Smoke & Mirrors

Overview

"It's vaudeville" said Groucho Marx when he saw Alice Cooper live on stage. Old-style stage variety — a bit like cabaret in a theatre — vaudeville began to wane as big acts like Marx made their transition from the music hall to the screen. This year's Sydney Festival offers the return of one of last years' stars. A show which pulls together stage variety like vaudeville of old — Smoke and Mirrors. Lacking the pure sex and swearing of understated previous festival acts like Spankrock, Smoke and Mirrors matches the lithe singing style of iOTA together with buff acrobatics, rough voices and a tough house band. Tiny though the Spiegeltent is, you'll be amazed how much Smoke and Mirrors can wedge of itself into its confined circular spaces.

Queenie van de Zandt, magician Timothy Woon and former Flying Fruit Fly Kali Retallack are the other main players. The This Side Up acrobats also appear, distancing their acrobatics from the serious circus, bringing it instead back to original vaudevillian irreverent sideshow, back to the Spiegeltent, and back to free Festival First Night extravaganza.

Smoke & Mirrors runs Tuesday — Sunday until February 11.