Review: Hairspray Jnr at Adelaide Youth Theatre
October 13, 2019
Review: The Village at the Festival Theatre
October 27, 2019
You know you are in for a zany night out when critics have described this show as ‘multi-layered hyperactivity for the stage’.
Bringing my 11 year old son as my date/fellow critic, we walk into the theatre to see a parade of audience members having their photos taken on stage in various states of crazy poses. We discover these photos are then used as part of the shows finale. More on that later.
Techno Circus is presented by SIRO-A, a group described as ‘Japan’s answer to the Blue Man Group’.
Personally, I loved these guys more!
SIRO-A are renowned worldwide for their spectacular performances that combine special effects, incredible projections, mime, dance, puppetry, comedy, illusion and high energy techno music.
They have wowed audiences of all ages with their Golden Buzzer winning act from America’s Got Talent, attracted millions of views on YouTube, sold out shows across the globe, and now are ready to take Adelaide on a ride as part of the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Oz Asia Festival.
This show is a feast for all the family, and a treat for all your senses.
With their James Bond-esque opening sequence, showing off their clever use of mime, dance and lighting to the second scene, and one of my favourites, where they used dots and blocks and incredible timing to move squares according to where the lights were bouncing to. The squares then turned into a Super Mario game, drawing excited laughs from the young opening night crowd, then into a virtual tennis match, again drawing amusement from the audience.
This then turned into an arcade racing game, finishing off with a horse race.
By this stage, we all knew the pace was set, and the ride was just beginning!
My favourite scene, was the astonishing BOX scene, where the performers were pushing the letters ‘BOX’ around, in sync with the incredible lighting of course, to make different variations of the word.
Here began word puzzles ending with the Oz Asia logo.
Super skillful scenes followed using shadow, cartoon backgrounds, laser effects, fabric always drawing gasps from the masses and huge applause.
Another highlight was where they turned themselves into famous logos such as Starbucks, Google, Ralph Lauren, Red Bull among others. My son’s favourite scene.
The real crowd pleaser was the reenactment of famous movie scenes, using words on the screen to announce what was happening…very funny to watch. Look out for the firm favourites of Frozen, Star Wars and Jaws.
As the one hour show draws to a close, we are treated to the photo montage of all the audience members whose pictures were taken before the show started.
We then discover that the goofy poses they were asked to do, form part of the finale romp that when spliced on the projection, looked like they were dancing along with the talented team.
Finishing with all the photos turning into a giant globe, leaving the audience with full hearts and smiles on their faces.
SIRO-A’s Techno Circus truly is a dazzling display of harmonised sketches, light animation and 3D projection that will tantalise and entertain the whole family.
Happy theatre travels…
Lia <3
This review also features on the Theatre Travels website – www.theatretravels.org
