Limbo by Strut and Fret could be described as ‘consummate’ – impeccable in terms of technical expertise and it certainly does what it intends, namely: entertain and provide audiences with an opportunity to gasp and marvel at acrobatic antics.
The slick production is essentially a set of circus routines, and the performers are all highly accomplished. ​That said, there are plenty of shows like this around and you won’t see much here that’s different from any others. Audiences are used now to seeing circus with well-developed themes or aesthetics, with stories, even; in terms of narrative coherency Limbo is lacking, and as a complete show it’s missing something when it comes to the ensemble feel; when the performers are working together you occasionally feel they’re going through the motions.
There’s something naff about the striptease routine where a couple peel off layers of each other’s undies before giving up; it might have been funny once but not now. The cheesy ‘pin-up girl take’ with the two women performers on stage is overtired, along with moments of the ‘straight man being appalled by gay advances’ comedy shtick; we don’t need any more of that stuff anywhere, really. On the whole the solo moments are more engaging, in particular Danik Abishev, who can support his own body weight in single-handed handstands and twist himself around while doing so; his ‘prison’ routine is impressive.
The live music has a distinctive personality of its own; the band, playing original music by US jazz/blues virtuoso Sxip Shirey, is led by white-suited Elyas Khan, a sufficiently charismatic stage presence who could be better utilised. The music is created by some surprising things, marbles being swished round a bowl, for example, and a beat box and a tuba along with ukuleles and sirens.
The tap dancing by Hilton Dennis is very cool, a highlight, in fact, and the swaying pole trio routine is exciting as the performers come swooping down over the audience. Mikael Bres goes up and down a Chinese pole with much aplomb to an original song called ‘Will You Watch Me Fall’, there’s an illusionist trick, contortionist Tigris performs some painful looking turns and there’s some very impressive and nicely scary ‘big’ fire-eating from Coney Island performer Heather Holliday.
It’s always fun to see shows in a Spiegeltent; it’s just that Limbo doesn’t especially stand out in its genre.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Limbo
A Strut & Fret production
The Spiegeltent, Foxtel Festival Hub, Southbank
9 October – 1 November
Melbourne Festival
www.festival.melbourne
8-25 October 2015
