Life Performance Review - Juniper Rising

Juniper Wilde lay dead in her apartment as her dog ate her face. What was she doing while her temporal was slowly gnawed off her jaw? She rose, she slayed, she conquered, but most importantly, she girlbossed.

In Juniper Rises, the namesake of the show takes audiences through a one-person play, starring the one and only Juniper, making her way through purgatory, the afterlife, and resurrection. A whimsical, carefree attitude, suffocating in self-doubt but blinded by arrogance, our perspective from the eyes of Juniper shows that not all is lost in the depths of hell.

There’s still raunchy fun to be had, which is fitting for Melbourne’s Fringe Festival but somehow less so among the souls of the damned… A serene lack of self-awareness keeps the show alive and riotous with humour which lives rent free on the very edge of tastefulness for 90% of the show . Though I admit at one point  I did find myself offended  – only because I’m a giant fanboy and she kept making fun of my favourite musician, yet mystifyingly referenced them on several occasions in an endearing way. Besides this mild gaslight, I found myself laughing aloud with the rest of the audience at  the endless bedroom humour baked into the show; far estranged from toilet humour, which often tires in rapid fashion.

Interactions with the audience were a highlight of the show with some co-conspirators in the front row picking the crack out of her crack,as well as commending one thrilled member of the audience who left halfway through, “he must be a big fan…”. Again, Juniper’s yass queen, ho-hum attitude takes the driver’s seat of the show.  

Following the passage of a bumbling idiot, perhaps another universe’s Kath or Kim, Juniper Rising manages to produce ridiculous situations in the pits of hell, but only now that I’m writing this do I notice that there were no real props in this show… Yeah sure, a gag microphone she’d belt her lungs into, the table of skulls behind her that she never touched, the… crack… but apart from that, bar a couple outfit changes, I can’t say I’m not impressed that despite this independent, one-woman, slicker-than-silk show, not a single person in the audience was lost in the imagination of Juniper. The scenes were wonderful, and the characters were vivid; the sets were varied, and the characters diverse. 

What a show.

Juniper Rising runs October 11th to October 22nd at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. For tickets and more info, click here.