The Brighton Mandurah was one of the impressive list of participating venues taking part in Fringe Mandurah, 2021.
The City of Mandurah jumped in to help stranded performers who were left without a venue after lockdown forced a number of Fringe shows to be shut down or postponed.
Brighton was host to a musical theatre cabaret, performed by a group of established WA community theatre performers titled Sh*t We Like to Sing on February 26.
After having to postpone their Fringe Festival Perth performance dates at Connections due to nightclub closures during lockdown, an opportunity presented itself to co-producers Dylan Dorotich and Charlie Darlington.
"During the lockdown, we saw that Mandurah Fringe was looking for acts. We took this as an opportunity to share our show with an audience ahead of our postponed performance dates on March 5 and 6 at Connections," Mr Darlington said.
The performance featured an array of musical theatre songs across a range of musicals both old and new, and each number was introduced with a witty quip from Ms Dorotich and Mr Darlington.
Ms Dorotich recently started a production company called Broken Crayon Productions, and Sh*t We Like to Sing was an electric debut.
The Brighton performance began in an open bar space, with performers warming up on a small stage while audience members ordered food and drinks and chatted amongst themselves.
The venue went above and beyond to deliver food and drinks to tables before the singing started, and also collected dishes speedily and quietly, making it easy to enjoy the performance with limited distraction.
The show itself was nothing short of delightful, with stunning vocals, sharp choreography and belly-laugh-inducing banter in between numbers.
Each number was polished and concise, and performers showed great professionalism when inevitable sound difficulties occurred.
Stand out songs were 'Freeze Your Brain' performed by Charlie Darlington, 'Journey to the Pas't performed by Grace Johnson and 'First Date/Last Night' performed by Peter Ho and Grace Johnson.
Perhaps the only complaint was that the calibre of the show deserved a larger audience. There were ticket limitations due to space and social-distancing requirements, and also a limited time for advertising.
The show will perform a short season from March 5-6 at Connections nightclub in Perth.
Mayor Rhys Williams said Fringe Mandurah was part of Mandurah's Endless Long Weekends series, bringing smaller weekend events to the city during summer and beyond.
A representative from the city of Mandurah said they are, "unsure if Fringe will be returning in 2021 as of yet."
Samantha Ferguson
Samantha Ferguson is a journalist at the Mandurah Mail. She is an entertainment, sport, crime, community and education journalist with a special interest in investigative pieces and human interest stories.
Samantha Ferguson is a journalist at the Mandurah Mail. She is an entertainment, sport, crime, community and education journalist with a special interest in investigative pieces and human interest stories.
