Categories: Features

Fringe Fever: We catch up with Stephen House (Melbourne Fringe)

Writer and performer Stephen House is a veteran of arts festivals all over the world. Appalling Behaviour is part of the wonderful La Mama Fringe program. About homelessness, he wrote it on the streets of Paris and it’s received raves for it’s Adelaide, Perth, regional SA and Gold Coast productions.

Writer and performer Stephen House is a veteran of arts festivals all over the world. Appalling Behaviour is part of the wonderful La Mama Fringe program. About homelessness, he wrote it on the streets of Paris and it’s received raves for it’s Adelaide, Perth, regional SA and Gold Coast productions.

Show Info:

What’s your show called?
Appalling Behaviour When is it on?
21 Sept – 2 Oct

Where is it on?
La Mama Theatre How do you get there by public transport?
Any tram along Swanston Street, get off at Melb Uni. Is there parking?
Yes, but patience needed to get a street park. Or under Safeway, off Drummond St

What time does it start?
Wed/Sun 8.30pm, Thurs/Sat 6pm, Fri 10pm
How much are tickets?
$15/$25 Are tickets available at the door?
Yes, but best to book

For more information, visit the Melbourne Fringe Festival Website

A Quick Chat With Stephen House…

1. What three words best describe you Fringe show?Dark, Fabulous, Dangerous.
2. Who does your show speak to?Nearly everyone who is a human being.
3. What other Fringe show will you NOT miss?All the La Mama shows look amazing.
4. What other Fringe show do you wish you were in?All the La Mama shows! Really!
5. What do you love most about the Melbourne Fringe?It’s so damn arty and amazing.
6. How many Fringes have you performed in?So many, nationally and internationally.
7. If you could invite anyone to see your show (and you know they would come), who would it be?Lou Reed
8. What is the best theatre advice you’ve received?Hang in there man.
9. What was your most embarrassing moment on stage?A black out and fell off something on to the floor from shock.
10. Do you have any pre- or post-show rituals?I pray to my deity and my god – Lord Ganesh – the remover of obstacles.
11. What’s your favourite theatre superstition? Do you believe it?Don’t have one.
12. What was the last book you read?An old book on yoga that was written in the fifties.
13. What TV show do you never miss?Hardly ever watch tv.
14. What film will you watch again and again?Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Taylor
15. Who will hate your Fringe show?The very conservative.
16. What show changed how you see theatre? Why?The Glass Menagerie, Tenessee Williams. I found the sadness beautiful.
17. What was your first time on stage?I played a character called Stanley in an amateur theatre show; I was in my teens.
18. What is the first theatre show you remember seeing?Can’t remember
19. If you had access to the TARDIS, what performance would you see first?I don’t know what tardis is.
20. What director/actor/writer would you just die to work with?Pedro Almodover.
21. What is your favourite theatre space in Melbourne?La Mama.
22. Where in Melbourne do you always take visitors?I am a visitor.
23. How do you have your coffee?Long black.
24. What’s the best pizza topping?Vegetarian. I would never eat meat.
25. What do love most about your Fringe show?I lived on the streets of Paris and wrote it. And people tell me that it is so real.

Anne-Marie Peard

Anne-Marie spent many years working with amazing artists at arts festivals all over Australia. She's been a freelance arts writer for the last 10 years and teaches journalism at Monash University.