Oracle

Once you unwrapped the campery, Oracle is an artful surprise. 

I wasn’t expecting such a power-pumping burlesque of aerial athleticism, kaleidoscopic lighting and dramatic costuming and headdresses adorning such skimpy-clad bodies, all 18 of them dancing and preening to a rush of contemporary hits.   

The thread weaving all this together are the myths of gods and mortals behind the 12 constellations of the Zodiac, short and engaging stories boomed out over the music and – with this mob! – inevitably about obsessive lusts and devotion.  Narrated by the blind but visionary Oracle (singer Jazmin Varlet), audiences too are encouraged to make themselves heard! 

Bass G Fam adds some classy Pharaonic stories to these Greek and Roman legends, in a nod to his Egyptian background. Not only is he the writer, director and producer, but also the production designer. His set of ruined columns is basic but his headdresses and vibrant costuming, while diaphanous, are magnificent. Mostly in just thongs and nipple tassels, the cast leap and twist to the provocative choreography of Josephine Magliolo. 

Their supreme skill – matching the best of Cirque du Soleil – is in the aerial pole work which is seamlessly integrated choreographically as a feature in most of the Zodiac myths, but each performer delivering such a well-varied theatricality.

Two boys (Danni Golding and Jason Gonclaves) play two devoted half-brothers, one mortal, the other son of Zeus, on the pole beautifully patterning and interweaving with each other. In the skies, they are united as Gemini. 

The bronzed Zeus (Reid McGowan) later skips the pole but is striking in his rush to ravish Europa, (Isobel Moore), and reveal Taurus; while the delightfully fey Danny Golding plays the cheeky satyr so well on the pole (despite his impossible heels) that he’s immortalised as Sagittarius.

Some creation legends get lost in the telling but this cast have such skills, such sexy strut and attack, that we speed back quickly to the heavens.  The show returns to Sydney after touring nationally, but it’s worth catching if it falls from a sky near you.

Martin Portus

Photographer: Ben Vella