There are no rules, chorused the panel members. You have to wonder about Cool Heat Urban Beat , a funky fusion of hip hop and tap. While a hit with festival audiences, it's a Tap Dogs for the new millennium, and as such is properly the domain of a commercial producer. The production is a masterpiece of staging - the climactic scene sees a typhoon hitting the slum.
Water cascades in from the wings, a dwelling is blown apart and the roof lifted off for a second.
One of the joys in coming to Adelaide is that you can, time and budget permitting, flit between the festival and the fringe. The Adelaide Fringe straddles the CBD and with 536 shows at 168 venues, it is like a Godzilla monstering the official festival program. Astin is not a household name but his seemingly ageless face is instantly recognisable - he played Gomez in The Addams Family . Astin is a consummate performer, one who with a modest collection of props, notably a frockcoat symbolically lined in crimson, is able to turn a large bare stage into an intimate and sometimes claustrophobic 19th century environment.