Advertisement

Review: The Wau Wau sisters

Review: The Wau Wau sisters

CABARET
The Wau Wau Sisters – Death Threats (& Other Forms of Flattery)

3.5 stars

De Parel Spiegeltent, Urban Orchard

REVIEW: ANNELIES GARTNER

Making the best of a bad situation, the Wau Wau Sisters latest show draws on their experiences from the 2012 Brisbane Festival where news of their upcoming performance of the Last Supper prompted death threats from religious fanatics.

The New York duo, who share a special kind of love, weren’t perturbed enough to cancel their Queensland shows but instead looked on the bright side. Increased security came with a move to a much nicer hotel, burly bodyguards and attendees were screened with a metal-detector.

Thumbing their noses at the zealots, the pair treats the threats as a form of flattery.

In usual style, they retell happenings with dance, ad lib, a few musical numbers and as much vulgarity as they can squeeze into the hour long performance.

Audience members - particularly men in the front row - are singled out to be groped, used as props, join in the sing-a-longs as well as help remove items of clothing.

On the night we attended two men were chosen to get on stage and perform a duet to Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You.

For an impromptu act the men embraced the challenge, donning the Wau Wau Sister’s western outfits and entertaining the crowd while the performers slipped back stage for a quick costume change.

I’m not so sure every person dragged to front and centre would be capable of keeping an audience’s attention as these gentlemen did.

Towards the end of the night the pair stripped down to their underwear and took to the trapeze to show their athletic prowess with some signature moves.

I was beginning to think that they’d get through an entire show without complete nudity … that thought came just a little too early.

The shows format allowed the duo to revisit characters and songs that we’ve come to love them for, but it didn’t seem as punchy and fluid as previous performances.

The sold-out show however, was embraced by the crowd happy to be shocked and made to laugh by the sister act at Fringe World opening night.


The Wau Wau Sisters – Death Threats (& Other Forms of Flattery) is on January 24 -29 at 10pm