Scotch and Soda
Scotch and Soda
Spiegeltent, St Andrew Square, Edinburgh
Neil Cooper
WHAT happens in a bar after-hours stays in a bar after-hours. Unless, that is, the late-night action is immortalised and worked up into an hour-long routine by a troupe of alt-circus performers who resemble extras from a Tom Waits song.
Australia's Company 2 transform drinking games into gymnastics in the Underbelly's flagship show for Edinburgh's Christmas 2014 programme.
A quintet of acrobats accompanied by the five-strong Crusty Suitcase Band introduce the audience into a speak-easy atmosphere with a fanfare that moves between rag-time and bump'n'grind.
Things start off simple enough, with a set of what looks like party tricks, as sole female member of the ensemble Chelsea McGuffin takes a walk across some upright champagne bottles.
The elaborately-bearded Mozes indulges in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it full-frontal flash before embarking on a far more impressive solo trapeze act.
His colleagues do hand-stands on towered-up crates and bicycles circling the stage, or else fling either themselves or Ms McGuffin through the air for a dexterously co-ordinated display.
With the band barely letting up their brass-laden cacophony, what is revealed beyond the show's loose-knit narrative is essentially a set of extended indoor busking routines writ large and honed into a bite-size cabaret. The most charming moment of the entire hour of this European premiere comes not from assorted physical jerks, but from creatures more accustomed to being in flight.
Because when the lights dim on the Spiegeltent auditorium and McGuffin pitches a tent and opens a suitcase as three very tame birds perch on a music stand before flapping about, it has a natural gravity which even the high-flying finale can't match.
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