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The Dark Party
Published on Saturday, 15 August 2009

The Dirty Brothers, three former members of The Happy Sideshow (an Australian take on traditional clowning) are Shep Huntly, Patrick Bath and The Great Gordo Gamsby and they are having The Dark Party. The trio take the audience into a different world using physical fun and extreme stunts. Dark and dangerous, this is more than an eye opener.

The Dark Party is a non-verbal exhibition of extraordinary physical endurance playfully mixed with visual comedy. Dark humour pervades a host of dangerous situations with interesting results. The Brothers invoke a disturbing atmosphere through excellent lighting and music, creating a gothic world where the tragi-comic clowns at one moment face broken glass, staples and hooks, and at the next suddenly break into a little dance.

The Dark Party employs an even and skilled blend of tragedy, danger and well-timed jokes that catch the audience unawares. The three performers are also well balanced in their physical appearance which adds to the freakishness of the entertainment.

This is stuff that you would never even consider doing at home. but some of the very casual scenes, such as the razor blade lunch, combined with quiet and subtle acting hilariously made such things feel “ok”. The Dirty Brothers manage to make a simple idea artistic, adding depth and character to the whole show and bringing an emotional response from the audience as well as the more obvious physical one.

The use of props was excellent, yet I felt the Brothers let themselves down at the beginning by taking far too long setting out mouse traps; the impatience of the audience was obvious. However, they received an ovation at the end from an appreciative crowd that didn’t mind them advertising their DVD. Trying to find a comparison is impossible – this is a unique act that mixes the unexpected with the dirty and the dark!

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