So, it’s a Sunday night. I’m a little tired after a busy weekend but I drag myself along to see a show I know very little about, called The Wau Wau Sisters.
Thirty minutes later I’ve been dragged on stage, my shirt has been removed, I’m wearing hairy werewolf trousers and wig, and a female gymnast is sprinkling glitter over my chest before using me as a prop to do a handstand on.
Readers, it’s for you that I do this.
The Wau Wau Sisters are Americans Tanya Gagne and Adrienne Truscott, two top-flight acrobats who have turned their years of training and discipline in a whimsical direction, creating an offbeat, rude show that combines feats of physical prowess with country music, dirty jokes, burlesque (yes, there’s nudity), blasphemy, booze and pop culture.
It’s a splendidly chaotic and busy show. One minute they’re drinking beer out of holsters, the next they’re playing guitar in a variety of tricky and plainly uncomfortable looking gymnastic poses.
If you’re strictly a viewer, sit at the back, in the middle, where they can’t get you. The Wau Wau Sisters have no respect whatsoever for the fourth wall, cheerfully tearing it down and molesting members of the audience, as this slightly traumatised journalist can testify.
The finale of their performance is a display of acrobatics as difficult and polished as anything you’ll see this side of the Chinese State Circus, with a bit of cheeky burlesque thrown in for good measure.
In a relatively intimate venue, it’s easy to see just how skilful the girls are every sinew of their muscular bodies stands out, and every drop of sweat is visible.
I was left shaken AND stirred.
The Wau Wau Sisters’ Last Supper is at Assembly@George Street at 10.40pm until August 30 (not August 16 or 23).