Hook Up

Hook Up is a new cabaret/song-cycle/theatre piece written by Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) graduates Ben Nicholson and Nick Hedger, currently playing in The Ballroom at the Lithuanian Club as part of this year’s Fringe Festival. The reason for all the ‘slashes’ in the previous sentence is that at this stage Hook Up, as a show, is not entirely sure what it wants to be yet. Essentially a series of songs and short scenes exploring Gen-Y relationships, the creators have hopes for a full production further down the track and I’m glad to say they’re off to a promising start.

The songs in Hook Up are melodic, funny at times, passionate and brilliantly sung by talented performers Michelle Braiser, Josh Ellwood, Laura Johnston and Vincent Milesi. Writer and Composer Nick Hedger acts as a sort of MC for the performance, taking notes from the audience before the show, setting up the themes and singing small connecting refrains between scenarios. Hook Up is most entertaining when simply presenting the scenes of diverse relationships and the accompanying songs. Some further developments with regards to framing devices, thematic structure and the role Hedger plays within the context of the other actors should clear up some of the more confusing aspects of the show in the future.

There are some fantastic moments throughout Hook Up. Braiser’s performance of ‘Murphy’s Law’ (I’m guessing that’s what the song is called, no song titles were provided) is breathtaking and her scene with Milesi, in which the pair plays a couple who have lost their spark, is hilarious. Incidentally, Braiser is also credited as Co-Script Writer and additional Lyricist for the piece. Josh Ellwood also stands out with his portrayal of an arsehole boyfriend and his strong singing voice in what I’m going to call ‘The Pokemon Song.’

In true Fringe style the staging is simple; a keyboard, some microphones, minimal lighting and a couple of chairs. It all happens pretty seamlessly with quick microphone exchanges and minimal fuss. There were a few sound mixing issues and a crackly speaker, but otherwise the performance was entertaining and runs at just under an hour.

Hedger and Nicholson are an exciting new creative partnership who seem determined to forge a path for themselves and are committed to developing and nurturing new Australian music theatre writing through their monthly event called Home Grown. Hook Up is just the first taste of what is to come.