Fringe World Festival Perth – Tina Del Twist

As Tina Del Twist stumbled up onto stage in a gin induced daze I wasn’t sure what sort of show I had let myself in for. Five minutes in and the first set of laughs, I knew I was in for a fun night.

Her sultry voice oozes emotion and during her originals ‘Red Light’ and ‘Lest we Forget’ you could have heard a pin drop as the sentiment seeped out into the audience.

Audience members, willing to play along with Tina Del Twist’s interactive evening, helped add to the comedic moments as they willingly heckled and engaged in her embarrassing line of questioning. To much heckling though and she was a master of putting you back in your place.

Her act it not confined to the stage as she stumbles around the Spiegeltent stopping at the bar for a shot or two of vodka or waltzing between columns singing “And if you’ve got no other choice, you know you can follow my voice, through the dark turns and noise of this wicked little town” – Wicked Town.

In a drunken stupor Del Twist thought she was performing to various audiences around the world. Tonight she thought she was in Auckland. Her rendition of Tina’s Waltz (Waltzing Matilda Blues) had the audience in fits of laughter as she frequently stopped to explain, to her Auckland audience, the meaning of billabong, swag and coolabah.

She is skillfully accompanied on stage by guitarist Twist who frequently becomes her side kick.

As the night drew to a close she stumbled to the back of the tent , stopped singing and announced “ I’ve had enough Twist, I’m off to the merchandising tent outside.”

Tina Del Twist has the voice of a gin soaked jazz angel and her interactions with the audience and comedic antidotes are original and at time hilarious. I left the tent feeling this is how Judy Garland’s act might have ended up in older age.