Head First Acrobats, GODZ. Photo by Beck StoneGODZ started as a daft Spiegeltent entertainment, which never took itself seriously and relied heavily on the guys’ banter with audience members, who would be seated in close proximity to the action. As with other shows which have progressed to a formalised proscenium venue, they sometimes lose a key interactive element. Here, this manifests as continual onstage efforts to goad and encourage the audience into life and responsiveness. The pay-off in terms of theatrical aesthetics is greater access to a few stage trick elements, most notably, lighting (or rather lightning).
There’s no doubting that the show is little more than a loosely woven excuse to show a bit of flesh, paired with moderately executed circus skills and a whole lot of tongue-in-cheek campery, so delving too deeply into an analytical exploration of the narrative would largely prove moot and pointless. In a nutshell, the booming voice of a disgruntled Zeus complains at not being invited to join in the lads' fun. The upshot (after we have all enjoyed the individual speciality skills of the four protagonists: ladder work, balancing on chairs, a whip-cracking filler section, frenetic diabolo juggling and aerial strap work plus trapeze) is that Hercules is whisked off to become a guest of Hades as penance, whereupon he encounters among other things, deviant nuns. Well, I told you it was camp and silly.
The four Aussies flaunting and cavorting in skimpy manifestations of ancient Greek garb, are Callan Harris (as Hercules), Jordan Twartz (as Dionysus), Liam Dummer (as Cupid) and Thomas Gorham (as Apollo/Hades). Between them, they grin, twirl, lift, balance, mount, and parade before the excitable and occasionally nonplussed audience, and on one occasion even get down to the buff (behind firmly gripped silver salvers) in a bid to elicit embarrassed giggles from the largely enraptured stalls patrons, whilst anyone sitting further afield must be wishing they’d paid the extra.
There’s absolutely no doubting that the troupe is composed of genuinely likeable and funny fellas. None of them is going to make it into Cirque du Soleil, but that’s really not the point, as none of them appear to take themselves too seriously. The show is devoid of any sanctimoniousness. There are no grand flounces (except when delivered for mocking effect) and everyone on stage and off, appears to be having a ridiculously fun time. Sometimes, that’s all that is needed. As the Head First Acrobats themselves so aptly put it, It’s time to get Greeced!
