For most people baths hold connotations of childhood, relaxation and pleasure.
For many others, it’s also accompanied by a crippling anxiety and a vivid memory of slippery bathtub accidents. For the talented eight-bodied cast of the globally renowned show, SOAP!, free-standing tubs and large quantities of water are considered a prime foundation for hardcore acrobatics, contortion and contemporary dance.
This week eight incredible entertainers have slipped into Wollongong, to showcase some of the less conventional uses of a bathtub, in a magnificent circus-inspired cabaret hosted by the Merrigong Theatre Company. The show is a versatile concoction of moods, acts, genres and humour that serves up just as nicely for family show as it does for a frisky ladies night out. The painfully attractive and phenomenally talented outfit is composed of a range of world-class circus and theatre performers, so it’s no surprise that the unique show is a sell out across the globe.
SOAP! is led by the playful antics of Ximena Ameri who struts her voluptuous undergarments around the stage, getting into hilarious escapades. The show begins with a huge variety of comical acts and the scarce appearance of water. There’s a mop-fuelled dance-off, an erotic love story between two feet, a satirical Opera singer and a collection of other faff. A stripping juggler rips off his velcro-secured clothing all the way down to his underwear, before kindly offering up his balls to the show’s flamboyant host.
Then, the show takes a turn. The heavy, yet supple, sounds of Tool’s Schism engulf the room, strikingly different from the other act’s classical Opera. A hoodie-clad man emerges from a bath, soaking, and begins his hand balancing act, performing handstands (an exceptional understatement) on, in and around the bathtub’s edges and “taps”.
Soon, sheets of water are slipping off his body while heavy lighting illuminates it, emphasising the many crevasses and curves of his flawlessly cut physique. He gradually lifts himself of out the tub, body taut and erect in a state of utmost control.
For the first time in the night, a blanket of silence lay over the room. It is this point that I realise the intensely erotic potential of water; the unfathomable extent of Cirque Du Soleil performer, Anton Belyakov’s strength (and his sopping wet muscles), has led to the simultaneous arousal of every woman in the Merrigong Theatre – an audience with a mean age of at least 65. Thank God for the intermission.
This having been said, the show is not entirely consumed by gawking middle-aged women and shirtless men. Following the intermission, a stunning aerialist introduces a whole new dynamic to the show as she manoeuvres her lithe figure in and out of a hanging hoop with mesmerising, watery movements.
Then, Daniel Stern moves seductively in an out of bathtubs, twisting and contorting the supple bodies of two young women to reenact a lover’s quarrel. Acrobat, Joseph Pinzon, later closes the show with an elegant and incredibly emotive static trapeze act – while the performers watch on the stage huddled under shelter – as water rains down upon him.
Audiences are graced with the endearing sounds of Lithuanian Opera singer, Lina Navakaite, who scatters her hilarious, aqua-inspired renditions of classic songs throughout the acts. While she performed with great musical finesse, acting as a thread to tie the sometimes unrelated acts together, I did at times struggle to make the connection between her part and the rest of the show.
On this note, Soap! seems to struggle with an identity problem- never quite deciding what it wants to be. At times an excess of faff, in between the show’s core acts, threatens to lose the attention of the audience; at other times, the audience is in fits of laughter or rendered incapable of movement, awe-inspired by the talent on show.
This fusion of contemporary theatre cabaret, acrobatics, slapstick comedy and jaw-dropping sexiness, is an overall winner. Grandmothers will have their knickers in a knot for another few days as Soap! continues through until the 7th of February.
Tickets are modestly priced with the Merrigong Theatre offering generously discounted tickets for seniors, children and under thirties for all of their upcoming shows. Slip in before tickets sell out, find them at: http://www.merrigong.com.au/
I dare say you won’t leave disappointed and one way or another, you’ll definitely leave wet!