Finucane & Smith’s Glory Box: Lucky 13 held at Arts Centre Melbourne as part of Midsumma was a dazzling variety show of acrobatics, dance, circus and performance art rolled into one highly-sexual and fascinating package.
The Melbourne-based, internationally-awarded vaudeville group warp traditional cabaret, performance art, burlesque and circus into an erotically charged show leaves you thinking about the acts days later.
From the very start when ringleader and Madame of the show Moira Finucane (whose performance involving a meat pie and squeezy sachets of tomato sauce will stay with us for a long time) strode out on stage with eerily long fingers, we knew this was going to be an unique performance. Her spoken word poetry during all this madness was an exceptional touch.
Various theatrical spectacles seamlessly melded into each other over the course of the night. We witnessed a drunken drag king stripping to The Divinyls, an aerial act that would have fit perfectly in a Tim Burton film, and the most sexualized balloon-popping art piece we have ever seen (yes, we have seen others).
We were lucky enough to attend on a night when Cirque de Soleil star Mark McLauchlan performed his pole acrobatics, contorting his body in ways that had the audience gasping. Other nights of this performance featured an 82-year old singer, Ethiopian circus stars, genderfluid tenor diva Mama Alto and self-proclaimed Princess of the Northern Territory (and excellent singer) Kamahi Djordon King aka Constantina Bush.
Whatever the night, you are in for a show unlike anything you have seen before with Finucane & Smith.
– Tomas
Tomas Zagoda is a filmmaker, writer, coffee addict and tall person who does not play basketball. You can follow him on your social media channel of choice @TomasZagoda
Finucane & Smith’s Glory Box: Lucky 13 runs 25-29 January 2017. Purchase tickets now.
Midsumma Festival runs 15 January-5 February 2017. Many venues are accessible.
