Vogue: The Madonna Circus | The Pleasure Garden | Until 24th February | ★ ★ ★ ★

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Drag star BarbieQ and local circus company Kinetica have forged a great partnership combining their talents. Their show Sinsuality was a stand out at previous editions of Fringe World and now they’re presenting and brand new show – Vogue: The Madonna Circus.

BarbieQ – who is simply flawless in this show, is joined by a cast of acrobats, contortionists, pole dancers and aerialists. If there was an award for best looking cast in a Fringe Show they’d be the hot favourite, but they are foremost incredibly talented and skilled circus performers.

Backed by a soundtrack made up of hits from Madonna’s career the show benefits from a sing-a-long and clap-a-long vibe that got the audience going. During the show the material girls’ songs including Borderline, Iconic, Holiday, Rain, Vogue, Like a Virgin, Erotica, 4 Minutes, and many others, provided an engaging sonic landscape.

There were more costume changes that you could count, each become more glamorous than the previous, and rather than recreating the looks Madonna has sported throughout the years there were just subtle nods to her most iconic moments.

The cast worked closely together with impeccable timing. Often Fringe World shows feel like a line up eight talent people have been put in a room together, a marriage of convenience, but this cast were clearly a team and not just waiting for their individual moment in the spotlight.

The performers also clearly having a lot of fun during the show, and that vibe fed into the audience’s feeling of inclusion and celebration.

Alongside BarbieQ there were also featured moments from Mr Boylesque Australia 2017 Karl Kayoss, two-time world pole dancing champion Felix Cane, as well as aerialists Matthew Pope, Rebecca McMahon and Sarah Ritchie.

The Fringe World season brings a population explosion of talent performers from interstate and overseas, and too often we forget that many of those talented performers are actually originally from here. This company shows that there is bucket loads of talented people working here the other 11 months of the year.

There are some challenges with this show, the Big Top in The Pleasure Garden is a flat venue, and unless you’re in the front row  you’ll find yourself twisting and turning to try and see all the action. It doesn’t have the best sight lines.

The room is also remarkably bright, and there were times that there was so much going on on stage, that I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to be focusing. More intricate lighting would create more drama, and take this show to the next level.

If you want to catch this fun and engaging show move quickly they’ve only got a few shows left.

Vogue: The Madonna Circus is on until 24th February in The Pleasure Garden, get tickets from Fringe World. 

Graeme Watson