Fringe World 2020: Review Fuego Carnal and Adventures of Improvised Sherlock Holmes

With the first month of the new year nearly over I ventured out for week two of Fringe World. On offer, two very different shows, cabaret circus Fuego Carnal and comedy improv show, the Adventures of Improvised Sherlock Holmes.

Fuego Carnal

What do you do when your act heralds fire and the country you’re performing in has been ravaged by it? Fuego Carnal MC addressed this with a heartfelt introductory discussion about the difference between wild fire and controlled fire. This was followed by two minutes silence.

The evening commenced with a trapeze act that generated many ‘hand to mouth’ shocked faces in the audience. Next up archery with an arrow on fire. Risky sure enough, but add in shooting the arrow with your foot and the audience realized we were working on a whole new level.

Ariel Manx was next with this mind blowing sword swallowing routine. Back-flipping with a sword down your gullet is one thing, but follow that up with shinnying up a set of red sheaths only to plummet down head (and sword in mouth) first to the ground is another. If that’s not enough he then turned on a red florescent light and swallowed it. We knew it was real because his throat lit up red from the inside. This was my second viewing of this act and it was equal parts mesmerising and not being able to watch.

A singing comedian was sent out to distract us while they set up an ‘ice rink’. The ice skater did a few rounds of the rink then leapt high into the air courtesy of a trapeze. Once in the air she twirled around a hoop, the skate blades inches away from her face.

With the skater safely back on firm ground and exiting stage right, in swaggered a punk, clockwork-orange-esk bagpiper. As he stomped around the stage playing Thunderstruck he launched into the air and a true flying Scotsman was born. Then came the flames, blazing from the bagpipes. Some of you may have seen him on Australia’s Got Talent, he sure has.

The evening concluded with a man pirouetting around the stage while inside an oversized hoola hoop. Yes you may have seen that performed by a well-known circus but not with the added benefit of flames pointing inwards towards him.

He was followed by a fire dancing man who set chains on fire and swung them around at lighting speed.

Fuego Carnal is an incredibly slick performance. Every act took something we’d seen and then up-sized it to the next level and then some.

Adventures of Improvised Sherlock Holmes

At the other end of the spectrum was Adventures of Improvised Sherlock Holmes. Just two men (Danile Nils and Tim Skelton), one woman (Alice Winn) and no script.

Each night they ask the audience to come up with a Sherlock Holmes inspired idea and write it on a piece of paper. The rest of the show is then improvised from these ideas.

Relying on their comedy wits alone, and a handful of costumes, they took us on an hilarious journey, which the night I went was Harry Potter inspired.

I can see why this act did so well at Edinburgh, Adelaide and previous Perth Fringes. The beauty is, each night is completely different. It’s very rare that I’d think about going to the same show twice but I definitely would for the Adventures of Improvised Sherlock Holmes.