Briefs are back! After an enforced hiatus and a UK tour, their new show Dirty Laundry has toured Australia and finally come to land at Sydney WorldPride. It’s everything you know and love about the cabaret/circus/burlesque/drag/comedy troupe in a new production. You’ll laugh, you’ll scream, you’ll get a bit horny, and you’ll have a lot of fun.
The core ensemble of Fez Faanana (founder and MC), Captain Kidd (founder and boylesque star), Thomas Worrell (acrobat/aerialist) and Louis Biggs (acrobat, cabaret artist, and general super-twink) are all present and serving new takes on their talents. Around them is an ensemble of both familiar and new members bringing their drag, dance, and physical theatre to join in the fun.
There are new flavours in the mix. Brett Rosengreen brings high-energy sex-appeal to compliment Biggs’ cheeky-chappy; Dale Woodridge-Brown’s comedy, mixed with a death-defying lack of a gag reflex, delivered a dose of domestic devilry; while Dallas Dellaforce’s drag-robatics had the crowd gasping.
I’ve seen Briefs quite a few times now, mainly at London Southbank’s Spiegeltent, so seeing them in the Seymour Centre’s York Theatre felt odd. (The photos are from previous tours, not the current Seymour Centre production). Removed from the free-wheeling circus space, Dirty Laundry, felt more staged and also more transgressive for this risqué troupe. The strong, high rake of the seating made the aerial acts feel smaller as we looked down on them. The depth of the theatre turned the usually immersive experience into simply one of viewing (from the seat I was in). If you’re going, book towards the front to get the full experience.
Dirty Laundry shows that Briefs’ understands its unique place at the intersection of funny, freaky, and fuckable. Always entertaining, always gag-worthy, they know how to put on a crowd pleasing show with the best of them.
By Chad Armstrong
Briefs: Dirty Laundry plays at the Seymour Centre from 28 Feb – 4 Mar as part of Sydney WorldPride. Click here for tickets and more information.
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