Category: Circus
Review: Cirque KOOZA Is The Blockbuster You Need To See Live
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★★★★★ Attending Cirque du Soleil has become an annual highlight, but KOOZA this year came with an unexpected upgrade: a front-row seat. Reviewing a Cirque production is both one of the easiest and hardest things to do. The experience itself is almost impossible to describe. How do you put into…
Review: 360 Allstars Celebrates The Joy Of Mastering A Skill
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★★★★☆ BMX, basketball, breakdancing, acrobatics and drumming come together in 360 ALLSTARS, a high-energy urban circus that celebrates the artistry of street culture through an impressive display of athleticism and skill. Directed by Gene Peterson and presented by Onyx Productions, 360 ALLSTARS features an international cast of world champions and…
Review: Adults Only Magic Show 2026 Wynnum Fringe
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★★★½ About fifteen minutes into the opening night of the Adults Only Magic Show, a man named David was holding a sex doll like a wounded lover, shortly followed by Justin Williams staring lovingly into his soul with the intensity of a man trying to reverse-mortgage his dignity. Somewhere nearby,…
Review: Highway To Hell 2026 Wynnum Fringe
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★★★★½ There are festival openings, and then there are festival openings that make you wonder whether the roof of the Augathella Spiegeltent has its own insurance policy. Highway to Hell: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Circus, which opened the 7th annual Wynnum Fringe Festival last night, belongs firmly in the second…
Review: Postmodern Jukebox 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★★ Before Postmodern Jukebox’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival set, a voice from the crowd yelled out: “Willie!” It was not a random heckle. It was a greeting. Willie Jay Moore Jr had not yet been handed his big solo moment. He was behind the kit, holding down the show with the…
Review: Casey Donovan This Is Me 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★★ Casey Donovan became a household name when she won Australian Idol in 2004 as its youngest-ever champion. Now, twenty-two years later, she arrives for one night only to a packed Festival Theatre for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Despite its title, This Is Me – The Amy Winehouse Special is not about Winehouse. The…
Review: Tara Tiba OMID 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★☆ After seven years away from the stage, the Iranian-born, Perth-based singer Tara Tiba stood in the Banquet Room last night and offered the audience something that felt fragile, defiant and alive. OMID means hope, and for Tiba, hope is not a slogan; it is a survival tool. Tiba is…
Review: HOUSE OF ROT Grey Gardens 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★½ Anticipated by packed tables within the Space Theatre, another fabulous show, HOUSE OF ROT: Grey Gardens, joins Reuben Kaye’s ‘Delicious Revolution’ for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. A minimally lit stage, swathed in smoke, reveals a piano and five chairs. To each of the sides of the stage, wooden chairs…
Review: Baylie Carson Is Handsome(ish) 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★☆ Baylie Carson greets the audience before the show has even begun. They move through the Space Theatre in a blue cropped, sleeveless vest with red trim and black cargo pants. There is a bowl in hand. Inside are small slips of paper, like fortune cookies, waiting for permission. “You…
Review: Alfie Boe With Amy Manford 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★★ The stage for Alfie Boe’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival concert is dressed like a loading dock after soundcheck. Music cases are piled high, the wings are exposed, and the crew drifts in and out of view. It is a deliberate stripping back of theatre’s usual mystique. Not quite backstage, not…
Review: What’s The Buzz? 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★★ Adelaide did not get the full arena-sized production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Instead, it got something rarer. What’s The Buzz? was billed as an access-all-areas concert and conversation with the Australian cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, stripping back the spectacle to share songs, road stories and backstage secrets for…
Review: Dylan Adler Haus Of Dy-lan 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★☆ Dylan Adler arrives at the grand piano in a purple and white kimono. As a classically trained pianist, Adler has spent much of his life at the keyboard. But in Haus of Dy-lan, the piano isn’t just an instrument: it is confession box, launch pad, battle station, trauma archive and…
Review: Natalie Gamsu A Voice Like Shrapnel 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★★ Natalie Gamsu’s cabaret, A Voice Like Shrapnel, is a masterclass in storytelling. Offering a raw reflection on her life and hard-won journey towards self-acceptance, Gamsu delves deep into her past with grit and startling honesty. Co-written by Ash Flanders and director Stephen Niccolazzo – Green Room Award winner for Best Direction – the…
Review: Em Rusciano Addicted To Love 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★★ At the centre of Em Rusciano’s Addicted To Love sits a giant heart made of roses. Roses climb the microphone stands like ivy. Rusciano herself prowls the stage with a handheld rose microphone that droops, swings and flops with unmistakable phallic mischief. This is romance as shrine, battlefield, crime…
Review: Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Is A Spectacular Circus
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★★★★★ Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular is the best night out in Sydney right now. This is a five-star show for me because it does everything I want art to do. It woke up my inner child, and for an hour and a half, every person inside that…
Review: Cirque KOOZA Dazzles Melbourne With Larger Than Life Magic
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★★★★★ Prepare to have your jaw firmly planted on the floor. Cirque du Soleil’s KOOZA has arrived at Flemington Racecourse, bringing with it a thrilling explosion of acrobatics, colour and larger-than-life magic. From gravity-defying stunts to moments of pure theatrical wonder, this spectacular production will keep audiences gasping, cheering and…
Review: Duck Pond Takes Flight With Astonishing Grace
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★★★★½ Quality. Audacity. Humanity. The core values of Circa. Something the world needs more of. Since establishing itself in Brisbane in 2004, Circa has become one of Australia’s most internationally celebrated arts companies, touring to more than 45 countries and performing for over two million people worldwide. It feels…
Review: Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett Makes Triumphant Return To Melbourne
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★★★★★ From the moment you step into Club Kabarett’s sultry re-envisioning of Meat Market in North Melbourne, it’s clear this isn’t your typical night out at the theatre. Boys and girls, the sexy circus is in town! Prepare to be swept up, shaken about, and seduced into something a little…
Review: La Clique Lets Loose With Popcorn, Puppets & Complete Chaos
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★★★★☆ To say I’ve seen a lot of circus cabaret lately is an understatement. So much so that I can usually feel where a show is heading within the first ten minutes. Not because they’re all the same, but because the bones of it tend to be. A bit of…
Review: Briefs The Works Brings After Dark Spectacle To Melbourne
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Masterfully toeing the line between risk and risqué, Briefs: The Works seductively brings in Melbourne’s thrill-chasing late-night crowds to its brand-new, magnificent Spiegel Haus. Equal parts charisma and camp, Briefs: The Works is the kind of spectacle that detonates from the get-go. From the moment you step into the jewel-box glow of the iconic Spiegeltent, this…
Review: MARVELous Brings Cheeky Superhero Chaos To Brisbane
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For a show like MARVELous: A Risqué Parody, the title really does most of the heavy lifting in that you know exactly what you are walking into. In no way is this subtle theatre. And honestly? Thank God for that. It’s superheroes and sex jokes thrown into a latex-clad bender…
Review: Confessions Club Vol. III 2026 Adelaide Fringe
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★★★★★ The Adelaide Fringe has never been shy about late-night mischief, but Confessions Club Vol. III pushes past cheeky into something more theatrical. It’s sexy, yes, but it’s also surprisingly crafted. Beneath the kink and glitter sits a show about ownership of desire. The production returns to the Fringe after…
Review: Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett 2026 Adelaide Fringe
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★★★★★ The hottest cabaret club East of Berlin has arrived in Adelaide, instantly cementing themselves in my eyes as the 5-star, unmissable show this Fringe season! Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett is a raunchy, mesmerising and welcoming escape that will have you squealing, gasping and lapping up every glorious second. Bernie…
Review: In These Shoes Glynis Traill-Nash Chapel Off Chapel
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★★★☆☆ I went to the Melbourne Fashion Festival last night. Don’t worry, you’re still on the right review site. In These Shoes is a fashion cabaret show; part memoir, part commentary, part of the Festival’s 2026 program. The creator and star is Glynis Traill-Nash, a formidable fashion journalist. She was…
Review: Elixir Revived 2026 Fringe World Perth
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Head First Acrobats return to Perth Fringe World this year with a bang in their new show: Elixir Revived. A high-energy production filled with daring acrobatics and cheeky humour; it’s a perfect way to end a night out with friends at Northbridge’s Pleasure Gardens. Made up of four boys: Callan…
Review: Cirque Alice Turns Adelaide Upside Down
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Adelaide, it’s time to follow the White Rabbit to Her Majesty’s Theatre for a feast of circus like no other! Cirque Alice has come to town, offering us a magical escape to Wonderland this January. On opening night, Adelaide audiences were left utterly surprised and delighted at the sheer extravaganza…
Review: Cirque Alice Brings Circus Magic & Wonder To Sydney
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Cirque Alice demands that you look up, lean forward, and gasp in shock at the sheer audacity of the performers. From the moment a lone violin echoes out, the show starts at a pace of 10 and only gets quicker! Opening night felt like being dropped headfirst into a story you…
Review: Cirque Du Sleigh At Wynnum Wonderland
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I knew I wasn’t in for a standard Christmas show the second I walked up to the Augathella Spiegeltent. It has that slightly worn-in charm that immediately tells you something odd or brilliant is about to happen. Even with that in mind, Cirque Du Sleigh still caught me off guard. This is…
Review: Blanc de Blanc Encore At Spiegel Haus Melbourne
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The music is pumping, the tempo is set. The bass beats make your blood rush with awakening adrenaline, and there’s a sensational sea of white with a touch of sparkling glamour. Blanc de Blanc Encore has landed in Melbourne, and it’s spectacular! Entering the Spiegel Haus, the new entertainment precinct…
Review: Reuben Kaye Reigns Supreme In enGORGEd
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Reuben Kaye returned to Brisbane for one night only last night for the Queensland premiere of his acclaimed show, enGORGEd, at the Concert Hall, QPAC, co-presented with Melt Festival. I haven’t known – or known of – Reuben Kaye for long. I first met him at the Media Call for Jesus…
