Posted By Shaunus on Mar 13, 2018 | 2 comments

It’s a full house in the Octagon and that in itself presents problems for the running of the show. They are struggling to fit us all in, and eventually my partner and I are seated off to a corner of the stage at the back with people obscuring our view. It’s certainly going to affect our perception of the show. The difficulty with getting people in also makes the show late, very late. Twenty minutes after the scheduled time it finally commences.

But putting aside the less than ideal audience logistics, let’s actually assess the the show itself.

First off, let me say that the skill and professionalism of these performers is clearly self evident. They are variously talented dancers, acrobats, singers and circus performers.

Well in that one sentence it I have given the game away. The show begins with a song from the read headed red dressed songstress, the performer who was the focal point of the show. Around her, the dancers showcase their talents.

From then on we go through various permutations of acrobatic and dance performances. The acrobats, as you would expect for a fringe show of this nature are excellent.

The dance is hard for me to assess, because frankly it’s not really to my taste. The rest of the audience really lapped it up though. Yes the dancers were good, very talented at what they did. I’m just not the right person to ask about that part of the show.

However one thing I did find unusual was the burlesque performance by one of the male dancers, who was really camping it up. Perhaps this was to be edgy, perhaps provocative, but I believe show business is delivering for your audience. In an audience comprised largely of suburban Adelaideans I’m not sure that this was appealing to the right audience.

There was also a bizarre performance in which one of the performers was semi naked with a lamp shade on her head spinning fluoro hula hoops. Frankly I don’t know why she was partly naked. I found it detracted from the performance. I kept asking myself “why?”. I would have enjoyed her performance more if she was clothed. But perhaps I am out of step with the spirit of the Fringe.

Then there was the fire eater. I loved this bit. I’m still a sucker for these, probably because I rarely see them and of course because he was exceptionally talented.

The show concluded to raucous applause from the audience. They clearly loved it.

Overall, I found the show to be entertaining and very technically proficient. But there was something lacking. Other reviewers have compared it to other recent Fringe shows and found it lacking something. Though I am not one to take my cues from other reviewers I found this as well.

Comparing it, for example, to Papillon, a similar show and one in my all time top four, I would say the audience engagement wasn’t the same. What I believe was lacking was direct interaction with the audience. The hosts of Papillon engaged the audience with humour and speaking to the audience.

With this aspect lacking, you don’t have a show that is a coherent whole, you have a show that is a series of discrete acts.

With that aside, as I have already said, the audience clearly loved it and it was a full house. So certainly a show worthy of consideration.

Reviewed by Shaun Turton for Sam About Town
4 stars
Photo by Jodie Hutchinson, courtesy of Rouge
Rouge is playing at Gluttony until 18 March, 2018.
Tickets and more information:
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/rouge-af2018