Bookcrastinators Anonymous is the sort of theatrical-art-installation-creative-non-fiction-cabaret piece that the Fringe Festival was made to provide a home for.
Led by Jacqueline Whiting, the idea is that the audience have arrived at their local chapter (hur hur) of BA to get support for their inability to finish books. There’s a modicum of audience interaction, along with various parody songs sung by Jacqueline.
The show is definitely fun, but it’s also very rough and clumsy in places and in desperate need of tightening up. The political jokes didn’t work, but a couple of the vignettes were great.
Storytime with a random person picked out of the audience, who read a story book (with multiple characters that all, hilariously, sounded exactly the same) for everyone; or an earlier piece where the audience had to guess who said what quote – Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey, or a serial killer.
The ending felt arbitrary and not satisfying, which is a shame considering the hard work Jacqueline put in beforehand.
Bookcrastinators Anonymous
Errol’s & Co, 69-71 Errol Street, North Melbourne
Performance: Thursday 21 September 2017 – 7.00pm
Season ended
Information: www.melbournefringe.com.au
Image: Jacqueline Whiting
Review: David Collins