Review – Best of Fringe Variety: Alchemia
Do you have an attention span? Well good for you! But if you don’t, then variety shows are what you have been looking for your whole life.
Variety shows are awesome. They really are like a box of chocolates. In this case you will get a sweet selection of cabaret-style performance that will range from juggling to singing to magic to puppetry to acrobatics.
The thing about this kind of show though is that they change it up. Every night is different.
On offer the night in question I was delighted by the Kate Bush fuelled puppetry that was Boris and Sergey‘s Vaudevillian Adventure. These guys provide a perfectly choreographed puppetry show that appeals to a very universal sense of humour. You don’t have to be into [enter niche joke type here] to find this entertaining. You just do.
Local cabaret chanteuse Sidonie Henbest did what she does best, and gave us a sultry musical interlude between acts that provided a nice contrast to the remaining physical performance acts.
These acts included some hilarious juggling, where the performer let us choose his juggling mood or stance. Being an excellent sport, he may have got a little (almost) naked. And there was a lady who did things with hula hoops that were both impressive and scary, and a tall hunchback man that contorted balloons into all shapes and spaces.
After a quick check of their blog, Alchemia is guaranteed to provide different performances each night, so you will have no idea what is coming at you. However, I can say this is a discerning group that only picks the A cuts, and they will guarantee you a wonderful night of cabaret goodness.
