Sideshow Femmes, having debuted their original show at FRINGE WORLD three years ago, another interstate act that had to wait all that time before returning West. This season, the femmes bring to Perth their celebration of the Seven Sins.
Their celebration? Yes, for but what are the sins, if not pleasure forbidden by various Sky Daddies, and Queensland high schools of the 90s.
These are the loosest of loose units, as MC Bella Dejac tells it. The performers you want at other people’s parties, but perhaps not your own. They’re awesome entertainment, fun to have around, but extensive clean-up is guaranteed.
One performer, slipping onto a bed of nails, as comfortable as if on seven hundred thread count Egyptian cotton. Another, with snap, crackle, pop, then a delightfully loud crunch underfoot of broken glass. Razors, where they have no right to be. The finest lines between agony and ecstasy.
The soundtrack well curated, from Ariana Grande to Annie Lennox, Massive Attack to Megan Thee Stallion. Each song specifically chosen to circle back to the relevant sin.
Local superstar, Matthew Pope, portraying Envy as latex mermaid, before ascending the trapeze. Such a languid effortlessness they have, upside down in mid-air, seen across many shows, within Fringe and without, and yet, jaw dropping every single time.
Special mention also to Sian Brigid, as Sloth. Ballet, but make it horror. Lithe, but make it robotic. Have it on stage a few metres in front of a live audience, but equally make it the uncanniest valley of not quite realistic animation. Imagine any killer doll movie out of Hollywood, that’s the ballpark.
Oh, and BYO dropsheet.
The troupe that thinks why only one fire-eater on stage, when we could have three. With so much heat it would burn a spiegeltent down, so found themselves an ex-IMAX theatre instead.
Sideshow Femmes swing for the fences, with unbounded ambition. Not everything hits the mark as it could have, but most aspects do – experimental, boundary-pushing fare, with the utter talent of this team bursting at the seams.