Fountain Lakes in lockdown: A Drag Parody Play is a feast of drag excellence and a celebration of one of Australia’s favourite TV comedies. Presented by Silly Old Queen Productions, Fountain Lakes runs from 18 Jan – 1 Feb at the Aurora Spiegeltent in the FRINGE WORLD Pleasure Gardens.
The play invites the audience into the now appropriately sanitised home of Kath Day-Knight and her daughter Kim as they and Kim’s second-best friend Sharon live out the day-to-day pains of the 2021 Melbourne Lockdowns. The reinterpretation of these beloved characters is flawless, each of them brought to life in appropriate homage with plenty of camp exaggeration becoming of the all-star drag cast.
It is difficult to pull out one specific performance that dominates over the rest; this cast truly shine in their absurd, working-class-clown roles. Art Simone is a thrill to watch and nails the physical comedy of starting “those important projects” we procrastinated during lockdown. Scott Brennan as both Brett and Kel delivers a remarkable performance of two men who look identical but remain starkly different from each other. Thomas Jaspers, who also produces the show, is positively rotten as Kim – a gag worthy performance. However, all of that said, Leasa Mann all but steals the show with a spot-on Sharon Strzelecki and is totally captivating in her opening number.
While much of the comedy comes from parody and accurate portrayal of the ‘kathandkimdaverse’ the play also delivers a joyful commentary on the pandemic lockdowns. There are plenty of witty quips, long-running jokes, and niche references to the Melbourne experience that remain sharp in the years after the actual event. In fact, one of the framing jokes of the show is that Perth audiences may not even understand key terms like ‘lockdown’ or ‘quarantine’.
One of the things that made Kath & Kim so successful was its bite-sized 30-minute episodes; something not afforded a work of this scale. Unfortunately, this means the pace of the 80-minute play to drag (no pun intended). At times the plot feels as though it has been stretched out to fit in a specific reference to the TV show that could have been left on the cutting room floor.
If you are a fan of top-tier drag acts, Australian television, and/or have a love/hate relationship with Dan Andrews then this play is for you. I advise attending in a group, and if you book for general admission, ARRIVE EARLY!
MITCHELL WHELAN
Fountain Gates in Lockdown: A Drag Parody Play runs from 18 Jan – 1 Feb at the Aurora Spiegeltent at the FRINGE WORLD Pleasure Gardens. For tickets and more information, click here.
