Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, Meriton Festival Village, Sydney
January 6, 2018

Ever since La Clique came to Australia as part of the 2007 Sydney Festival, we have had a steady stream of cabaret-burlesque-circus shows presented in spiegeltents for arts festivals and at other venues around the country. Audiences clearly love them and continue to flock to them in their droves.

The cast of RIOT. Photograph © Fiona Morgan

RIOT at this year’s Sydney Festival is cut from a similar cloth, yet manages to offer something a little different at the same time. An Irish variety show from the Irish production company Thisispopbaby, starring renowned drag queen Panti Bliss, RIOT premiered in Dublin in 2016 where it won the award for Best Production at the Dublin Fringe. Along with the expected comedy and acrobatics, it also includes Irish dancing, singing and blistering rap monologues with social and political points to make.

On the face of it, it sounds like an unusual mix that mightn’t work together, but it does. The fact that the audience, expecting fun and games, is suddenly dead quiet through the monologues, which address issues such as the artist as dissident, capitalism,...