Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Blue Show - Circus Oz- INTERVIEWS

Circus Oz- The Blue Show

Melba Spiegeltent

Mistress of Ceremonies, luscious vocalist and songwriter Sarah Ward - introduces us to this bizarre world of blue moods, blue antics, bluesy Tijuana Brass, bogan pride and catchy cover songs.  

Circus Oz Guest Director Anni Davey has created magic – a circus where less is more. Anyone familiar with the secret world of a Spiegeltent, will know well that what happens inside is often mystical, always enchanting. 

It’s something to do with the character of these 100 year-old tents; strange carousels made of wood and mirrors. It’s a quality which defies words and lends the contortionist being threaded through a tennis racquet while solving the riddle of a Rubik’s cube appear numinous- as if they are solving the riddle of the Sphinx itself. 

It’s a quality that makes audience members feel the proximity of death too, to feel like they are defying death during any number of vignettes, any number of close calls - from the strong woman who bends over backwards while balancing her husband in an extraordinary Bogan pride balancing act that is both comic and astounding or the breathtaking four way juggling routine that brought tears to this reviewer's eyes.   

An outpouring provoked not by the thought I was going to die if a baton went awol and hit me in the temple, no; I was moved by the ensemble- four jugglers transforming an armful of batons into a whirling dervish of immense beauty.

The running gag, an apple and a coat hanger..... Davey turns the everyday into the mythic.

Until February 6

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