Review: Lana Harris
[Image courtesy Brisbane Festival]
Have you heard the one about the Spiegeltent? A girl and a guy walk into this travelling bar – a pointy topped sphere shaped by mirrors, wood and glass. Golden poles, blood red velvet curtains swooping overhead, low lighting and dancing shadows. Smoky. Drinks service on the curve, booths hugging the circumference. A big-top boudoir with an audience.
The girl and the guy start out cautious in this ringmaster’s playground. They clamber carefully onto the high wire – wobble and steady, wobble and steady. She wears a pair of lasciviously red heels as she teeters. The shoes return sporadically throughout the acts, as do the scene setting ukulele and tinkling pianola. Music through out invokes alternately past, present and future – offered in no particular order. Subject to whims and acrobatics, time periods depart and return often.
Continue reading Cantina @ The Spiegeltent (Brisbane Festival) 5th September 2010 – Live Review
The general rule is that you can recycle a trend around about every thirty years. The late ‘90s saw the return of super flared jeans and platform shoes adapted from their 1970’s incarnations, and the final years of the 2000-2010’s saw 1980’s revivals turning everything fluro again, including ruched skirts and the accessories holding big hair in check. As the wardrobes of many of the theatregoers tonight attested, the 80’s success Fame: The Musical is ripe for a comeback. Bucking usual trends, Fame (the movie) actually came out first, then a TV series, and then the musical, and it’s worth noting that the story is not the same as the movie.
