The largest Fringe Arts Festival in the southern hemisphere, Adelaide Fringe runs from February 19th to March 14th. Visit the Adelaide Fringe website for full program details.

Running from February 23rd to March 21st, The Brisbane Comedy Festival happens at the Brisbane Powerhouse. Visit the Brisbane Comedy Festival website for full program details.

Running from March 24th to April 18th, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival takes over the city with performances by artists from everywhere! Visit the Melbourne International Comedy Festival website for full program details.


“A deliciously demented Gothic thriller” is what Spymonkey’s “Cooped” is advertised as and by George, they deliver!

From what I could gather, the basic story was based around the arrival of Laura Goulett to an English Manor to work as a Secretary for George Merston. Klaus the extremely weird butler was also working there. Doctor Roger Parchment would often come by to rescue Laura from the strange happenings at the house. Add a murder, a love triangle and mistaken identity and you have all the ingredients for a thriller. Although, after the wild ride that Spymonkey takes you on, you won’t care that “the plot” itself is paper thin and all over the shop.

Spymonkey are renowned for their physical humour as well as surrealism and “Cooped” provides the perfect platform for these. Petra Massey was thrown about the stage on a regular basis and there were prat falls aplenty. There were some strange and seemingly out of place dream sequences, Klaus’ over the top behavour and plenty of ducks. The cast even broke into song on several occasions with synchronised dancing.

The laws of common decency were never going to get in Spymonkey’s way. A sequence involving ping pong balls, larger than life racial stereotypes, fig leaves that leave nothing to the imagination and an extended fart gag were proof of this. As a connoisseur of wrong material, I wholeheartedly approve.

The set was fantastic, looking like an old manor. It was modified later through some simple props to move the action to a room upstairs. Liberal use of a smoke machine and lighting effects helped to create the spooky mood. There was a clever use of video by way of a small monitor brought onto the stage by “The Spanish Actor” would was plugging his Spanish soap opera.

In a novel twist, each of Spymonkey’s cast played an eccentric “Actor” (from the “Cooped Theatre Company”) who rivaled their “character” in the lunacy stakes. This allowed them to break down the fourth wall of the theatre almost by proxy. There was hammy overacting throughout , many asides to the audience and obviously fake props that the “actors” gave up pretending were working. There were even a couple of moments where a character would seem to ad lib a line or action that surprised a fellow actor. You were never able to determine whether this was something spontaneous or cleverly scripted.

As an audience member, Cooped works best if you don’t try and read too much into it and enjoy the ride. For booking details go to Spymonkey’s Cooped

Tonights Gigs

Adelaide Fringe Festival (SA)
Visit the Adelaide Fringe Website for the full program.
Brisbane Comedy Festival (QLD)
Visit the Brisbane Comedy Festival website for full program details.
Willow (VIC)
Willow Tales
Crime & Punishment.
Featuring Ben Lomas, Ryan Coffey and hosted by Simon Godfrey.
8pm start
The Alley Cat Bar (TAS)
ALLEY CAT COMEDY
Hosted by Tim Logan & Rose K!
Jess Lerch, Cam McKenzie, Luke Sonners, Kevin Kopstein AND many more!
Stand up Comedy, Hilarious Musical Shanadigans & Comic Cabaret Theatrics.
8.30pm $7
A Mic in Hand
Doors open 8pm, $10
Visit their Website for line ups.
The Charles Hotel (WA)
The Comedy Lounge
Visit the hotel website for the next line up.
Doors 7pm
$15/$12
Mic In Hand
8pm, $10 full/ $8 students.
Visit their website for line ups.
Laugh Upstairs
Doors open at 7.30 pm, Show starts at 8:30 pm.
Randwick Rugby Club (NSW)
Coogee Comedy
Jeff Green, Mike G & MC JJ Mullard.
$12, Doors open 7:30, Show starts 8pm.
Bookings on 02 96655447 or email admin@randwickrugby.com.au
Full Guide > >