Rouge ·
The Rechabite, 2 December 2022 ·

Described as a “sexy circus cabaret” by director Elena Kirschbaum, Rouge has all the thrills, spills and pranks you’d expect from a circus cabaret, plus a sexy, mischievous twist.

Rouge is by no means the only adult circus around but the small cast of six is talented, and the show has a playful, irreverent heart.

The show opens with the swaggering, wisecracking MC-cum-jester, Paul Westbrook, who welcomes the audience with, “Ladies, gentlemen, and friends beyond the binary”. Rouge creators say they have established the show’s erotic aesthetic and tone on their own terms, by subverting societal norms in favour of sexual and gender diversity.

Integrated into the usual dazzling circus cabaret acts are sexy queer representations aimed at a broad adult audience, including queer relationships, non-binary characters, empowered women, non-exclusive relationships and kink. The show never labours a message or takes itself too seriously, which makes for bawdy, fun, accessible entertainment. “This is not high art”, declares Westbrook.

Kirschbaum has underlined Rouge with a number of messages specific to diverse sexual and gender identities, including representations of women in circus. There is one act in particular indicative of this messaging – the Sexy Lamp act.

Conceived by circus artist Tara Silcock, the Sexy Lamp act is distinct from the other acts, due to its specific framing and backstory intended to celebrate sexual autonomy and self-discovery. The Sexy Lamp test, much like the Bechdel Test, determines the agency of women in performance, assessing whether a performance would be significantly altered if a woman performer were replaced with a lampshade. The Rouge version develops this idea further, with the lampshade eventually having an onstage sexual awakening.

As trained and seasoned circus performers, the Rouge cast pull off some incredible feats of virtuosity, involving cyr wheels, aerial silks, hoops, acrobatics – in addition to bullwhips, BDSM gear, and a situation involving a carrot. The cabaret aspect of the show, which is otherwise quite circus heavy, is delivered with passion by singer Michaela Burger, described by Kate Ceberano as “an asset to the cabaret community”.

Burger pumps out an incredible set of tunes, from classical opera to remixed contemporary tracks. She also features in a few set comedy pieces, which she handles with skill.

Abruptly cutting from one act to the next, via some often inelegant transitions, the evening ends as suddenly as your phone dying mid-scroll. But this doesn’t detract from the show’s main purpose of provoking shock, surprise, titillation and, albeit brief, reflection.

Judging by the audience’s often raucous response to many of the acts, the talented and surprisingly small Rouge cast achieved this goal.

Rouge continues at The Rechabite until 18 December 2022.

Pictured top: Paul Westbrook and Jessie Mckibbin. Photo: Matthew Gedling