Adelaide Fringe

Fringe Review: The Skulls: High Speed Love Chase

The Henry Austin is a beautiful venue, and one can only hope that other shows make use of its many rooms and levels as well as The Skulls.

Presented by The Henry Austin in The Henry Austin 
Reviewed Saturday 18 Feb 2017

The Henry Austin is a beautiful venue, and one can only hope that other shows make use of its many rooms and levels as well as The Skulls.

As the show begins, several performers slowly weave their way amongst the crowd of drinkers and diners. Wearing mariachi dress and oversized skull masks that are strikingly reminiscent of Jose Posada’s famous calavera etchings, they begin tuning up as one giggles shrilly and cajoles the audience into the performance.

The macabre costumes are just one aspect of this brilliantly absurd performance piece that typefies so much of what the Fringe is about.

Led by a skeletal horseman barking orders in a language nobody can understand, they move and dance playfully, slowly striking up a funereal polka that gathers pace before disappearing upstairs again.

When they re-emerge, the tuba, trumpet, accordion and violin have added energy, and are interspersed with a gloriously over the top faux-operatic falsetto. Crowd members are winked at, played with and left to guess what will come next and over a few drinks, a sense of wonder is created.

Unexpected, original and masterfully executed, The Skulls: High Speed Love Chase is an utterly captivating spectacle.

Review by Alexis Buxton-Collins

Rating out of 5: 4

Season Closed

 

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