Words: Alex Grunberg

5 Stars

The audience is welcomed into the Udderbelly Big Top by a musical theatre score, smoky and surreal staging of dismembered mannequins, and hints at the acts to come in scattered circus apparatuses that immerse us in the Barbaren Barbies’ campy and absurd circus world.

The Barbaren Barbies enter the stage with gusto and immediately defined characters comprised of surprising types and tropes, embodying the meme: “Girlhood is a Spectrum.” As the show commences that spectrum will expand to include such variety as a sexually explicit drag boyband and an anthropomorphic tampon.

These clowns state that they are ladies performing for everyone, but this is definitely a show for the ladies. Still, I’m positive that there is something in this that all audiences can enjoy, because there truly is something for everyone, all the time, whether it makes sense or not. And why should it make sense? In clowning, sometimes less sense is better.

While I would have happily enjoyed their comedy alone, the Barbaren Barbies paired their clownish antics with impressive circus skills that employed creative props paired with sketch-comedy style concepts. Some standout performances for me included a superb pole routine, a one woman show-style mime exploration of feminist rage, and a Chaplin-esque skit with vaudeville flair.

It is clear that these women are having a blast onstage, and I had a blast watching them.

BARBARBEN BARBIES: A WILD WOMEN CIRCUS
UNDERBELLY, GEORGE SQUARE – UDDERBELLY
16:00
Aug 14-16