REVIEW: Hot Pink Bits Rides Again

Hot Pink Bits Rides Again Fringe Factory Theatre Hot Pink Bits, also known as Penny Ashton - the Kiwi comic with a lot of dirty words in her google browsing history, is back again, this time in a disused pie factory. A self proclaimed “burlesque-esque romp through the knickers of the global sex trade” Ashton puts on quite a performance for her late night audience. Having done extensive and exhausting research into the adult industry, Ashton’s corseted alter ego shares interesting facts and figures, sings educational songs, dances, dresses up, harasses the audience and even runs a quiz show, in an informative hour of rude jokes and double entendres. Ashton is a polished performer. Her naughty ditties are sung beautifully and without ever getting crass or soap boxy, she manages to discuss a dizzying array of fetishes, porn sub genres and how people generally react to the industry as a whole. Ashton has been busy getting posters into every nook and cranny in Adelaide, and the marketing effort has paid off with a full Saturday night crowd and plenty of laughs for all. This would be better suited to the comedy section of the program, but is a fun piece which will appeal to fringe new comers and regulars alike. The Fringe Factory (based at the old Balfours Pie Factory) is a great choice of a festival hub, with multiple performances throughout the evening, and the kind of fabulously kitschy chilled out bar one expects at Fringe. Although the Pastry Bakery space in which this show took place was obviously overlooked by any OH&S Fringe employee. If you have a frisky granny who’d like to see the show, better not have her use the ‘steps’. Enthusiastic audience members, rounded up from the Fringe Factory Theatre bar outside, participate and heckle with delight. The puppet show segment, where a trouser puppet sings a variation of A Sound of Music’s My Favourite Things is a hit, as is the conscription of vocal audience members as ‘volunteers’ to demonstrate stripping and act out ‘classic’ scenes on stage. Ashton almost had to remove one overly zealous participant who was having just too much fun on stage, much to the delight of the audience. Knowledgeable audience members are rewarded with flavoured condoms and various other adult shop merchandise, and everyone leaves having had a bit of a giggle. Although Ashton seems unsure of the dubious honour of performing alongside industrial sized ovens, the atmosphere works really well and adds to the overall experience. Fringe Factory Theatre Adelaide Fringe Festival till March 16th For full article, read here ---> http://tinyurl.com/2zvthm