Spooktacular | Brisbaret
Halloween night rolls around and after a weekend of partying I am looking for something a little less wild but equally spooky to do. Brisbaret’s Spooktacular boasted a night of frightening acts and so I put my best Stevie Nicks costume on, grabbed a friend, and made my way to MetroArts for night of spooky fun. The night’s hosts Sophie Banister and Thien Pham have been running this event for three years now and so know their comedic style and their audience very well, and it shows. The duos rapport with each other is infectious and they work the audience quite deftly. Now! Onto the acts:
Whalehouse brought a new wave rock sound to the night and acted as the house band for the night. As well as being talented and charismatic musicians, the ladies of Whalehouse had a sense of humour about themselves, the audience, and the music which is refreshing to see from a music act. They played the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme between acts and immediately won themselves my heart.
Charlie Love walked the line between fear and desire, spooky and sexy with his pole act. In an audience favourite (especially if you ask my plus one) we see an overalled clown drop his denim, shows us some tricks, and even throw us some treats. Yes, those treats were hidden in his underwear. Yes, the audience was behaving like it was a bouquet toss.
A visit from a horrific reimagining of a tooth fairy makes up Anna Straker’s act. Straker’s Eastern-European, completely age appropriate, blue card-carrying tooth fairy persona develops its relationship with the audience swiftly before delving into a story kept in a suitcase. A hilariously macabre story combined with some impressive prop and puppetry work has Straker put the spook in Spooktacular.
After intermission a pair of larrikins stumble onto the stage and provide us with quite the laugh. Harry and Andre are quick to let us know they’re done with Halloween and eagerly await its end so that they might shoot their shot with their shared one-true-love, Mariah Carey (who we all know remains encased in ice until November 1st). A slapstick comedy act rife with giggles this pair win the audiences hearts.
Borishkiva closes out the solo acts with a love song to Gina Reinhart. The self-described sexy, evil Sandman a knack for nightmares and turning fear into hate is done with her former beau Vladmir Putin and has her sights on the mining magnate. Oligarchs and totalitarians are Borishkiva’s type and she’s not afraid to tell us through song and dance. A great act that reminds us there’s nothing spookier than the evils of late-stage capitalism.
The night concludes with a group number featuring our hosts and all the Spooktacular acts. All-in-all the Spooktacular while not necessarily haunting or harrowing was definitely a campy Halloween night at the theatre.
