Review | Fuego Carnal melts down The Ice Cream Factory

Fuego Carnal | Empyrean at Ice Cream Factory | til 17th Feb | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Fuego Carnal is an extremely hot circus act. ‘Fuego’ is Spanish for ‘fire’ and ‘carnal’ being universally understood; this sensational collection of fiery performances will have you gasping for breath for a full hour.

Introduced by a lady in a corset with a whip and a wicked sense of humour, the audience is quickly startled by her daring as she introduces fire and the burning whip snaps the air. She flirts with the audience as she twirls, dances with fire and becomes airborne on a burning rope.

Successive acts seem to introduce more daring. Think of nearly every circus act you have ever seen and then light it up with fire. These are consummate performers who have taken their act to the limit … and then added fire!

Some of the acts are sheer madness as fire is twirled, blown, swallowed and wrapped around bodies. Then the swords, knives and bows and arrows come out! It is difficult to select a favourite but the fire-breathing bagpipes playing We Will Rock You is a definite stand out.

I think I actually stopped breathing as the contortionist held a bow and flaming arrow with her feet while she balanced on two poles, got into am impossible upside down position and fired the arrow at the target.

The performers engage with sensual choreography and there’s always enough danger to keep you on the edge of your seat. Put together by Jacob (who comes from Manjimup) and wife Sophie McGrath, they have performed in almost 40 countries and sold out at the Adelaide Fringe.

The tent is specially to be open to the sky at the top, which was good for a couple of reasons. The first being that there are about 250 people sitting on benches so the tent would soon heat up. Secondly, the performances would burn the tent down. Just be warned that the front rows are precariously close to all the fiery action, and there’s also the chance that you could be targeted for the audience participation part of the show.

Fuego Carnal is at the Ice Cream Factory on the corner of Roe and Lake Streets. Shows are at 7.40pm and 9.15pm and, even though it is on until 17th February, it is sure to be a sell-out so get your tickets early.

Lezly Herbert