Review: Brass Monkeys at The Factory

What a start to the fab Adelaide Fringe season!
Beautiful weather, an afternoon out with the family to see the spectacular Brass Monkeys.

Presented by Circus Trick Tease, this powerhouse trio of performers Kyle Raftery and April Dawson [under the pseudonyms of Jason and Kylie – love the Neighbours reference] and director Malia Walsh bring their new quirky, action-packed, comedy and circus show to Adelaide.

After seeing their award-winning 2019 show, ‘Children Are Stinky’, I knew this was going to be a great spectacle.

Walken in to the pre-show tune of ‘Weapon of Choice’ by Fat Boy Slim [see what I did there? Walken…], we are greeted by a set of giant coloured circles with musical notes; a nice bright stage to capture the youthful audiences imagination.

Jason and Kylie are engaging, clever and highly energetic and have the young crowd enthralled from start to finish. So much so, that the children could not contain themselves in their seats and just had to join them on stage!

The premise of the show had Jason and Kylie wanting to run away from the circus, to join a marching band, but alas, neither of them could play an instrument, or knew what a marching band was, so they enlisted the interactive assistance of the punters to help them understand what was necessary for them to realise their dream.

While attempting to practice the trumpet and trombone, they often got distracted and ended up performing their speciality acrobatics tricks.

Whether it be showing off the skills of Jason juggling shakers to the beat of the cool tunes, or Kylie’s fantastical hula hooping skills, this show is perfect for the under 12s and adults too!

There were some absolute ‘whoa!’ moments; like Jason playing the trombone uptop a unicycle for the whole tune of The Jungle Books ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ and the utterly, insanely amazing finale of flips, tricks, acrobalance and adagio lifts, all the while playing instruments!

As they went through the steps of ‘How to become a Marching Band for Dummies’, the moral of the story was clear; you can do anything your heart desires, as long as you have determination, grit and practice!

Brass Monkeys is a highly entertaining, charming and wacky show for kids, but us adults will appreciate the sheer talent and complexities of the tricks and tongue in cheek comedy aimed purely at the older crowd.

Such a fun day out with the kidlets, don’t miss this one!

Happy theatre travels…

Lia <3

This review also features on the Theatre Travels website – www.theatretravels.org