The Town Bikes - Milk - Melbourne Fringe Festival Edition

Lithuanian Club
Saturday 14th October 2006
MC Brian of Aberdeen
With special guest Santos San Sabastian

I was all set to go to the opening night of this show, but due to illness it was cancelled. I could have gone during the week, but I decided to wait until the closing night so I could make a proper night of it. I also believe that if you can’t make the opening night for a show, the best night to go is the closing night as it will also be very special.

As well as the main performance, there were also some great support acts including:

LACTEUS PRAESUL – A Dairy Ballet

This story tells of the love between Klaudiusz (Carla) and Fryderyka (Gabi) when Klaudiusz finds Fryderyka frolicking in the town square one day and tries to win her love with dairy products, with strange results.

Gabi was great with her pink tutu and outfit that reminded me of an eight year-old in ballet class. It was also great that she did some actual ballet moves during the performance or at least the ones most people know about.

At the risk of making Carla cranky I would say she makes a very convincing man, or at least a funny looking one. The blonde wig and moustache was great and the bulge was in the right place. Carla’s dance moves were also great and I loved the parts where she picked Gabi up and danced around.

I am used to seeing the Town Bikes perform in a pub so it was great to see them on stage with their own lighting and sound. It was great that they came up with this routine in a short amount of time for the Fringe Festival show as it worked out really well.

Santos San Sabastian ‘The Patron Saint to Ladies in Crisis of Love’

Santos San Sabastian (John Paul-Hussey) is the classical Latin love machine who claims that Latin American people are so relaxed due to being anally probed by aliens all the time. As he is so relaxed, Brian had trouble getting him on stage and Santos didn’t even worry when he almost knocked over part of the set he is so laid back.

The highlight of the act was Santos recreated a Latin American disco with the help of the audience, one side dancing and the other waving. I did try to dance but I had been celebrating a bit too much beforehand so I couldn’t manage it.

As a cabaret character I think Santos San Sabastian is great and would make an excellent MC for gigs and events around town. I will look out for shows he is a part of in the future.

MILK

This is the story of two loveable country bumpkins who’s pet cow Harmony has died. When aliens kidnap it for their experiments they have to try and get it back with hilarious results.

I saw a preview of this show in August, but it has been reworked and remixed and there were heaps of news moves and funny things in this version so I will just talk about my favourite things.

I was very impressed by the spectacular display of lactation during one scene and was almost tempted to try and catch some in my mouth, but I didn’t want to risk tripping over Rob who was filming the show. I would make a joke about wanting to drink milk out of the bottle, but it is crass so I won't mention it.

The faces and dance moves the Town Bikes made when they were playing the aliens were great and were almost my favourite part of the show. The alien music was great also as was all the music and sound effects, which was sourced from some very obscure locations.

Cheers to the lighting and sound operator also as they were right and cue and really helped the show turn out well. Brian (John Paul-Hussey) was also great as the stage-hand as this show had quite a few props to keep track of and he had a great cardigan also.

Congratulations to the Town Bikes once again and best of luck to what ever they may do in the future. They will probably be having a break for a few months in the new year, but I am sure they will come back in the future.

After the show I went to the Festival Club and saw Martin Martini and the Bone Palace Orchestra, and just as I was leaving I came across everyone leaving from the Lithuanian Club so I got to go back and have a drink with Carla, Paula and Jacq (aka Nana Dorris). I ended up staying until people started falling over in the revelry and Carla was still dancing up a storm.

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