Wonderfully Terrible Things

As Joel Grey says “Life is a Cabaret”, and in Wonderfully Terrible Things it certainly is, but with more than a sprinkle of titillation for good measure!

The production is led by Christine Ibrahim, dressed in a frothy concoction of tulle and sparkle with a touch of S&M thrown in. Ibrahim is a master (or should I say Mistress) of comic monologue and ad lib. She dominates the production and rightfully so. She controls the audience, mingling with them, and revving them up to a frenzy when necessary.

Most of her monologues are about her life, which is more than colourful. She also has a classically trained voice which can run from sultry cabaret to opera. Her songs are all original, accompanying herself on a keyboard. One of the highlights for me was her finale, suspended high above the audience in red silks singing her version of the Queen of the Night’s aria from The Magic Flute, no mean feat!

She is joined by four performers, each with their own talents. Their costume vibe varies from burlesque, to S&M, to a tribute to the Hellraiser series as they strut and slink around the performance space and the audience.

The fire act is one of the best I have seen, featuring torches, fire foam and fire breathing, skilfully performed. I have never seen a flaming torch held in a performer’s mouth for so long, bravo!

Another act takes place on a bed of nails with a handstand in the middle and the corners set alight. Tricky enough by itself, but adding heat and fire to the act adds another degree of difficulty.

In keeping with the theme of the evening, the whip act is brief but eye catching, particularly removing the petals of a rose in the mouth of a scantily clad male assistant with a whip crack. To add to this degree of difficulty, the performer is wearing high heeled shoes that angle her feet to points.

The aerial strap act (with audience participation, a first for me) is spot on, effortlessly spinning and contorting above our heads, ending with the splits above an audience member’s body as he lay on the stage!

A word of caution, if you are easily offended by language, or adult themes, then this is maybe not the show for you, but for those of us who enjoy a good laugh while having our sexual boundaries pushed, it is was highly entertaining. I loved the audience competition to vocally simulate a sexual encounter.

Wonderfully Terrible Things is exactly as the name implies, a wonderful sixty minutes of delight but with an adult slant. It is highly entertaining and worth a look if you enjoy circus skills and an evening of humour, song and adult content. Lots of fun!

Barry Hill OAM