Review: FILTHY: 4u at Connections Nightclub
FILTHY: 4u at Connections Nightclub
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Experienced Fringe-goers, thrill-seekers and those looking for that extra special something will rejoice in the debut of one of the sauciest and most risque shows to hit this year’s festival stage.
After sold-out seasons in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the team behind FILTHY returned with the newest iteration of the popular late-night vaudeville, FILTH: 4u. Alongside ‘Kings of Boylesque’, FILTHY: 4u marked the official Fringe debut of ‘Kayoss Factory’, Perth’s newest production and teaching company, from the mind behind Perth’s King of Boylesque, Karl Kayoss, and drag diva Alexas Armstrong.
Despite facing the almost Sisyphean labour of a mid-week Wednesday opening, the show opened to a nearly full house at the Connections Nightclub Main Room, which offered a variety of chair, cabaret table and stool seating.
‘Filthy’ by name and certainly filthy by nature, the show offered a variety of salacious pole, burlesque, live vocals, drag, dance and comedy performances from a selection of prominent local performers.
Avoiding for the most part the inevitable hiccups of opening night, the production was very well put together, with well-maintained momentum and the welcome addition of steamy group numbers, giving the show the feeling of a well-produced and choreographed ‘experience’, rather than just a piecemeal variety format. This dynamism and sense of flow were also aided by the charismatic and dangerously quick-witted Veronica Jean Jones, whose hilarious and scandalous MCing kept the audience’s energy high throughout.
Following a seductive cast opening number and a sultry sing-and-strip from Jones, live vocalist Misty Falls joined forces with pole legend Ruby in a suggestive duo act. The combination of Falls’ saucy vocals and Ruby’s tantalising floorwork was riveting, as the accomplished soloists intimately combined their respective disciplines to produce a provocative display and a great act to ease into the intense eroticism of the show. Ruby later returned to close the show with an ensnaring solo pole routine, which perfectly rounded off the power hour of steamy performances, defying gravity and moving flawlessly in ways that seemed physically impossible.
Karl Kayoss and Hayden shifted gears with a high-octane dance and acrobatics act. Set against the aesthetic backdrop of a hyper-sexualised 90s rave moment, Kayoss and Hayden executed impressive moments of flipping, balancing and two-man stunts with speed and advanced showmanship. Returning later in the show, the two affirmed their performance prowess when accompanying Barbie Q, esteemed Perth drag diva, contributing some of the highest energy moments of the show with fast-paced, sexy choreography. Watching Barbie Q perform the piece so effortlessly in such sizable heels was impressive in and of itself—a total slight on those of us who manage to trip over thin air in flat shoes.
Outrageous drag personality Cougar Morrison took a slightly different spin on the ‘filth’ brief, delivering easily one of the most shocking performances of the night with a hilariously debauched bit of toilet humour. Returning in the second half of the show with restored vigour and an utter disdain for the more conservative punter, Morrison delivered an exceptional piece of unhinged theatre, armed with a can of whipped cream and a microphone. Morrison’s routines were indisputably the comedic highlights of the night.
Burlesque legends Lotta L’amour and Gigi Love, recent co-founders of ‘Lotta Love Productions’, delivered one of the most seductive acts of the night with a kinky neo-burlesque duo. The on-stage chemistry between the artists was intoxicating and utterly captivating, leaving audiences breathless.
Audiences seeking a risque and seductive late-night experience will certainly get their money’s worth at Filthy: 4u. Packed with first-rate performers, explicit acts and a whole lot of sizzle, this show will entertain, entice and leave you hungry for more. A must-see new staple for this year’s festival, this triumphant debut show for the Kayoss Factory has firmly established the new company as one to definitely watch out for.
BEC WELDON