Adelaide Fringe. The Garden of Unearthly Delights - Paradiso Spiegeltent.
Hans like a pop star is more like it, these days.
Matt Gilbertson packed the Spielgeltent to its rafters for his first show in the Garden of Unearthly Delights. The queue snaked on for ever around the tent and on the whiffy grass. Everyone was terribly excited; most of them already seasoned Hans fans.
Once people have seen Hans, they want to see him again. And again.
What is it about him? Is it being smothered by those terms of affection, all those "darlings" and "honeys"? Is it the self-deprecatory humour? Is it the idiosyncratic hotpants and bling costumes, all lovingly made by his mum? Is it the agility to hoof in boots? Is it the gags? Is it the sheer bravado?
It is the full package and then some.
Hans can throw out double-entendres, Mars Bar asides, and waspish vanities and still be the darling of straight men, old ladies and girls tottering on mega wedgies and riding the Soundcloud.
When not in off-the-shoulder spangles, Matt Gilbertson also travels the stations of YouTube and Vimeo. As the city's gossip writer, he depends on the zeitgeist. Which explains why he did not do ‘Gangnam Style’ in this show. It has had its day - in which time no one did it better than Hans and those stunning dancers of his, The Lucky Bitches.
The viral phenomena move on and this is a new show; new moves; new songs; new gags; new frocks. There's even an improved calibre to the voice, albeit Hans can casually throw in a few stray notes when he is out of breath. And there's wonderment. He is a toweringly big boy but he moves with such swift precision and hyper-kinetic skill that belies his size.
Backed by his mischievously-named band, the Ungrateful Bastards, he does a snazzy little tap routine in this show and you can hear the blokes in the audience muttering their admiration.
He picks on a few people, one in particular. On the first night this turned out to be a lawyer who took Hans's cheeky assaults in very good spirit. Hans takes this shtick right to the edge of acceptability and, although he knows when to stop, it adds a thrill of danger for the audience.
The longer he does it, the better our Hans gets. And the more beloved.
He is local boy made gloriously good. It's done with mirrors and hard work - talking of which, Hans noted, as he performed ‘Simply the Best’, that he was thrilled to work the mirrored venue of the Spiegeltent where, for the first time, his could enjoy a view of himself.
Hip grinding, singing in Spanish and German, strutting his enviable legs in fishnets, playing piano and accordion and belting out Beyonce, Matt had the audience eating out of his Hans. Again.
Samela Harris
When: 10 Mar
Where: Paradiso Spiegeltent
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
