It’s the weekend Britain is celebrating HRH Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne. It’s also the second night of the Right Royal Cabaret Fest in New Plymouth and I’m in the Theatre Royale to share and participate in Die Roten Punkte in Kunst Rock.

It’s one of seven acts performing this weekend, selected by Drew James the Artistic Director of TAFT – the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust – to bring life, laughter and artistry to the province on the ‘off year’ of the Taranaki International Festival of the Arts.

The brother and sister act of Astrid and Otto Rot swirl onto the stage with a rush of wind, some punchy chords, twirling lights and a bucket full of energy. They do several takes and immediately note that one lady in the audience already has her fingers in her ears. They zero in on her and suggest she takes off her mittens and stuffs them in her ears. Or better still, she must sit right in front of the subs so she can feel as well as hear the ‘rock art’ they have come to share.

The duo is witty and gently outrageous. They expect us to respond and interact and we do. 

There is a mix of clown and the oriental in their costumes: white faces, red lips, black, white and red clothing. Otto’s guitar is also red and shaped rather like an arrow.

Their songs are odd. The first is about a dinosaur, the second about a banana. The twist we get with each one is the banter and niggling between the two siblings during the songs.

She’s bossy, blunt and the drummer. He’s sweet, charming and vulnerable – a bit of a Justin Bieber. They make us laugh, a lot. She describes herself as, “Punk geisha meets Snow White,” and adds that she has an apple and a small dwarf hidden in her costume. They are an intriguing duo.

Their ability to pick up on nuances from the audience is lightning fast. When a woman in the front tells Otto that her name is Clementine, and many of the audience laugh, they want to know why. It turns out she is really a Diane and they delight in guessing why she would lie.

Another of their songs is ‘The 4.15 will not run to Spandau’ and is a “mini rock opera”. The Rots appear to share personal material about themselves. This song is about the apparent death of their parents. Astrid asserts that they died in a train crash but Otto insists that they were eaten by a lion. We cannot tell if they are spinning us a fairy tale or if this terrible tragedy has created the need for these contradictory characters to be so closely entwined. This possibility of truth and fantasy is part of the interest of the Rot’s act.

I think they are fun and intriguing but find the music simplistic and the humour a little basic at times. The man behind me laughs so often and so heartily that I wonder if he is German. The friend with me declares that she has been royally entertained; she’s had a fun night out.

There’s clearly something in Die Roten Punkte in Kunst Rock to delight and divert everyone.

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