Recent Melbourne Fringe Festivals have shown that some circus-friendly venues, say The Ukiyo in Prahran or Runaway Festival Park near Queen Victoria Market, haven’t lasted all that long. Circus Oz’s home in Collingwood has also gone quiet in recent years, with even the Melba Spiegeltent yet to return from hiatus.
So maybe the apparent decline in the number of circus shows over time is no accident. Whilst Gasworks might not be the “circus hub” it once was, at least its sizeable Main Theatre is hosting La Folie After Dark; a show focused on aerial techniques intending to slant routines in a racy direction for an 18+ audience.
If your energy is flagging by week three of Melbourne Fringe, you might not have appreciated the show starting about 25 minutes late and, although advertised as being an hour, running a similar amount over time. Too bad if you had another show to get to, or just wanted to get home at a reasonable time on a school night. Let’s hope that the tardy start is sorted out very soon.
Aerial apparatus on display included ribbons, straps, hoop, and suspended pole. Having a large number of similar-ish acts (say using a hoop) close together could cause them to blur a touch, at least for the casual observer.
Later acts might have suffered from presenting us with similar elements and comparable flexibility to what had gone before, making them seem less novel. Still, there tended to be some surprising details in most routines, like a slinky rotation around an unexpected axis.
An early routine was introduced by the performer’s sequence of high-energy pose changes and assertive crotch displays. This did more than its fair share of providing the “adults only” content by getting us closest to the nudity the blurb warned us about.
Some might find the routine’s sustained aggression slanting more towards comedic than alluring. However, the act distinguished itself from some in the programme by attempting to establish a character before engaging with the apparatus.
Elsewhere the commitment to a character could be somewhat variable in its execution, or almost limited to the choice of leotard and backing track. The show seemed to sense that it needed more than a collection of distinct routines, as, after about the half-way point, there was generally more of an attempt to provide a lead-in.
Often this was a performer briefly engaging with some others, then swiftly proceeding to their solo display of skills. Another time, such as in a cocktail bar scene, some performers notionally part of the scene weren’t even watching the solo act. We would probably scratch our heads at what happened to them at the routine’s conclusion. Some sins are quite sneaky, I suppose.
Novelty was boosted by some partner routines. One did get the setup right, where two youngsters were woken from their beds for their initiation into a secret, sexy, circus sorority. The strength, formations and transitions here, coupled with a surprise at the start, made this an eye-catching act.
Similarly, more mature women, French maids if you will, gave us an effective combination of soundtrack, costuming, and background image as they went about their naughty ribbons routine whilst tidying the Parisian house of their employer.
Flirting with each other (and us) might have made us feel how playfulness connects to sexiness, and how many of the other routines might have suffered from pursuing more serious moods. For example, at least a couple of times a young performer ran a hand down her throat, evoking rough treatment. If this is what young people is sexy, we can hope education campaigns are successful, for their sake.
There were a lot of red-lipsticked toothy smiles on stage, especially from our younger performers. This did remind me a little of the “over-presenting” term that some have applied to synchronised swimming. But the usefulness of the grins was when they slipped temporarily, highlighting the difficulty and effort of these routines, which we could have forgotten as they were consistently made to look so easy.
Overall, having the sexuality seeming less forced at times would have aided the show’s aim. That aside, even though the format limits the depth of story the performers can tell us, this was a solid showcase of acts. Fans of the genre remembering the good old days of seeing lively circus shows at a fringe will surely get a few kicks out of the glamour, fluid movement, and strength of these toned, even chiselled, aerial athletes.
La Folie After Dark
Gasworks Theatre, 21 Graham Street, Albert Park
Performance: Wednesday 14 October 2026
Season Continues to 17 October 2026
Information and Bookings: www.melbournefringe.com.au
Image: La Folie After Dark – photo by All the feels photography
Review: Jason Whyte