The title says it all: this brand-new Adelaide fringe show aims to help anyone wanting to learn Indonesian, with the addition of a bit of comedy, dance, and knowledge thrown in. As a reviewer, I don’t like attending the first show of a season. It’s not fair to the performer or the show, working in such a new environment for a concept that’s never been performed before. But, having only three performances in its season run, I broke my ‘first show’ rule and attended this endearing, free-spirited, Indonesian love story. 

Om Tom (meaning Uncle Tom) is a charming man who has lived quite the life. Having always wanted to learn Malaysian, he discovered that there are no places in Australia that teach the Malay language, so he changed tack to the next-closest language, Indonesian.  And so, his Indonesian love story began, or more accurately, a love language. Over the course of a whirlwind sixty minutes, the sold-out Howling Owl crowd were fed vast amounts of Indonesian language, dance and even Indonesian tea. It’s a beautifully constructed show that’s still a work in progress, however, and through the hour we saw some stories and jokes that worked, as well as some that didn’t. Through it all, though, the beautiful nature of Tom and his love for the Indonesian culture shone through. Who else would stop their performance mid-sentence to make sure that people fasting for Ramadan could eat or drink something because the sun had set?

Tom’s aim in Learning Indonesian is to teach English-speaking audiences 60 Indonesian words in 60 minutes. And although I don’t think he succeeded in his mission (this first time around), a whole lot of fun, laughter and learning was had. Some aspects that do need to be worked on, however, include explaining the punchlines of some of his jokes. Told in Indonesian, it left the Indo audience laughing while the English-speaking audience (me included) had no idea what was going on. 

Learning Indonesian is a show that will definitely get better the more time it's performed. I loved being part of its inception, and I can't wait to see it in twelve months once it has been perfected. Sangat Bagus!

**** Four Stars