If they were serving Limbo juice at the bar at Limbo The Return, it would have been sold out on the first night. Everybody would want a taste of the sweet and nasty sauce that makes people dance to funky beats, eat fire and perform aerial stunts with ease.
The Limbo show that opened Wednesday night in Civic Park has a strongly original feel about it, steeped in burlesque and circus dust, yes, but driven by an original sound that alters the tempo, and drives a touch more intimacy between actors and audience.
Start with three musicians (Sxip Shirey, Grant Arthur, Mick Stuart), all composers in their own right, who can play multiple instruments with expertise. Add a French all-rounder (Mikael Bres) who can sing (especially beatbox), dance and perform as an acrobat.
Then add an English aerial rope specialist (Ben Loader) with a degree in circus arts, and a Spaniard (David Marco Pintado) who can juggle fire, walk a tightrope and do acrobatics.
Throw in a South African (Hilton Dennis) who can dance with the best of them, and has a superior tap dancing routine, and isn't too bad on a sway pole either.
And top it off with two females - an Australian (Clara Fable) who can sing, dance, breath fire and crack a whip like she means it, and a Bulgarian (Maria Moncheva) who can dance and do aerial performances of just about any kind.
Sexy. Magical. Mystical. Musical.
Strut & Fret's Scott Maidment, who created this show and directed it, which is now the third iteration of a "Limbo" production, has already led this one through a season in Germany and a successful run at Adelaide Fringe before landing in Newcastle for 32 performances.
The funky original Gypsy punk sound created by composer (and performer) Sxip Shirey gives it a unique signature. Shirey plays all sorts of instruments in the show, from fire siren to bells and marble-in-a-bowl to guitars and mini-Moog. His Australian bandmates, Grant Arthur on sousaphone, bass trumpet and bass, and Mick Stuart on percussion and polymba (a percussive instrument he invented), add to the irreverent mix, which echoes jazz, pop and rock and several genres in between.
The music also sets the tempo, and not everything happens at a rapid-fire circus pace in this production. Acrobat Mikael Bres's aerial rope solo appears literally, like it's in slow motion. At one point he blows a feather at the top of the rope, then glides down to catch it at the bottom before it touches the ground. Like magic, in slow motion.
Fire breathing acrobat Clara Fable's routine, on the other hand, is fast-moving and full of danger.
There are multiple dance routines, catchy musical interludes, acrobatics, sway poles, high wire, tap dancing, and song. Over nearly 90 minutes, nothing outstays its welcome - although the fire routine, which is near the end, raises expectations and the show does not reach that tension again.
So please, I'll have another one of those special 'Limbo juice' cocktails, full of smiles, magic, and music with a hint of sex and danger.
