[2015023] The Big Giggle
Bamboozled Productions @ Royal Croquet Club – Ukiyo
12:30pm, Sun 15 Feb 2015
It’s bloody hot, and the crew were struggling to keep the Ukiyo cool: giant noisy fans that were being used to move air through the venue were only shut down at the very last moment, and restarted after one parent complained about the stifling conditions. So it was a bit of a surprise when the small crowd of around twenty people (including one family I’d seen at my previous show) entered the tent to discover that Peter Baecker was super-enthusiastically dancing behind his little mixing desk to the tune of I Wanna Dance With Somebody… his antics seemed impossibly exuberant given the conditions (and his costume!).
Only Stacey from OzStar Airlines was present (Tracey, she told us, was busy on another flight), so she MC-ed this family-oriented variety show solo. Stacey’s got a friendly demeanour, easily engaging both children and adults in the audience. After a little banter (how hard it must be to warm up such a small crowd, spread so wide across the venue!), she introduced Crystal (from the Flying Fruit Fly Circus) who performed a gentle hoop routine; Stacey then coerced members of the audience into a hula-hoop competition.
Dandyman then came out and put on a wonderful show, juggling and miming and interacting with the children in the audience with great success (and was certainly much more at ease with his act than the last time I saw him). Crystal then returned for a ribbon/tape routine… again, solid without being spectacular (to this jaded observer of circus acrobatics).
And then, surprisingly (but, because of the sweltering venue, thankfully), the show was done: Baecker, who had remained in the background onstage pretty much throughout the show (and quite clearly had the perspiration to prove it) rounded out The Big Giggle by getting everyone in the audience up to dance; we all tried to humour his intent for awhile, but dear lord that venue was hot. I went outside into the baking sun slightly disappointed: while there’s no doubting that The Big Giggle succeeded in family-friendly variety, I couldn’t help but think it was a little light on content.
(23) The Big Giggle: Family-friendly circus & sideshow tricks. Oh, and dancing. In this heat??!? #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 15, 2015