Enter a world of sweet treats with Sideshow Femmes’ heart-stopping variety show Candy Shoppe

Sparks will quite literally fly at The Royale Theatre this year, with the return of Sideshow Femmes and an all-new heart-stopping variety show packed full of dangerous delights. The Western Australian debut of Candy Shoppe promises to tantalise, astound, and occasionally terrify audiences from Thursday, February 1 until Sunday, February 4, with tickets on sale now. BEC WELDON caught up with Sideshow Femmes’ creator and producer, Scarlet Tinkabelle, to chat about all things extreme and exciting at this year’s Fringe World.

The Sideshow Femmes are returning for Fringe World 2024. What sweet treats do you have in store for audiences this year?

Featuring daring aerial acrobatics, mind-bending contortions, and feats of strength that will leave you breathless, from a cast of highly skilled, award-winning cabaret oddballs from around Australia. Prepare for a sugary overload of creative costumes and unique beauty, celebrating the strength and sensuality that lie within every femme.

What sets the Sideshow Femmes apart from other burlesque and variety shows at this year’s Fringe?

The iconic Sideshow Femmes fire finale is the hottest act on the Fringe World program! Each season, we try to amp things up a little more. Get front-row seats for this season; we’re doubling up and bringing something entirely new into our infamous finale for Perth audiences!

Sideshow Femmes is a wild ride of high-octane performances and daring feats. How do people usually react to the crazy stunts and tricks? Do you have any memorable reactions you remember?

Mostly, we hear gasps and excitement as performers take to the stage to show off their sideshow skills. We get the odd covered eye or peering from behind a partner’s shoulder, but it’s all part of the thrill! Personally, I think my favourite reaction came from the front row of the Femmes audience at Perth Fringe 2023 while I was performing with my grinder. There was some fabulous squealing in fear each time the grinder neared my plate, and we had a great little volley between us of squeals and sparks!

What inspired you to create Sideshow Femmes and produce the shows for Fringe?

Sideshow Femmes was created as a means to bring femme-presenting sideshow artists to the forefront of the main stages and to have a show entirely made for us. Often, we are the novelty act in a variety show or outchosen by masc counterparts. This show is all about us Femmes and how dangerously weird and quirky we can take things.

Do you have a favourite routine or stunt to perform? Or a stunt that you’d consider the most daring?

I absolutely love bringing our fire finale together for each season of femmes. There’s something about performing your favourite skill with a bunch of likeminded and wonderfully talented humans on stage together. It’s also been such a wonderful time upskilling and cross-training other performers so we can take things to new heights each time.

Sideshow Femmes has taken you all around Australia; where is the most memorable place you’ve travelled to perform?

Every single location we have taken Femmes to has brought unique and wonderful memories for us all. We’ve been so blessed to have brought the show to some iconic venues and Fringe festivals, and I don’t believe any one is more than the other. Perth will always be the origin of Femmes, so it does pull a little more of the heart strings than others.

What inspired the Candy Shoppe theme for this year’s show?

I mean, who doesn’t love pastels and sugary treats? The concept loosely stemmed from one of the tracks in the show, used for our finale, actually! Once those creative juices started flowing, we simply had to see it through to the big stage!

What are you most excited to share with Perth audiences this Fringe?

All of it! Most of the acts in the show are freshly made for the season’s theme, so audiences will be seeing the acts for the very first time! How lucky is Perth?