Cirque Nocturne @ Empyrean At Gluttony, Adelaide 28/2/2018
It was a black and white night like any other, or so I thought as I made my way between the tents and circus freaks of the grimy gardens. As the grim and ghoulish from all walks of life surrounded me, keeping my collar up, my head down and my wits about me, I sauntered to the Empyrean at Gluttony, soon to be the scene of this evenings misguided happenings and stood at the end of the line with the rest of the drunks, derelicts and miscreants.
As I stood there, sipping on my joe and contemplating the choices which led me here, I was awoken from the chatter in my head by a dame chewing gum as she drawled in my face, “Tickets please!”. Retrieving the stub from under a tattered pack of Chesterfield’s in my coat, I handed it over and shuffled through the dark entrance towards the cold benches and a dimly lit stage.
Warm jazz filled the air as a gumshoe I had previously been in cahoots with took to the stage, he was about my age and about as beaten down as any PI I ever met. Working on a troubling case of murder, he found himself surrounded by a series of shady characters, a rogue’s gallery if ever I saw one, but boy could they work a crowd.
High flying trapeze sorts, fire spinners, jugglers, hat tricksters, hula hoopers and more were all on display, not to mention our flatfoot PI, whose feet seemed anything but flat, as he took to the stage with his own special performance.
Cirque Nocturne, a Noir-esque performance not to be missed at this year’s Fringe.
Fringe Review by Peter Lanyon
For more info and tickets to Cirque Nocturne head to https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/cirque-nocturne-af2018