Magical Moves

Today's Fringe adventure took me out to the South of the city and the Gasworks Arts Centre where two young female performers - magician Lee Cohen and acrobat Emma Shephard - have a show.

Titled 'Voila' this is a show the whole family can enjoy featuring dancing light people, hula-hoops, doves, songs, a mermaid performing aerial acrobatics and a guinea pig. There may also be a rabbit, but that all depends on how large your wand is, apparently.

The audience interaction is good gentle fun with a slight hint of pantomime and the occasional piece of participation on stage required.

Both Cohen and Shephard expertly hold the attention of the audience for the entire 50 minute runtime - no mean feat when much of the audience is under 12 - and have a warm, friendly stage presence.

If you're looking for something to keep the kids entertained in what remains of the holidays this show certainly fits the bill. There are two remaining performances on October 5th at midday and 5pm at the Gasworks Art Centre near Albert Park.

Circus Transformed

I had been invited by the mysterious Ella Bella to bear witness to something strange and wonderful.
My instructions were to meet at the Wonderland Spiegeltent in Harbour Town. So, leaving the relative warmth of the People's Republic of Brunswick, I ventured across and through the CBD and out to the windswept concrete and steel expanse that is Docklands.
Finding the Spiegeltent itself out behind the shopping precinct I stepped inside to discover what could possibly be worth all the cloak and dagger. I emerge into a space containing many foldable wooden chairs arranged around a central, circular stage with a larger, more conventional stage at the front.
'Papillon' commences with a balancing act in which the two usherettes and a stagehand drop whatever they were doing and perform some breathtaking feats of acrobatics and balance, culminating in a three-tier balance that has the packed house cheering and clapping madly.
Our ringmaster, Idris Stanton, then bounds to the stage and warms up the audience ready for the next act. Idris, dressed in a well tailored cavalryman's tailcoat complete with epaulettes and shiny gold buttons, is a consummate  showman who knows how to keep the audience entertained between acts without overshadowing any of the acts he introduces.
And what acts we get! The stagehand from the initial routine (a very agile and strong Vincent Van Berkel) returns and takes to the circular stage to perform some truly incredible hand balancing and aerial leg work supported only by two tiny plinths. This act culminates with a piece that had many parts of the audience wolf-whistling and clapping madly.
Petite, sultry chanteuse Minnie Andrews is next and blows the audience away with her silky smooth, rich vocal tones.
Act after act the audience is entertained by Elena Kirschbaum, Amy  Nightingale-Olsen, Joshua Phillips, as well as the aforementioned Stanton, Van berkel and Andrews.
This is excellent family entertainment which, as the title suggests (papillon being French for butterfly), will transform any evening into something wondrous.
Papillon is on at the Spiegeltent until October 5th.

Outback Acrobats

Two ocka blokes sit on camping chairs by a tent, staring at the wilderness in the distance and drinking VB.
"Mate?", says one.
"Maaaaaaate!", the other replies.
Thus begins 'Cirque du Bloke' at the Lithuanian Club in north Melbourne.
There then follows fifty minutes of impressive acrobatics, juggling and deft physical comedy as these two blokes challenge one another to ever more ridiculous physical contests.
Highlights include balancing two eggs on a single stick, some potentially emasculating acrobatics in the camping chairs, a very physical drinking game and a 'Dirty Dancing' reference which had the audience in stitches.
The dialogue is sparse, yet hits the funny bone at precisely the right points and there are even the occasional topical political reference to surprise and delight.
This is one of those rare shows where I feel the need to mention the direction which has clearly been painstakingly conducted to ensure maximum efficiency from the performers in their routines.
There is not an ounce of flab in this tight, muscular show and I would certainly recommend it to all.