As part of this weekend’s Castlemaine Fringe Festival program Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal will feature a screening of award-winning Australian comedy The Lonely Spirits Variety Hour tomorrow Saturday April 1.
Hilarious and heartbreaking, The Lonely Spirits Variety Hour mixes moments of outrageous absurdity and weird connections in one of the most distinctive Australian films of the year.
Neville Umbrellaman is a verbose, velvet-voiced intellectual who hosts a late-night radio show from his parents’ garage. The alter ego of Rabindranath Chakraborty, Umbrellaman is deeply committed to the program, a labour of love and fantastical fancy that masks deeper, more tragic truths. Luckily, he’s got plenty of eccentric guests to help him out, from folk singer Kenneth Wong and Terry the neighbour to French baker Yvette and Chakraborty’s secret crush, Sabrina D’Angelo. But is anybody tuning in?
The film premiered at the 25th Perth International Film Festival – Revelation and then played at the 70th Melbourne International Film Festival where it was nominated for the Black Magic Innovation Award and took out the gong. The Lonely Spirits Variety Hour also won ‘Best Film’ at the 16th Sydney Underground Film Festival and ‘Best Actor’ at the 24th Festival de Antipodes in Saint Tropez, France.
What’s unique is that this screening will feature an in-person Q&A with the cast and director, travelling down from Sydney for the event. Comedy is best enjoyed with a crowd so be sure you get along!
The film will screen at 11am tomorrow. For tickets visit https://theatreroyalcastlemaine.oztix.com.au