This year’s Buskers Burlesque offers up a showcase of song, dance, drag, striptease and acrobatics, all held together by Aussie comic and MC Asher T. Between acts he offers us some aggressively sexual work on the diablo and a hot and heavy reading from some women’s erotica.  

It’s a noisy affair, with a fair helping of skin and lots of wolf-whistling, and this show has become a much anticipated fixture of each year’s World Buskers Festival. 

The Festival (as with the rest of the city, thankfully) is shifting away from delivering shows in marquees and pop up venues. It’s quite surreal to be treated to outstanding performances by some of the world’s top burlesque, cabaret and circus performers in the assembly hall of an Anglican private boys school, but that’s more my own issue with cognitive dissonance. It does mean, though, that twice as many people are able to hoot, holler, and entreat the performers to take off another layer. 

The performance itself is a comic and sexy variety show.

Australian burlesque performer Gypsy Wood opens the evening with a bit of a sensual tease as the crowd figures exactly out how much they’re really allowed to cheer the performers on (hint: a lot), and Canadian burlesque queen and award-winning exotic dancer Roxi D’Lite’s hypnotic performance leaves the audience in stunned silence.

Australian boylesque superstar Captain Kidd’s fierce, filthy, funny acts of sparkly striptease are augmented by some breathtaking aerial work.

Chanteuse Lili la Scala, whose work I love, belts out an Alice Cooper / Wicked mash up, but it seems to be compromised by some flaky sound levels. 

Samoan-Aussie drag act and self-described bearded lady Fez Fa’anana gives us two pieces of genderqueer terrorism, and his faux-drunken, tottering striptease to comedian Wendy Ho’s expletive-ridden ode to getting laid, “Fuck Me”, is one of the top moments of the night. 

Acrobats The English Gents (Hamish McCann and Denis Lock), who recently featured on the Royal Variety Performance, demonstrate some extraordinary acts of balance and strength, all while keeping a stiff upper lip and making sure that, while they get their kit off, it’s done with a bit of British decorum. McCann finishes up the night with a stunning solo piece. 

All up it’s flirtatious, funny and raucous. I have said this in a few reviews of this festival, but we are bloody lucky to be able to enjoy the work of such world-class performers, and it’s worth chucking as much cash as you can spare in the buckets afterwards. 

A final word of warning to those hetero guys who find that being flirted with by saucy, glittery men is upsetting or confronting: don’t sit too near the front. What did you expect, that this would be all about women getting their kit off? Diversify! You might like it.

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