Dinner for One

A ten minute walk from the house is a small community theater, The Bakehouse Theater. It the location of this evening's Fringe presentation, Dinner for One. A 90-year old woman has outlived her four man friends. On her birthdays, her butler sets a table for five and, by tradition, plays the role of each of her man friends. Carol had seen this on TV and found it hilarious. The theater is divided into two small venues.

How is it the butler does not injure himself during the performance? The production is funny and well performed.

A German Life

Once upon a time there was the matriarch of festival season, the Adelaide Festival. Now dwarfed in numbers and attendance and running time, Adelaide Fringe is much larger and diverse. 

This evening we attend our first Adelaide Festival performance. A German Story is being performed by one of Australia's most accomplished actresses at the Dunstan Playhouse which is a part of the Adelaide Festival Centre, think our equivalent of the Sydney Opera House complex.

It is a one act, one scene, one person play. It tells the story of a 106 YO recently deceased German woman who worked as a personal assistant to Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda during WWII.

It is a very good performance if not as compelling and moving as we expected.

Dusk has come to our fair city as we depart the theater. Rowers continue to ply the river at this hour. For whatever reason, the Torrens River always brings the feeling of tranquility to CJ.

Third and Ever Expanding Beer Tasting

Sometime the middle of 2020 to break the monotony of COVID lockdown, CJ convinced Neil and the boys to have a beer tasting in the man cave. We sampled 18 brews.

That evening's success bred the Second and Expanded beer tasting where we added Josh, Niran, and Nick and drove the count over 20.

Following a break for the holidays, this evening is the 3rd incarnation of the event. Tonight we have the usual suspects, CJ, Neil, Louis, Tom, Josh, and Niran, as well as special guests, Grant and Hugh. At eight participants the sample count has risen to 26. Can we reach 30 by the fourth event?

There are many boy toy items of interest in the man cave including posters, gaming items but the prime man cave toys are the vintage Thunderbird and Corvette.

13 brews in we declared halftime and called out for pizza.

At some point in the evening Louis' girlfriend, Cheryl, joins to spectate. There is not enough pour to invite her to participate.

There is usually an accompanying ladies event on beer tasting night. Tonight the ladies were scheduled to enjoy Australia Idol winner Jessica Mauboy in concert at the Oval. Unfortunately Bronwyn came down ill, Carol decided to remain home and Bronwyn's sister was left to enjoy the concert solo. Following the concert, she also came to have a look.

Her husband, Grant, is not known as a beer drinker. He hung with the team through all 26.

CJ caught his Uber ride at nearly one in the morning.

Semaphore Workers Club Fringe Show

We have made our first trip to the suburb of Semaphore, Having had dinner at the local brew pub and strolled the waterfront, we make our way to the Semaphore Worker's Club, once (or maybe still) home to communist activities in South Australia.

We are here for a Fringe show. This evening the show is Lynyrd Skynyrd and Janis Joplin.

There are a number of unique attributes of this venue. First is the bars cash only policy. We are fortunate to have a small amount of cash with us. It will cut down on our drinking.

The venue may no longer be communist but it is clearly a bogon hangout. Of the more than 40 women attending, there are a lot of big, redneck women, many attending in hen groups. 

The Skynyrd tribute band causes CJ concern. The original had four lead guitars, this group only one. How will they ever play Free Bird?  By the end of their set, two things are true: the guitarist did an incredible job and the lead singer was true to the voice and intonations of RVZ.

They play for over an hour, there is a half hour break and then the Janis Joplin tribute begins. Carol is not pleased with her performance. CJ is less critical.

CJ likes the music. Carol, not so much. At around eleven, we catch an Uber. It will be well past midnight by the time we retire.



 

The Beach at Semaphore

Following dinner at Sweet Amber, we stroll to the Fringe venue via the Semaphore beach. We miss the sunset by about 15 minutes. It was brilliant as we exited the bar. By the time we reach the beach, it has disappeared.

Many of the towns along the Gulf have boardwalks, piers, monuments, and nice beaches. Semaphore is one of them.

Sweet Amber

We have a Fringe show in Semaphore. In the time we have lived and visited South Australia we have never been to Semaphore. It is an expensive, nearly an hour Uber ride.

This place makes killer pizzas. Porter is a beer style CJ rarely likes. Sweet Amber has one of the fewer dark porter beers he enjoys.

This mango alcoholic drink is magnificent.

If this place wasn't so far from the CBD, we would visit more often.

Matador

We are in to the second week of Fringe and attending one of the most popular shows in Gluttony. We meet Bronwyn and Neil for dinner from the food "trucks".

Matador is part gymnastics, part dancing, part operatic singing. The scenes are sexy and represent a love story; love in all forms.

The show is getting great reviews.

Before the start of the show, some of the participants arrive to warm up the audience.

Photography is not allowed but they have a killer website.

A Drink at Bar Torino on the Way Home

On the walking return from the Fringe show at the Belgium Beer bar and dinner at Soi 38, we stop into Bar Torino.  Jin is off tonight. CJ orders a La Serene beer and Carol a cocktail.

This place has great cocktails. The season has changed and Carol's favorite is no longer on the menu and they will not make it. She tries the Silver Spoon. It is fantastic. CJ tries the Summer of Jorge. It is great.

So nice to have a great neighborhood bar a few blocks from the house.

Unico Go after Fringe Show at Ayres House

Since Adelaide is so vibrant, it seems criminal to simply go home after a show, particularly on a weekend evening when the precinct is turned into a giant block party with the streets blocked and turned into a pedestrian mall.

Unico Go, the small five person wine bar we visited a few weeks earlier, is around the corner. They are open for another hour. Noah is on this evening and we have him to ourselves until closing. 

This evening we exercise restraint and sample only two wines, this one from Gaillac and a strange Burgundy.

Noah asks what brought us to Adelaide. Carol doesn't give the usual answers like CJ's work or being stranded (this time) by COVID. She blurts out "cricket". Our American foreign accent (sounds strange doesn't it) leaves Noah incredulous. American and Cricket in the same sentence does not compute. When CJ informs him that he is a SACA member, Noah must know more. Noah is a cricket tragic also and cannot believe we know cricket, let alone know it and love it.

Cricket dominates the hour's conversation and wine slips into background. The hour passes quickly. Closing time is announced by the arrival of Noah's partner.

Since the wine list changes weekly, it is hand written on a roll of brown wrapping paper that is unrolled from the ceiling weekly.

This is a second story venue shared with a hip and trendy bar. Back down at street level, downtown partying remains in full swing.

French Lessons @ Ayres House - A Fringe Performance

 This evening's show is another of those Fringe shows that is truly out there on the Fringe.

At first we are in the wrong line at the wrong end of the building, along with others. Obviously better signage is needed. Finally arriving where we belong and in fear of being late, it appears instead of providing better signage, they delay the show to allow for the mix up.

The good news is that since we are Fringe members (best $40 investment of all time), we get head of line privileges and choice of seats. It appears they were holding the opening of the door for us! Very cool.

A lady introduces the show telling the audience, all of 20 seats in the small library of Ayres House, that the show is all about swearing and if you cannot deal with swearing it is a good time to leave. With everyone good to go, she introduces the French comedian. He is another bloke who has married an Aussie girl and been living in country for 8 years.

For the next hour he goes through the slide show teaching us how to swear in French. He is very good, very funny and adds audience participation to the show.

We cannot wait to show this to Didier. Our next Skype call is going to be a hoot.