Fringe dance reviews: Daddy | Flamenc Oh!! | DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN | The Revel Puck Circus: The Wing Scuffle Spectacular | Tell Me

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

Daddy ★★★★

Summerhall (Venue 26) until 31 August

The prospect of audience participation often fills people with dread, fearful of a very public humiliation. Rest assured, every second of involvement in Joel Bray’s utterly delightful show is time well spent. Think of it more as low-level volunteering.

Stretched across a bed like a pre-Raphaelite painting, but with hot-pink underpants, Bray cuts an intriguing dash. His movement suggests an inner angst, yet as he approaches the crowd, asking people’s names and requesting help on stage, he oozes confidence. This duality sits at the heart of Bray’s show; on the one hand, he’s a witty showman unafraid to hold court – but on the other, he’s a little boy lost looking for, as the title suggests, his daddy.

Bray’s heritage is Australian Aboriginal, he tells us, but due to societal whitewashing, his skin is white. It’s a fact that annoys him intensely, but not as much as the colonial trauma visited upon his forebears. The generational hurt passed down from his grandparents, to father, to him, is evident in the 20 years of therapy he’s received, bringing him no closer to “filling that hole”.

Such moments of soul-bearing vulnerability evoke our empathy and rally our sense of injustice. If that’s all this show did, it would be more than enough, but Bray’s enormous sense of fun takes Daddy into another realm. So when he sends us off into the night with new insight into the huge ongoing ripple effect of colonisation, there’s also an enormous smile on our faces.

Because by that point, we’ve assisted Bray in rearranging his set, joined him at a nightclub, and turned him into a human dessert by covering his body in sprinkles and marshmallows. Pain dressed up as fun is still pain, but hopefully through this brief moment of human connection, we’ve helped him heal just a little. Kelly Apter

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

Flamenc Oh!! ★★★★

Assembly Rooms (Venue 20) until 30 August

This show may be a comedy, but the talented artists delivering it are deadly serious about their craft. Created by Madrid-based company Yllana (responsible for 2023’s witty, but also brilliantly executed, A Comedy of Operas) Flamenc Oh!! is built on a solid bedrock of authentic flamenco dance, music and song.

From the moment David Bastidas walks through the audience towards the stage, his plaintive vocals soaring, it’s clear this is the real deal. Bastidas plays the father, a man so wrapped up in his own machismo, he can’t see what his adult children really need. Raquela Ortega, a highly skilled dancer, brings wit and wisdom to the role of his more tolerant wife, while Raúl Ortega as their hapless son is great at playing the fool, but nobody’s laughing once he starts to dance.

The family is rounded out by Anabel Moreno, a daughter with flamenco in her very soul, whose lightning-fast feet draw you in, and keep you there. Her life is thrown into chaos by the arrival of guitarist Luis Gallo, a house guest determined to add some rock and pop to the family’s strictly Spanish musical repertoire. Moreno only has eyes for Gallo, while he can’t keep his off various audience members.

The show’s familial storyline is lively and fun, but it’s in the unexpected moments that Flamenc Oh!! really shines. The father looking for, finding and celebrating his more feminine side for instance, or when a flamenco ‘battle’ plays out in a make-shift boxing ring. A playful approach to music (pitching the likes of Purple Rain and Summertime alongside more traditional flamenco sounds) also leads to a fast Flashdance-style solo to Michael Sembello’s Maniac which is just inspired. Kelly Apter

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DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN ★★★★

Assembly Roxy (Venue 139) until 30 August

There is breathtaking beauty to be found in this pole dance extravaganza from New York-based collective Vertical Dreamscape. But also some frustratingly banal padding, which it’s only possible to overlook due to the stunning gymnastics that surround it.

The judges at the 2022 US National Pole Art Championships knew what they were doing when they awarded Donna Carnow the top prize. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine anyone navigating an aerial floating pole with a stronger sense of ownership. Carnow’s moves are majestic; her frame fusing with the metal as she twists and bends, climbs high then drops low with controlled strength. Pole dancers are known for their supple flexibility, but Carrow’s wide legs seem to stretch out into infinity. In short, she’s a world-class talent.

Which makes it hard, but certainly not impossible, for fellow-performer Gina Alm to shine. While not at the same level as Carnow (who is?), Alm still works the pole with aplomb, and when the two women climb up together, spinning in tandem in the hazy light, it’s a true sight to behold. Costumes come and go (mostly go), until the duo are stripped down, burlesque style, to pants and pasties (nipple covers to the uninitiated).

When they’re on the pole, the artistry and athleticism of Carnow and Alm is undeniable. When they’re not, the show fragments into absurdist surrealism which, served alongside a narrative or theoretical intent, might work. Here, it does little to enhance the aerial choreography. Bunches of red balloons are brought out, cascaded and popped, then dirt is smeared over their bodies, in a bid to capture the titular moments of sundown, nighttime and early dawn. If there’s a statement being made here, it gets lost in the dark. Thankfully, the incredible pole work shines bright. Kelly Apter

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

The Revel Puck Circus: The Wing Scuffle Spectacular ★★★

Underbelly’s Circus Hub (Venue 360) until 29 August

There are moments in every circus show when the phrase ‘what goes up must come down’ becomes a creative challenge. A piece of apparatus, constructed then used to thrilling effect, has to be disposed of before the next bundle of excitement is delivered. So, how to spend that time? It’s the devil in this detail that often separates the good from the great in this genre.

London’s Revel Puck Circus has an abundance of talent in its ranks, acrobats that would look at home in any top notch circus around the world. Their teeterboard routine sends three performers high in the air, where they spin, twist and turn as if the laws of gravity don’t apply to them. Balanced on a long plank, itself placed precariously on a giant tyre, nine performers shift their weight with measured skill. While an ethereal aerial routine on an enormous corkscrew is the epitome of strength and grace.

The group also makes some fun musical choices, so the tent is always jumping. But while the ‘filler’ moments have an inherent cuteness, a greater sense of artistry would help Revel Puck enter the circus big league. Kelly Apter

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

Tell Me ★★★

Summerhall (Venue 26) until 31 August

With all the remarkable advances in HIV treatment, it can be easy to forget the death sentence it once was. In a bid to compare past and present experiences, choreographer Sadiq Ali takes us back to the 1980s. There we find Michael, a young man who lives life to the full (cue exuberant clubbing scene), but craves maternal support when faced with the dismal odds of a positive diagnosis. By contrast, in present day, Grace receives the same news but can rely on medication, a supportive partner and loving mum.

Much of this is conveyed through dynamic Chinese pole, created and performed with an innovative eye and emotional depth. There’s nothing Ali and fellow performers Phoebe Knight and Jonah Russell can’t tell with their bodies. Their silent movement speaks loud and clear: romantic closeness, warm friendship, hope, fear, and during one particularly affecting scene, physical pain. The set too, comprising two metal cubed frames, is cleverly put to multi-purpose use.

At over an hour long, Tell Me could easily shave off several minutes and lose nothing (in fact gain tightness and clarity). Explicit references, such as soundbites from AIDS adverts, are unnecessary in the face of Ali’s powerful choreography. Kelly Apter

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