Adelaide Fringe 2019: Cookies & Cream
Review by Joanna Pastro
Where: Noel Lothian Hall — Adelaide Botanic Garden
When: 7–10 March
Cost: $20-$25
Have you ever felt like you’ve been wronged by your sex education from middle or high school? Ever had a string of partners who only ever cared about their own sexual needs? Wanted to perform a séance outside the back of the Central Markets to purge the ghosts of relationships past? Cookies and Cream is the Fringe show that has it all.
Armed with four talented grad students who could create unique characters with minimal costume changes, and a few crates to create the sets on the stage, this show takes you through the memories of a girl who is struck with an unfortunate and inevitable break up. I rolled my eyes during the high school sex-ed scene where her teacher exclaims “BOYS HAVE PENISES, GIRLS HAVE VAGINAS” which sums up a lot of sex education no matter where you’ve come from. And despite being from WA, they are able to weave in small details about our lovely city of Adelaide without it becoming over-bearing and cheesy. The cringe worthy Blue Light Discos you attended as a pre-teen, and being extremely offended at the day time robbery of the North Terrace On the Run chips and ice cream. This show is able to look into your past and tell you that you’ll make it through all those awkward experiences.
The actors are able to present the downfalls of sex-ed in Australia, the negative effects of the porn industry, and how it shapes your relationship with sex in a humorous way that doesn’t put of its audience. You will leave with having potentially learned a little something on sex, and also not being able to remove the scene of a David Attenborough style search for the clitoris in the jungle. By having such a minimalist set design and cast, the audience is able to focus on the emotions and plights of the protagonist.
This is a performance that evokes a nostalgia that you can physically feel, and expertly pulls at your emotional strings to leave you feeling like you’ve spent the night in on the couch watching bad rom coms with your friend. Cookies and Cream is still on at the Fringe until Sunday the 10th of March at 6pm, so get your tickets quick and support some Aussie talent.
