If Cirque Du Soleil was to have a nymphomaniac crack head bastard child, 'Absinthe' would be it.
Inspired by the cabaret acts of the 19th Century and fuelled by the hallucinations of the green fairy (both in liquid and in human form), this spectacular – which has spent the last four years lap dancing its way from Vegas to New York – has finally erected in Sydney’s Hyde Park. They’ve put up a tent there, too.
Located on the corner of Park and College Streets, 'Absinthe’s Spiegeltent is a humbly-sized space that delivers on its promise of being an 'immersive' and 'intimate' experience in more ways than one. Word of warning: do not sit in the front row. Unless you wish to be trolled by your filthy rich host, the Gazillionaire, for being gay/lesbian/liberal/Princess Diana’s bastard child/other non-PC term; or wish to have that wet dream of an up-close and personal experience with men’s crotches, women’s breasts or G-strings (female and male) come true.
Yes, this home might be humble, but inside its warm, wet womb is a potent cocktail of risqué circus acts, sensual burlesque, lewd and crude comedy and enough eight packs to make every woman and gay man in the audience ovulate.Nine acts (not including our hosts, the no-holds-barred Gazillionaire and his sexually frustrated assistant, Abby Bobbins) grace the stage in a 90-minute feast of human discipline, strength and beauty. Where the Gazillionaire and Abby entertain with their brand of sexually charged comedy; chair stackers, duo strap workers, horizontal bar manipulators, tap dancers, aerial hoop performers, balancing acts and hire wire walkers sourced from the world over (including Australia’s own tap-dancing, bubble dancing, harpy singing strip tease sensation, Karla Tonkich) entice and excite in a series of astonishing feats that push the boundaries of reality.
American duo strap artists, Jacob Oberman and Maika Isogawa shine in a powerfully beautiful love story that soars, gyrates, spins and climbs to the heavens and back. In a similar vein, German aerial hoop performers Laura Von Bongard and Luka Clayburn tantalise and tease in a sensual acrobatic affair between two schoolgirls as they fall, catch and carry one another in a masterful display of the strength of women.
But the ultimate testament to the strength of the human body and the peak and beauty of man’s physique is in the show’s penultimate performance by the Gazillionaire’s unsuspecting bodyguards: Polish duo Michal Nowosadko and Zbigniew Sobierajski. Their heart-stopping, nail-bitting, mind-boggling hand balance display is the burned sugar deliciousness in a high quality shot of the seductive green fairy that makes you lick your lips in intoxicated bliss and lust for 'just' one more.Drink up. You’re in for one sinfully addictive night. Four and a half out of five shots.
'Absinthe' performs under The Spiegeltent, Hyde Park until 25 October.
