Powerhouse production house and pre-covid FRINGE WORLD stalwarts, Strut and Fret, return to Perth for the first time since 2020. Creators of a literal conveyor belt of slick, crowd-pleasing festival fare such as La Soiree, Limbo, and Blanc de Blanc, this season they send The Purple Rabbit hopping across the Nullarbor, a show they debuted in Adelaide last year.
Entering to choose seats, D12’s Purple Pills rumbles on, segueing into Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit, the stage bathed the colour of the night, empty except for road cases. The soundtrack, lighting, and production all fabulous throughout the show.
Harper Jones as the sexual psychic-ologist was an absolute stand out. Volleying with audience members on their love lives, getting quite spicy in places, with some reacting more warmly than others, requires true improv skill, all while keeping the performance on an overall even keel.
Additional points to audience member Ross, whose face of ultimate pleasure remained as blank as a mime’s transcript. It was almost enough to make Harper break character.
Remember the overly dramatic magic of the 90s, Event Television live atop skyscrapers in Vegas, as if it were pro wrestling? Dom Chambers does, bringing it back to the somewhat tamer locale of the Rechabite, power balladeering his way through a simple enough trick, card packs as sinuous as feather fans in hand, before making his face a literal snow globe. All the show. All the tell. All the swagger and exaggeration.
Faster than saying the magic words, “why didn’t you become a doctor instead”, it’s the Unnamed Magician. Purveyor of multiple Rubik’s cubes, micro art classes with audience members, and wicked delivery of some very blue lines.
Add in Angie Sylvia with a fire-eating burlesque routine hotter than the Pilbara, “mouth magician” Gale beatboxing bass so low even a whale would struggle to hear, and Dom’s opening act, pulling so many items from an empty paper bag, getting progressively more ridiculous yet jaw-dropping.
Sexy? Yes. Magic? Yes. Does it fit the brief? Absolutely.
A fantastic display redefining what this art can be.