruminations on life, death and everything in between.
Playfully berating the audience for not grasping the full meaning of his work or for not providing the answers he is looking for when asking the audience for assistance, Johann is full of non sequiturs, and the poems he favours us with are some brilliantly written pieces that are comical, surreal and perplexing all at once.
Having interviewed Barrett a few weeks ago in the lead up to Fringe (you can find the full interview here), I was impressed at how she was able to inhabit a character such as Johann, which is a million miles away from herself.
It’s a total commitment to character, with great vocal work to perfect a German accent, and Barrett never broke out of being Johann once during the entire length of the show, which is a truly impressive acting challenge which was mastered effortlessly.
Directed by Sameena Zehra, who worked closely with Barrett on the show, there’s canny use of lighting and audio effects to help put the audience inside the gloomy mindset of Johann, with often sinister lighting and audio helping to strike a mood of comic uneasiness throughout.
But there’s also unexpected warmth in the show and Johann ends up being an oddly endearing character that I do hope to see return again in future shows that Barrett produces.
Johann’s interactions with the audience were a highlight, including one segment where the audience helps Johann concoct his latest poem, which led to one of the most absurd and hilarious moments of the entire show.
A segment involving a video of cows in a field listening to music also led to many great awkward gags, as does the unique way that Johann’s inner torment was depicted for the audience.
While the character of Johann worked very well in this one-woman show, it would have been great to see Johann interact with some other characters and play up the awkwardness those encounters would generate. If Johann is to return in future shows that Barrett produces, it would be nice to see her German alter-ego torment others on stage.
Ode to a Grape is a wonderfully eccentric Fringe debut, marking Barrett as a rising star of the local scene as well as a supremely confident and talented stage presence.
3.5/5 STARS
