Tattoo Show is a brave show – not just for one lucky audience member who was ‘chosen’ to be tattooed live on stage during the show (as one is during every performance), but brave for the company as well.
With Tattoo Show, Rawcus Theatre use the medium to not only unpick the impermanent nature of live performance, but of our lives themselves. They examine these ephemeral qualities and our relationship with memory, latching onto the idea of tattoos as an attempt to make otherwise transient experiences or emotions concrete.
The ensemble – Nilgün Güven, Louise Riisik, Clem Baade, and Mike McEvoy – ask a series of questions to the audience, while tattoo artist Xani Kennedy watches on. There’s live captioning projected throughout the show, along with descriptions of any action being spoken aloud.
It’s beautifully inclusive, but also nestles in nicely with the aspects of memory being explored. We see and/or hear a part of the show, but the caption or the description doesn’t quite match. Did we remember the moment correctly? Will we still remember it a year from now?
In one electric moment, Mike brings up an earlier question about butterfly tattoos, then begins to speak about memory. His words weave in gloriously with Beau Esposito’s music and in an instant general thoughts of butterflies become a distinct thought of the cicada tattoo on my arm and the friend that the ink is in memory of and I am near-weeping in the front-row.
Later a detailed list of Louise’s tattoos is read, along with what/who they represent. Slow at first, Louise is able to follow along and show each tattoo in turn to the audience. But then it speeds up and the narrator mentions the tattoos, but not their reasons, and then faster still losing more detail, a pug dog for someone special becomes a pug dog, then becomes a dog.
It’s reminiscent of how memory can work across the passage of time with fine detail inexorably being lost. Yet, Louise’s movements haven’t stopped, quickly breaking all connection with the words being spoken and suddenly there’s this captivating dance onstage – a moment fleeting but fabulous.
Each performer showed great commitment, presence, and authenticity. To bring an audience along in a show like this requires a lot of trust, which Rawcus engendered from the outset. Tattoo Show is a moving work of theatre, exploring the stuff of connection, and how some of us use ink to make the impermanent last a little longer.
Tattoo Show
Trades Hall – Solidarity Hall, Corner Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton
Performance: Wednesday 15 October 2025
Season continues to 19 October 2025
Information and Bookings: www.melbournefringe.com.au
Image: Louise Riisik – photo by Sarah Walker
Review: June Collins