Danger Cabaret, the kindly show folk who brought the widely popular ‘El Bizarro’ to the Big Top at Fringe World in February have returned with a brand new show.
MC extraordinaire Magnus Danger Magnus said the new production, ‘Freaks and Fishnets’, aims to satisfy those who’ve found themselves hungry for a good show after the frenzy of Fringe passed by.
“I don’t know about you but after Fringe I know us and our friends kinda got into the two week Fringe funk when it was over.” Magnus explained. “We were like ‘We just want to keep this going’, and then with The Bakery closing and Deville’s closing, it was a little bit sad, especially for folks that like to do cabaret shows and the stable of talent that we have at the moment is just phenomenal. It’s amazing, the people we’re working with these days. We thought, it is criminal not to put on a show. So we thought we could look around and try and find some venues that are maybe a little left of centre, stuff that people wouldn’t ordinarily think of, that have a really good space that we can use.”
They settled on The Doll House Gentlemen’s Club, a venue in North Perth that primarily hosts strip shows. Magnus said that despite the venue holding the moniker of ‘Gentlemen’s Club’, ‘Freaks and Fishnets’ welcomes everyone along the gender spectrum. “It’s very important to us that we make that very clear to everybody that on the night that we’re in there, it is not merely a gentlemen’s club, it is a gentle ladies’ club, and a rough everyone’s club, and an in between all peoples’ club.”
‘Freaks and Fishnets’ features an exciting ensemble of performers including married couple and sideshow superduo Circus Carnis (pictured), modest magician Mario the Almost Magnificent, burlesque performer Odile Devine, dancer and puppeteer Ginger Rabbit, Darla Harland and more, including one special mystery guest who is yet to be announced.
The show will include a wide variety of performance styles, all of which could be included under the bracket of ‘sideshow’, an artform that Magnus explains has a rich history and is frequently misunderstood.
“There’s a great deal of tradition behind it that has been co-opted or lost in time. People think of sideshow as sort of a catch-all, which could mean people throwing darts at balloons to try and get fluffy animals, but originally, out on the touring circuses of the Barnum & Baileys, your old school sideshow, you had your main circus, and then you had your sideshow, where all of your freaks were. What they would do traditionally is a show which is often referred to as a ten for one, which is, you would pay your one coin or your one dollar or your one ticket entry and you’d see ten amazing freaks, like the bearded lady, and the human blockhead and the cricket-legged girl, stuff like that. And the girly shows would also be off to the side of the midway, so traditionally the circus freaks and the girlies would always kinda be lumped together. They’re the outsiders of the outsiders. Which is something that everybody feels very proud of.”
Magnus said the ‘Freaks and Fishnets’ cast are proud to be maintaining that outsider tradition today. “it’s kind of an underdog art form where we’re getting people to leave their house and come to a place to see people live do amazing things. I think that’s what keeps that idea of the sideshow alive. Because these people are lifestylers. They are dedicated to this all day every day.”
Aside from his usual host duties, Magnus will also be performing some numbers himself. We asked him if his routines were more fishnets or freaks. “Probably more of the glitter, tits and teeth, you know” he laughed. “I get a couple of song and dance numbers and a couple of freaky tricks that I’m going to be pulling. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will be- well. Without giving too much away I will be artificially altering my vocal register for one of my particular songs, in proper sideshow fashion.”
Danger Cabaret’s ‘Freaks and Fishnets’ is at The Doll House on Sunday April 19th. More details available on their Facebook page.
