Utopia! And the Calamity Caravan | Observatory Theatre
circus, dance, review Nadia Jade circus, dance, review Nadia Jade

Utopia! And the Calamity Caravan | Observatory Theatre

Using circus, tap dance and clowning, the team at Observatory Theatre have made a vibrant and lively adventure story that is sure to please the kiddos. This is a pretty good first draft of a fun family show, and I genuinely enjoyed it and would like to see it transformed into a real winner, so I am going to put on my circus producer hat for this one.

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Vasilissa | Sylph Circus & Sirin Ensemble
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

Vasilissa | Sylph Circus & Sirin Ensemble

I hope that Sylph Circus continues this path in future productions, finding other girl-centred stories to tell, to share, to enjoy the creating and performing of, to embed knowledge and learn it joyously, to share it with whomsoever comes to trip down the forest path on a crisp morning in autumn.

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Over The Back Fence | Vulcana Circus
circus, review Kristy Stanfield circus, review Kristy Stanfield

Over The Back Fence | Vulcana Circus

Boasting more than 10 different acts across four venues, this was an immersive, engaging, and exciting journey, part way between a mystery tour and the best school excursion you’ve ever been on (only with no teachers and more beer).

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Ingress | Bridie Hooper
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

Ingress | Bridie Hooper

The show was richly layered with all manner of symbolism, and heavily dosed with extremely high-level acrobatics. And of course, youthful vigour is itself a kind of immortality, for who can imagine being weak when one is full of strength? In the summer of life one cannot conceive of the winter of the body. But being young is not an immunity from self reflection, self doubt, self loathing, and self flagellation.

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Booff | Clint Bolster
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

Booff | Clint Bolster

A delightfully imposing clown, when captured in the intimate setting of the tea room, Booff becomes even larger than life. I felt quite giddy, it’s such a space to step into, an otherworldly experience. If you were to enter this beautiful parlour from the chaos of a summer festival, you would be instantly transported to another world entirely. In this Booff has done that most perfect of magic theatre tricks, he has made the outside go away and the inside somewhere else.

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The Secret Ingredient | Hoopla Clique
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

The Secret Ingredient | Hoopla Clique

The two cooks scamper in and out of the kitchen, the apprentice in search of a squeaky mouse and the tipsy chef convinced there is no such rodent. A range of improbable ingredients are added into the sauce, and there’s the age-old argument over doing the dishes. It’s not the tidiest kitchen to start with, but by the end of the day, it’s a right royal mess.

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Rear Vision | Vulcana
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Rear Vision | Vulcana

Ever the innovators in live performance, Vulcana offers us the perfect way to consume the arts in the time of COIVID; drive-in circus. Safely ensconced in our cars, we are catapulted into the world of the performers through a gorgeous soundscape playing on our stereos created by Brisbane’s maestro of sound, Anna Whitaker, and the captivating poetry of Angela Pieta. Our headlights are used for lighting at times and the performers try to connect with us through our individual cells.

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Rear Vision | Vulcana
circus, review Kristy Stanfield circus, review Kristy Stanfield

Rear Vision | Vulcana

The show tread gracefully the emotional arc from the trepidation of this year’s beginning, to the desolation and disquietude of its middle, to the elation at its approaching ending, and touched on themes of the pain of seeking human connection in a physically distanced world, the fragility of ‘normality’, and the power of collective action.

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Apocalipstick | Polytoxic
circus, cabaret, burlesque, review Dr Fed circus, cabaret, burlesque, review Dr Fed

Apocalipstick | Polytoxic

Apocalipstick used drag and gender-fuckery to engage the audience through laughter, the absurd, and the excess. There is nothing better to make someone think about serious issues than to make them laugh! Laughter sits with you in a light vein and it makes you come back to the funny sketch again and again looking for one more laugh. Drag invites laughter by highlighting the contradictions of gender through the excess: hoping for a fuck, office tape and markers become the perfect beauty tools for a face-lift and make-up, and thin-glass toxic masculinity is the weapon of the man looking for acceptance in the wolf pack.

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The G.O.A.T. Show | Shock Therapy Productions
circus, burlesque, sideshow, review Aaron Dora circus, burlesque, sideshow, review Aaron Dora

The G.O.A.T. Show | Shock Therapy Productions

We sit on fold-out chairs on the front lawn of an abandoned house on Chevron Island. A table piled with iceberg lettuces sits beside a temporary stage. Our hosts, two men in neon coloured suits, are offering pickled onions from the jar, sardines from the can and melons ripped apart with their bare hands. They take it upon themselves to gently whack some audience members with fly swatters, despite the lack of flies. Ah, yes, hospitality.

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Circus’cision | Head First Acrobats & Guests
circus, review Jaydem Martin circus, review Jaydem Martin

Circus’cision | Head First Acrobats & Guests

Growing up in rural Australia, the circus is just that: the cliché one that would come to town every now and then. There wasn’t anything particularly bad about those circuses, but they never could grab my attention in the way Circus’cision does. It’s different and brands itself on being a more adult oriented circus cabaret promising delightfully offensive language and the tease of potential nudity.

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Bearded Bingo |  Briefs Factory and Cluster Arts
circus, performance art, review Virag Dombay circus, performance art, review Virag Dombay

Bearded Bingo | Briefs Factory and Cluster Arts

Hosted by the very glamorous Shivannah, Thom and Captain Kidd, the mid morning was full of chaotic energy as each contestant fought to be the first one to complete their bingo combination. These very sexcellent bingo combinations included the little willy (one top, one middle, one bottom), the full house (everything), the hourglass (three top, two middle, three bottom) and Tasmania (three top, two middle, one bottom).

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We The Aliens | Ela Bartilomo and Cecilia Martin
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

We The Aliens | Ela Bartilomo and Cecilia Martin

They’ve moved us into the round, which for the most part works, although pieces down the far end of the room require you to crane your head. They are using segues that don’t entirely make sense on the surface. Which is good. I get tired of having everything spelled out for me, and when something is ambiguous and creative and exploring edgy themes I want the opportunity to let my imagination run wild. I want to see if I can figure it out. It’s what make art fun and interesting.

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We The Aliens | Ela Bartilomo and Cecilia Martin
circus, review Dr Fed circus, review Dr Fed

We The Aliens | Ela Bartilomo and Cecilia Martin

As I was watching We the Aliens, I kept on think about who are the aliens and how do we relate to them. Etymologically, alien means foreign, strange. It is the ‘Other’ to which we cannot relate. And yet, we do have a relation with the alien, albeit in negative terms. The alien is that which we negate from ourselves, that we make foreign to us, and that we perceived as strange and threatening. The body of acrobats and contortionists is a good representation of this concept and also an entry point to reflect on it.

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Circus Delivery! | Vulcana Circus
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

Circus Delivery! | Vulcana Circus

After months inside, away from my people, to have a circus garden party was a such pleasure and a treat. We all wore hats. We ate 11 types of cake. We giggled and smiled and pointed and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the cute, hot, funny, stoopid performance by Vulcanista’s Abbey Church and Liv Porter.

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Kurios | Cirque du Soleil
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

Kurios | Cirque du Soleil

Amidst all the spectacle, the highlights for me were a perfectly performed cat in a moment of exquisitely awkward audience interaction, and a wonderful world made from dancing hands. The simplest pieces perhaps, but the ones with most warmth, and wonder, and otherworldly charm.

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Under My Eye | Bianca Mackail
circus, review Nadia Jade circus, review Nadia Jade

Under My Eye | Bianca Mackail

This work stands out in a mass of sexual-sequinned glamour pusses and full-frontal theatrical wonders. It is raw and fresh and utterly unique and when there is a second season don't miss the opportunity to check out an artist in full flight.

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