Soap will leave you speechless like it did myself. The performance was executed on every level with the background music complementing and emphasising the performers routines. There hasn’t been one show at Melbourne Comedy Festival nor at Adelaide Fringe Festival that I have seen that emotionally touches the audience like Soap does. Melbourne Comedy Festival has a lot of shows to offer so often escaping the cliché comedy genre is needed now and then.
Soap combines operatic singing, clowning, fantastic music and dancing with a whole lot of wet fun. Structurally, the performance is segmented into short dramatic episodes that take the audience on a journey, ranging from the comedic to the compelling. This is a minimal dialogue production that instead relies on the physicality of the performers, the heart touching music and jaw dropping acrobatic segments.
Six bathtubs were elevated and aligned across the stage which was the focal point of their performance. Some would elegantly cress their body around tubs incorporating the prop into the performance in a manner that was effortless. Others had minor adjustments to the stage arrangements as the bathtubs were slid along the stage, flipped over for a solid surface and a tub was filled with water whilst an acrobat was elevated and lowered back down into the water whilst giving a mind blowing performance. Whilst in the background of majority of the performances there is wonderful and powerful opera singer which will leave the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and have goosebumps throughout the duration.
An impressive aspect of the production was the effective use of the humour and wacky comedy. The most powerful performances which touched the audience emotionally, including myself, had a hind of comedy in there to remind the audience that it was all about having fun! Whilst being in some form of hypnosis during the performances it will change your perspective of the capabilities of the human body and these performers go above and beyond any expectations you may have.
Soap is a fun, flirty performance that has the audience enthralled, as gymnastics, acrobats and circus skills combine in a spectacular fashion which is family friendly.
Words by Jordan Graham
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