[THEATRE REVIEW] JUDGE WINSTON @ Melbourne Trades Hall Review (2023)

If you’ve been around the Melbourne theatre scene for long enough then chances are you have come across a character named Winston Macadamia-Smith. He has graced a few shows over a 15 year period and is the favourite alter-ego of performer Kieran Bullock. And now as they say in the classic he is back… in the form of a Judge… in Judge Winston.

Being someone who often laughs hysterically at the actions of Judge Judy and the imbeciles that often come before in court this was a show that I had to see especially after it was announce that Winston is a judge of the trivial.

The first thing that hit me about this show as I walked into The Old Council Chambers at Trades Hall is that this is the perfect location for this show. The 1800s architecture, the slightly uncomfortable horseshoe benches and the history of the room make you feel like you are entering the Old Bailey. When Kieran Bullock entered already dressed in his courtroom robes it felt like somebody was about to be sentenced to death.

Luckily the show is a lot more trivial than that – that was soon brough to the fore when mild-mannered court assistant Dorothy (played by Sophie Fernandes) entered, and she and Judge Winston began their conversation – an everyday discussion about birds and boring breakfasts.

Now this is what I loved about the show. That conversation was either written in a completely natural way and was improv – either way it was brilliant, and I found myself being drawn into this work of genius.

From there we were told that technically all of us the audience were the jury and the fact that there was only 12 people present even made that scenario more believable. We were handed a card and told at the end of each case we would be told to vote for either the plaintiff or the defendant. Well now I was eagerly awaiting the cases even more.

As Judge Winston told us the first case was historically based. Representing Italy was the Plaintiff Giovanna Pirelli (Jenny Schmidt) and representing Canda was the Defendant Pierre Johnson (Corey Glamuzina) – the charge was Italy blaming Canada for creating the Tropical Pizza and demanding that pineapple be banned from Pizza.

Here is where the real brilliance of Judge Winston took over. Glamuzina and Schmidt were beautifully natural in their roles. It felt like ‘arguments’ flowed and once again it felt like Bullock was hearing what they said for the first time – if it wasn’t then his acting skills are phenomenal.

The second case was taken from the show’s public call for cases ideas online and this time around we saw Nancy Belafonte (Ashleigh Phillips) suing former co-worker Rufus McGlinty (Corey Glamuzina) in order to get her souvenir mug back.

Here Glamuzine stole the show playing McGlinty as an over-confident tool who while I found repulsive couldn’t stop laughing at. Bullock and Phillips’ reactions to what Glamuzina was doing with the character just added even more to my enjoyment of it all.

I found that because of the audience interaction with the show I was listening even more intently to what was happening. I kept having this fear that Judge Winston would call me out and asked why I voted a certain way and I really didn’t want to feel like a goose if he did. For those of you out there though who may worry about becoming part of a show don’t worry – the worst Winston ever does is ask you a yes or no question.

While this might not be a show that is everybody’s cup of tea and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed Judge Winston. I was laughing throughout and despite some hiccups, ie being told there would be three cases but the cast running out of the time for the third, I certainly didn’t leave feeling disappointed. In fact I would love to re-visit Judge Winston’s court-room sometime soon because I found the whole production naturally magical.

Judge Winston is on from 18-22 October at Melbourne Trade Hall as part of 2023 Melbourne Fringe.

Tickets can be purchased from – https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/judge-winston/