Rouge.
Presented by Canberra Theatre and Highwire Entertainment. The Playhouse. Canbrra Theatre Centre. October 23-26. Bookings 62752700.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Marketing can be a honey bee with a risky sting. But it so happens that that is all that I have to go on. No programme is available, so I clutch a flyer as I leave the theatre after a pleasant diversion and an agreeable night of circus, cabaret and acrobatics that is Rouge. The producers of the popular Papillon have gathered a skilled and talented group of three men and three women to entice us into a “non-stop celebration of the astonishing, the surprising, and the down right sexy. Rouge is circus for grown-ups”. Or so the flyer tells us!
Well, there is all that. The
singer in red has an astonishing voice, scaling the high notes of an operatic
aria or oozing sexuality with her soulful jazz vocals. The fire-eater and
flaming firestick twirler demonstrates astonishing control whether playing with
or swallowing fire or cracking the whip to split a rose’s stem between the thighs.
A bare-breasted gymnast with a lampshade on her head and spinning irridescent
hoops surprises as the first half comes to a close with its feats of strength
and aerial acrobatics. It falters at the start, possibly under-rehearsed in the
strange environment of a proscenium arch theatre. The show seems out of place
in a comfortable theatre. It belongs in the Spiegeltent or maybe a tent in the
Adelaide Fringe’s Garden of Unearthly Delights or Gluttony, where I am sure
audiences will experience a different adventure into Rouge’s novel take on circus for grown-ups.
The second half picks up on the
gradual confidence of the piece and dives into the decadent with touches of
cheekiness and naughty suggestion. Strength, agility and precision mark the
gymnast’s leaps and falls into secure and waiting arms. An amusing segment of
obedient unicorns subjected to the dominatrix’s control fuses humour with
circus acts. Audiences laugh uproariously as an acrobat with a lampshade on his
head struggles to bring his underpants up the legs while modestly covering his
private parst. After all, this is circus
for grown-ups!
The cast are not without talent,
but the show seems under-rehearsed and
without the spark of perfectly timed assurance . A wheel hoop pas de deux between a bare chested
athlete and a tall lady in a black dress lends the show a sensual elegance and
tantalizing ritual of attraction. This if the realm of surprise, bathed in boldly
coloured lighting. However, the familiar routines, re-imagined inthis entertaining
show of skills lacks an astute directorial eye. An imaginative narrative or
thematic scenario would lend Rouge a
fascination and heightened interest with the apparent skills of the company
cleverly woven into an involving plot or theme.
Opening night’s performance
faltered somewhat at the opening without the splash that one might expect. The
audience participation appeared token and the final balancing act, though brave
and accomplished failed to end the show with a bang. The luminescent hoop routine
that closed Act 1 with appropriate panache may have given final blast to the show.
Nonetheless , Rouge is sexy, satisfying entertainment
of its kind and by the time it reaches the Adelaide Fringe next year should
thrill and delight with a fresh look and a more confident execution of the
usual display of acrobatic, cabaret and burlesque talents.