Elixir

Humour, intrigue, incredible talent, skill, physical theatre and dance feature in Head First Acrobats’ mesmerising production of Elixir at the SeymourCentre, part of the Sydney Fringe festival 2016.

Head First Acrobats is comprised of three graduates from NICA, Australia’s circus school, Callan Harris, Thomas Gorham and Rowan Thomas. Together they create a show that exhibits physical theatre, dance, circus skills and comedy.

The cast play three acrobatic scientists looking to create an elixir of life, through a journey of chaos, and impressive circus skills that stretch the imagination. The performance had a great storyline and the plot was easy to follow with a twist at the end. They incorporated humour, strength, skill, fun, great story telling through physical theatre and dance that was reminiscent of Lloyd Newson’s physical theatre company DV8. The fast paced performance kept the audience interested and enthralled from start to finish, with no option of ‘opting out’ of audience participation.

The performance started off with sirens and a voice over ‘zombies loose in Chippendale’. One performer is on stage dressed in a ripped singlet, jeans and ‘zombie effect’ makeup (Gorham). Two people dressed in white lab suits with breathing apparatus masks come on stage, shoot him, then remove themselves and the body offstage.

The production had a minimalist set, a black backdrop of curtains around the stage. A table was centre stage back, draped in a white cloth. On the table were large vials of   liquid in red, blue and brown, and laboratory equipment with bottles of liquid. At the back of the table was a large metal hoop hanging. To the side of the stage was a silver metal ladder.

In addition to theses props they used a swinging trapeze, free standing metal ladder, metal posts to balance and a teeterboard (seesaw). The costumes were white lab technician coats, white singlets and brown jeans for the main action, using lab suits and masks at the beginning and end of the performance. Clipboards and papers were used to report the varying effects of the elixir as working props.

The storyline was based on the acrobatic scientists testing out different stages and colours of elixirs to test the body’s reflexes and strengths on each other. Most of the testing was on Rowan Thomas who showed short lived effects in the beginning. They all share a blue vial and collapse. There is a balancing act on a freestanding ladder (Harris); this ladder seems to balance without anything other than Harris. The use of a swinging trapeze and a large spinning metal circle, which spins with Thomas. The music that accompanies the performance ranges from rap-scratch-electro-funk-dub-dance; to prove the elixir works they dance. The results are recorded by the voice over “Elixir 17B toxic to humans, performance not exceptional”. Rowan Thomas steals the show by engaging the audience with a ball, and his performance with the large metal spinning hoop is magical, turning upside down and spinning in the ring. The cast try to out-do each other by somersaults and balancing.

On drinking the red elixir the cast do a striptease down to jocks and stockings and suspenders to the hit ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees, using the teeterboard and also a bottle of Castlemaine Four X beer. The ‘tour de force’ was the cast dancing as zombies to Michael Jackson’s track ‘Thriller’, it was hilarious.

The production was the winner of  Entertainment Award of the Brighton Fringe in 2015, touring the UK. ELIXIR was a night of hilarious hypnotic fun and action, Head First Acrobats’ productions will be shows to watch out for in the future. Brilliant work, wonderful actors and performers.

Charlotte Hanson

Photographer: Andy Phillipson.