If you are weary of slick, professional circus acts like Cirque du Soleil, or too nervous to go to a male strip club, then this could be the act for you. The show is a soft introduction to cheeky, butt-comical, hairy-bears (sorry, otters – they’ll explain if you see Bastards). Performed in the Teatro tent, the stage set up and props are limited, the lads using prison cell utensils, their wit, charm, and body parts to attempt circus and entertain.
Performed by two bearded hipsters and well-inked Northern Irishmen, Martin Mor and Logy Logan, Bastards tells the story of two circus performers passing time in prison. The two unashamedly hairy, brawny men dance, tease and strip while attempting circus acts.
It’s a cross between not-quite the Full Monty (but Irish style), and street circus, where the acts are not nailed every time, but are executed with such craic that it hardly matters. Their juggling skills are so bad, they got five years in prison for it. The lads don’t take themselves too seriously, and will do just about anything to get a laugh.
Both Martin and Logy engage in charming audience participation and interaction, so if you want to be part of the show, make sure you sit in the front row. This is definitely adults-only, and it probably helps that the late-ish start allows you to have a few drinks before the bizarre and eccentric spectacle unfolds before your eyes.
Go see this show if you have ever dreamt of seeing Dumbledore stripping down and using a bread stick as a magic wand. Or if you have any fantasies of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, an anal-beaded, bearded escapee using a bull whip to lash sticks out of weird and wonderful places.
The performance is strange and of the standard you might expect in a lockdown in an Irish pub in a remote location; where drinking buddies challenge each other to circus acts for the entertainment of others. It is a piss-taking show that could be the result of two men spending too much time alone together.
Dirty Tattooed Circus Bastards (the Prison Years) runs until the 9th of February, at TEATRO in the Woodside Pleasure Gardens. It’s an 18+ restricted event and runs for 55 minutes. Tickets are $25 and you can get them here
3.5 beards out of 5
Elaine Hanlon // @elainehanlonart
Elaine thinks there are worse ways to escape an Irish winter.
Image courtesy of FRINGE WORLD Festival
Woodside Petroleum is a principal sponsor of FRINGE WORLD Festival. Pelican has been a long-time supporter of the Festival, and will continue to show its support. However, the Magazine feels it is unethical for Woodside Petroleum to remain a principal sponsor of FRINGE WORLD, given the current climate emergency, and Woodside’s ongoing contribution to climate change.
Other Festivals have demonstrated that ethical sources of funding are possible – you can read more, and sign the petition, here: https://www.change.org/p/fringeworld-side-with-the-climate-and-drop-woodside-petroleum // #fossilfreefringe #fossilfreearts // Arts and Cultural Workers for Climate Action