Retro Futurismus is a cabaret circus show which explores the idea of the dystopian future as viewed from the past. The potential of this theme is realised in the section where cockroaches take over the world, and decide to exterminate the entire audience. This section is funny, inventive and full of dark humour. With the performers chanting in unison using a Dr Who-type sound effect with their voices, and barbecue tongs as ​pincers, the lo-fi approach fit perfectly with the show’s theme.
Retro Futurismus has many great sections. Teresa Blake’s performance art work is one of the strongest elements in the show. Her performance sections have a strong, biting, surreal edge to them. The section in which she appears naked with a chair attached to her body and then proceeds to get dressed, stretching her clothes over and around the chair to create a cubist outfit topped off with a stylish lampshade, is an absolute classic. It combines a Dada sensibility with 50’s Vogue fashion to create something that speaks of attachments to objects and materialism in a unique, funny and disturbing way. In another section she appears nude except for terracotta bricks strapped together to make a kind of brick bikini that wonderfully cross-pollinates Australia’s obsession with bricks and mortar and buying houses with images of ​women and their domestic roles, and subverts them with a dark, slightly menacing undertone. She is a unique, original presence and voice in Australian performance.
Anna Lumb’s sections are striking and technically accomplished. Her hulahoops act is visually stunning and her rollerskating ​routine, especially when she skates over bubble wrap to make percussive noises, is funny and engaging.
The rope act by guest artist Moses is jaw dropping and virtuoso. Simply put, he is one of the best rope artists in Australia and internationally. His body is fluid and seems to integrate itself with the equipment to create something extraordinary and breathtaking.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Retro Futurismus
The Magic Mirrors Speigeltent, Hyde Park North
24-29 January 2017
Sydney Festival
7-29 January 2017
www.sydneyfestival.org.au
