Hans. The Garden of Unearthly Delights - Aurora Spiegeltent. 23 Feb 2015
I haven't seen a Hans show since he was a neophyte entertainer dressed in lederhosen doing a high-kneed dance playing oompah-pah music on his accordion at the Weimar Room on Hindley Street back in the late '90s. Boy has his schtick come a long way! Now it's tighter clothes, wider girth, three lovely showgirls and a back-up band belting out the hip hop. And the audience was well oiled with anticipation and lapped...it...up.
And if you're going to do a great cabaret show, why not do it as a German? Most of us would think they invented cabaret, and Hans, for all his modernism, is steeped in the traditions that define the genre - lots of make-up, exotic clothes and gender-bending, jokes and barbed banter on our suburban lives, quick-witted exchanges with audience members, crisp and loud dance tunes but also some old favourites, plenty of dancing, and supreme of all, lots of audience participation.
He brings everyone into the show in a most personal way, that even if he didn't speak to you directly, or if you weren't one of the lucky three men coaxed onto the stage for a dance contest (the winner experienced the added good-natured humiliation of being tied up and serenaded), you feel touched and moved by his energy and bonhomie. I swear he tried to make eye contact with everybody.
There are only two more shows and I strongly suggest you see at least one of them. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 23 Feb to 9 Mar
Where: The Garden of Unearthly Delights - Aurora Spiegeltent
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
