Review: Outrageous at The Pleasure Garden
Outrageous at Aurora Spiegeltent @ The Pleasure Gardens
Sunday, February 12, 2023
9/10
Kinetica have delivered another stellar Fringe season with their highly successful circus spectacular; Outrageous.
Concluding its 2023 run on Sunday, to a packed house, Outrageous was a highly entertaining, non-stop introduction to some of Kinetica’s most talented circus troupe. Unlike Kinetica’s more salacious Sinsuality, the audience delighted in a diverse range of family friendly aerial performances, alongside acrobatics, hand balancing, fire, live music and contortion.
Madeleine Stuckey set the tone for the incredible show, with a dazzling showgirl routine, before taking to the lyra (aerial hoop) and performing the first routine of the night, exhibiting her undeniable skill and flexibility. Stuckey returned later in the show to execute another brilliant routine, with an aerial hammock.
Kinetica co-founder Sarah Ritchie stunned in a net aerial performance, an exciting twist on the more classic hammock-style routine, finding a range of impressive and novel ways to move in the air. A particularly impressive moment saw Ritchie execute a handstand, while on the net, suspended above the stand.
Fringe juggernaut Matthew Pope flawlessly executed a chair balancing act, combining his animated performance style with physical comedy and incredibly impressive handstand and balancing skills.
Phoebe Gaston and Stacey Thompson delivered one of the most memorable performances of the night, taking the stage in a straps duet. Their strength, elegance and trust in each other was undeniably clear in the way that they moved seamlessly together, executing incredible feats of balance and muscle while maintaining the emotional nature of the piece.
Ivy Rayne certainly raised the temperature with a mesmerising fire routine, at one point, stunning the audience with a fire trick that saw flames leap across the hands of multiple performers, to ignite her fire fans. Her elegance and grace as she moved with the flames was captivating.
Katherine Azzam was an excitingly non-circus addition to the cast as a violin player, or so one would think. At one-point Azzam performed a classic musical composition while sitting on, and hanging upside from, a trapeze suspended above the stage.
A special mention goes to Taylor Jones’ contortion routine, which was as impressive and engaging as it was quietly horrifying, as Jones bent, moved folded in inhumanly bendy ways.
Silks powerhouse Danielle Whillier concluded the performance with a gorgeous aerial routine which saw her climb, drop and roll her way through death-defying stunts and several breath-taking moments.
Outrageous was a visual delight. The performers’ skills, alongside intricate costuming, lighting and props made for a show audiences could not peel their eyes away from. Most telling about the artists’ energy and performance rigor, was the consistency with which they were continually on-stage. There was never a moment of waiting between acts, with performers re-emerging for energetic acrobatic transitions, or little pockets of physical comedy, as they changed aerial apparatuses or cleared away used props.
Fantastic music, beautiful costumes, great energy and incredible skill; the Kinetica team deserved every inch of raucous applause from the closing night crowd. While Kinetica’s Fringe season has sadly concluded, they will be returning next year for a new range of exciting shows!
BEC WELDON