Review: Sideshow Femmes: Candy Shoppe at Planet Royale
Sideshow Femmes: Candy Shoppe at Royale Theatre, Planet Royale
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Queensland collaborative Sideshow Femmes returned to Perth and Fringe World this season with Candy Shoppe, their brand-new pastel-coloured sugary smorgasbord.
This was a show that truly tantalised the senses—all five of them. The audience felt the heat of fire on their skin, smelt cordite, and tasted kerosene at the backs of their throats. The performers served up visual feasts with every act; the soundtrack was an eclectic mix of sweet and sour; and even some of the props themselves went snap crackle pop, crash boom bang.
All the performances on the night were fabulous, but a definite standout was Sparkarella. One of the premier angle grinder artists in the country, with an excellent sense of theatrical flourish, she made the front rows of the audience her splash zone—of fire. Costumed as the Riddler, if imagined by Tim Burton, with safety goggles and a swinging bright red ponytail, it was as if the flame guitarist from Mad Max Fury Road had been brought to the real world.
Scarlet Tinkabelle floated onto stage as ethereal as any butterfly at a children’s birthday party, but soon showed a harder edge when she made human-sized fairy bread—this sandwich made of broken glass. After Tinkabelle ground herself into the material with almost every body part, she arose, and glass dripped from her body in a beautiful drizzle. The auditory sensations released by this act reached well into the deeper portions of the ASMR brain.
Contortionist Veronica Waite gave an upside-down version of high tea and cake, and acrobats Lila Koi and Ariel Onyx showed the range of their art. They veered from a hypnotic and sensual dance piece with an outfit that could begin nightmares to wonderful aerials to a thumping beat, all played off to a wizz fizz sugar high.
Fire performer Fiona Fyrebird brought out probably the biggest and heaviest prop of the night, but made it seem as light as a feather as she twirled and tossed it around and mesmerised the audience with the beauty of her flame pois.
The entire thing was held together by MC Sophie deLightful and stage manager Chloe the Cocaine. With drop sheets required for almost every act, and sparks, flames, and suspicious-looking sherbet scattered to all four corners of the stage, when Chloe came out every five minutes with the vacuum, it turned into an entire ongoing performance in itself.
MC Sophie was indeed delightful, engaging the audience in a relaxed and witty style, and she discharged the transitions with minimum fuss and maximum personality.
Candy Shoppe concluded with a fire act by the group so hot it scorched eyebrows in the fourth row and made one wonder if there was anything left in the back still to set alight. The entire show was a grand mix of ambition and realisation that succeeded spectacularly.
With Candy Shoppe, Sideshow Femmes have brought to Perth a perfect example of the type of performance Fringe World was built to exhibit.
PAUL MEEK