Fountain Lakes in Lockdown: A Drag Parody Play ★★★

When you consider that the sitcom Kath and Kim ended in 2007 and the most-recent movie was in 2012, even a foxy moron might twig that this show isn’t necessarily the most current entertainment on the Fringe. Similarly, imagining what these well-loved characters got up to during the pandemic suggests that Fountain Lakes in Lockdown: A Drag Parody Play isn’t exactly chasing the zeitgeist.

Spinning a show out of a popular TV show is certainly a great hook to lure in an audience of those who were fans of the original. But there is undoubtedly a question of where parody ends and copyright infringement begins. In fact, the show even references that very question, slyly suggesting it wouldn’t be a good look for (presumably) Jane Turner and Gina Riley (the creators and stars of Kath and Kim) to sue them. Given the show has played more than 100 performances across 18 Australian cities in the last year, including a week at the Sydney Opera House, the entertainment lawyers don’t seem to be vexed.

The portrayals of the characters from the TV show are pretty good – in particular, Art Simone‘s Kath is so uncanny it makes you question if Kath Day-Knight wasn’t already drag all along. Thomas Jaspers nails every ghastly, narcissistic side of Kim Craig – and indeed can rock a visible G-string. Scott Brennan manages to switch effortlessly between that purveyor of fine meat, Kel Knight, and the much put-upon husband of Kim, Brett Craig – with just the aid of a TK Maxx man bag and a comedy kipper tie. The only weak link of the Australian quartet is Maxi Shield‘s performance as Sharon Strzelecki. She puts the under in Down Under.

The first issue is that most of the show is based around the four spoon feeding the show’s many, many catchphrases to the audience. Look at moi, O-V-A-H, and so on, are all present and correct. But the show is preaching to the converted, and recognition isn’t the same as creating humour. Each episode of the series were 25 minutes long, whereas Fountain Lakes in Lockdown: A Drag Parody Play weighs in at a heinously-overstretched 1 hour 15 minutes. The brevity of the TV show left audiences wanting more works in reverse here – it drags (pun intended) a very slight affair out to breaking point. A desperately unfunny interlude with supposed TikTok influencers Michelle and Ferret is peak cringe Fringe – as is a mirthless and wildly-overextended Zoom call to Brett’s mother.

And while the script picks up and runs with all the motifs of the show, presenting a show based around the pandemic at the Edinburgh Fringe four years after the event feels like a missed opportunity to do something relevant. Does anyone really need a dancing Boris Johnson dream sequence? What is truly frustrating is when they move away from the Covid-era plot, there are glimpses of what might have been. When Prue and Trude not so much break the fourth wall as demolish it, assailing audience members on their fashion sense, Jaspers and Simone’s whip-smart talent for improvisation comes racing to the fore. Later, when the plot requires audience members for Sharon’s ensemble Irish dance, Jaspers as Kim gleefully declares, “We’ve got a whole room full of losers right here.”

But to be fair, sometimes a reviewer’s response doesn’t match the rest of the room. The audience, most of whom were Australian, were absolutely wild for the show, roaring with laughter and screaming at the chaotic disco choreography of Lady Bump. So perhaps, we should zip our lip and get with the programme.