Q and A - Absolute Riot

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Tue 02 Mar 2021 - Sat 20 Mar 2021

Absolute Riot is exactly what it sounds like - a colorful and mesmerizing hurricane of a show that will bring glamour, showmanship and sharp wit to its audiences for a solid 60 minutes. Featuring Australia's Got Talent finalist Miss Friby, this one-woman variety show will be just the kind of show you need to get a taste of Fringe, especially if you're new to the scene as a spectator at Australia's largest open-access arts festival.

In anticipation of their participation at the upcoming Adelaide Fringe Festival, I was fortunate enough to have a chat with Artistic Director Elizabeth Dawson-Smith - have a read of our exchange below:

Tema: Can you please tell us a bit about yourself, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth: My personal life consists of well-iced cocktails, child-rearing, swearing at my YouTube HIIT instructors and bragging about how psychic I am, but I am also a professional performer, producer, song and scriptwriter based in Melbourne. For the last ten years, I have been producing seasoned/touring works and live entertainment for major festivals and events, through my boutique company (and on-stage persona) - Miss Friby, and working as a choreographer and creative director for professional artists to develop/refine works across a range of genres (circus, live music, film, theatre, comedy, dance and immersive events). I tend to create performances with bite and quirk, flirting with the edge of audience expectation, while also being rigorously physical.



Tema: What inspired you to get into the colorful world of arts? Is this something that you were interested in from a young age, or was this more of a recent development to engage in the arts scene?
Elizabeth: I have always been interested in the arts, and in all honesty, it's somewhat of a curse, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I spent my childhood training to be a professional dancer, performing my way around the state at various dance competitions and shopping malls. But the moment I had to choose between dancing professionally and carbs, I moved towards street shows, which was probably a good call, I may have been pretty good character comedian, but my dance technique has always been less than desirable. After a good five years of performing street theatre around the world, I returned to Australia to try my luck as a big time producer, only to find out that big time producers don't exist in Australia, and I'd have to settle for independent performer producer-costume designer-script/song writer-marketing manager director-actor-arts administrator-film-music editor-graphic designer therapist. I've never looked back, I haven't had the time to, really.



Tema: So let's talk about your show - Absolute Riot. How did the concept of the show come about?
Elizabeth: This is going to sound strange, but I picked the title out of nowhere and worked backwards from there. Picture this, you're stuck at home in Melbourne, it's stage four lockdown, you can't go any further than five kms from your home, you're wearing a mask, sanitising EVERYTHING, dreaming of the time when you can sit on a park bench again, and then you find out that Adelaide Fringe is happening (and by 'happening' you know that it is just as likely not to happen, like all of the plans you watched crumble that year), so you apply. In your between your angry YouTube HIIT workout and day drinking, you find the time to bang out a show idea/title and submit it to the festival with no real expectation that it might actually happen. Then it happens, and now you find yourself with a great title/writeup/venue and no show. So I have been researching riots, 2020 certainly delivered in that regard, and the concept of joy, rage and apathy, particularly with regards to my own inertia, politically speaking. I wanted this show to be deep, inspiring, poetic, but unfortunately, it's just funny.

Tema: What is the basic premise of Absolute Riot without giving too much away?
Elizabeth: Basic Premise: The world sucks, we should do something about that, should we do something about that? I'm hungry. Look at all the sequins.

Tema: What made you decide on putting together your very own one-woman show?
Elizabeth: I LOVE big shows (live music, dance troupes, chorus lines) and many Miss Friby shows historically featured large casts of dancers, musicians and performers, but it is just too difficult to tour/produce independently. The good news is that all of those acts, songs, scripts, I wrote for such a diverse cohort of artists have remained, so a Miss Friby show has so much variety in content, it's not your typical 'one woman show', you really do feel like your watching a wildly inventive affair.

Tema: What do you hope for your audiences to experience when attending the show Absolute Riot?
Elizabeth: Call me old fashioned, but first and foremost, I'd like my audience to be entertained, I'm a sucker for spectacle, and this is the main driver behind all Miss Friby shows. I hope they have an evening of cathartic laughter, ridicule the ridiculous - I've got a pretty good strike rate with inspiring heaving belly laughter and I'm hoping that Absolute Riot continues the tradition. I'd consider Absolute Riot a success if the audience leaves the theatre feeling energised, excited and inspired, fingers crossed.

Tema: Where else has Absolute Riot made an appearance and what has the reception been like?
Elizabeth: This is the debut season of Absolute Riot, but the acts featured in the show have been staged all over Australia at major music and arts festivals and venues (Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival, Rainbow Serpent Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Desert Festival). The audience usually take about 5-10 minutes to get what it's all about - Miss Friby's erratic performance style can be quite confronting, absurd and somewhat nonsensical at first, but once they get the 'vibe', the audience fall in love with Miss Friby's bizarre anecdotes, biting satire and high energy performance. She's very loveable, your classic villain, and her ability to turn the burlesque genre on its head, with a clever pun filled script and strenuous dance routines, keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, wondering what she's going to to do next.

Tema: Would you like to tell us a bit about your other performances as well, including your time at Australia's Got Talent?
%%Elizabeth: Australia's Got Talent was interesting, tricky to squeeze into a few short sentences, but here is an attempt: 'TV is evil. I learned so much. Sometimes it pays to sell your soul.' The truth is, Australia has so much more talent that anyone would see on that show, which is often hyper produced, watered down, digestible content that really does very little for our national self esteem, culturally speaking. I would love to produce an 'Australia's Actually Got Talent' show, which gives artists the permission, freedom and budget, to make what they want, now that's a show I'd like to watch, and the behind the scenes tantrums would be far more epic.
Since we're on the topic of 'other performances' though, I do have two other shows I worked on happening at Adelaide Fringe. I was the development director for 'Catch Jazida' in 2019, which will be staged at Nexus Arts (25-28 Feb) and I directed/devised work for 'Bubble Show For Adults Only' (19 Feb - 20 Mar) at Gluttony - both created by some very hard working artists, I should know, I cracked the whip!%%



Tema: How did COVID-19 impact on your ability to entertain and work as an artist? How did you cope with the (many) challenges that the pandemic threw your way?
%%Elizabeth: Wow, what a loaded question. I am not sure how it came about for other industries but in one day, literally one day, I lost all my work for the year ahead. Being an independent artist, it is not unusual to have fingers in a few different pies, but when every pie relies on live audiences, 2020 is the nail in the coffin. I spent the most part of 2020 experimenting with film, I created/produced a web series 'Messages from a Mermaid in Footscray', completed a dance/choreography challenge (one dance every day, for thirty days) on instagram and made ridiculous movies for the hell of it. I also mourned my career, looked at becoming a wedding celebrant, drank a lot of cocktails, played pancake frisbee and got into yoga.
I don't know what 2021 holds for me, I have trained myself to roll the dice every day and see what happens. A part of me thinks I should invest in some high vis for my fast approaching career change, working on all that 'infrastructure' the government is promising, but the other part of me is saying, 'It's all going to be ok, you keep doing what you do, and the audience will be there'. After a 2020 in Melbourne, I have truly learned to take each day as it comes, which I think I'll do, until the money runs out.%%

Tema: How did you get involved with the Adelaide Fringe? Is this your first time or are you a returning performer?
Elizabeth: I have been coming to Adelaide Fringe for years, as a performer for shows, director (Confessions of an Aerobics Instructor, Catch Jazida, Bubble Show for Adults Only) and punter. I love this festival so much! I usually spend my days bingeing on shows from all genres, gathering inspiration from all of the amazing artists that bring new work. It's also a great place to meet up with old friends, discuss new collaborations and talk showbiz. This is my first time presenting a seasoned work in the festival. It is difficult to make 'cents of the dollars' so to speak, when producing work in a festival context, there is only so much audience to go round, and when you're sucker for spectacle, well equipped theatres and venues that can accommodate more detailed set, costume and lighting requirements become far more appealing. But, after a year from hell, this will be my FIRST LIVE SHOW in almost 12 months and I am so damn excited/scared/nervous ...it won't be your average Miss Friby show, that's for sure!



Tema: How are you feeling about the upcoming Fringe festival?
Elizabeth: I am incredibly excited! I have been working on new costumes, new content, training my buttoff and praying that the COVID case numbers continue to remain contained for all of the artists that have invested so much into their season! It will certainly be a different Fringe this year, but for many of us (particularly the Melbournites) this will be our first time back in front of an audience, so you can certainly expect near death, cathartic shows that have that extra level of desperation hah! I'm not going to lie, I am very nervous about ticket sales. Many of us artists are sharing positive 'the show is so fun', 'I love my job' 'I can't wait' content on the socials, but the reality, leaving Adelaide with a debt the size of Tasmania, is a very real fear that I am certain many Adelaide Fringe producers are carrying right now, especially with the #covidnormal adaptations we have all made by not pre-booking anything. I get it, why book, when every day can be cancelled, at any time. That being said, I am incredibly grateful to all of the people who have booked tickets thus far! I don't know who you are, but you have given me a deep sense of security that my ridiculously ugly show image appeals to someone out there in Adelaide!

Tema: What are you hoping to do on your days off when you're not performing?
Elizabeth: I will be bingeing on shows. I will be watching everything. I can, not, wait.

Tema: Is there anything else that you'd like us to know about you and Absolute Riot?
%%Elizabeth: I have teamed up with Tash York (Trash Talk) and we currently have an 'Ultimate night at the Fringe' (Thursday 4th March) competition which will be drawn on the 14th of February.
The prize includes:
- One night stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Adelaide
- A DOUBLE PASS to see the Opening Night of 'Trash Talk' by Tash York (6:30pm)
- A DOUBLE PASS to see the Opening Night of 'Absolute Riot' by Miss Friby (9pm)
- A meal voucher for in between
- A special march pack
ENTER HERE: https://www.tashyork.com/competition %%

Absolute Riot will be performing at Gluttony, as part of Adelaide Fringe, from March 2 - 20, 2021. Tickets can be purchased here .

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!date 02/03/2021 -- 20/03/2021
%wnadelaide