Review By Rosie Niven
Who doesn’t love bubbles? They’re fun, awe-inspiring, and take us back to carefree memories of being young, being delighted by something so brilliantly simple. Remember that?
If you do, get ready to ruin your childhood.
As performer Kurt Murray tells us, this is definitely not a show for children (although they do have a children’s show at Fringe this year if you’re looking for some more family-friendly exploits). Alongside his co-star and real-life partner Iulia Benze, we’re taken for a crazy ride that explores sex, relationships, and the fact that everyone’s just a little bit freaky. It’s 60 minutes of raucous entertainment, but still manages to ignite the childlike fascination that bubbles bring. Audiences gasped with delight when a dress made of netting suddenly released thousands of bubbles into the tent, or when Murray created walls out of bubbles that only he could penetrate. Murray and Benze show us just how talented their bubble work is, pulling out every trick in the book to show just how magic bubbles can be.
Impressive too is the physical ability of both performers - Benze holding her body in crazy positions, bending and twisting while Murray builds towers of bubbles around her. Paired with an incredible chemistry between the two performers, Bubble Show for Adults Only captures the audience from start to finish.
This won’t be a show for everyone, especially those who like their personal boundaries respected. The opening number of Bubble Show for Adults Only included Benze licking the bald head of an audience member, splaying across another while having her legs licked, and walking up to me, taking my coffee from my hand, and sticking her tongue directly in it before returning the cup. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea (or coffee), it’s best to sit this one out. Even in the large Empire Theatre, the performance feels incredibly intimate. If you’re up for it though, it will be the wild ride you expected when you booked tickets to a Fringe show at Gluttony - wild, wonderful, and very tongue-in-cheek. It’s exactly as advertised - a soapy concoction of kinky, in-your-face theatrics.
The show lags in some points, and goes in strange directions with the plot, but aside from a few performances in the middle Bubble Show for Adults Only is a fast-paced and high-energy riot. You’ll laugh, you’ll sit back in discomfort, you’ll ask yourself ‘Wait… where is that bubble going?’ But mostly you’ll have trouble explaining to your friends exactly what you saw. Bubble Show for Adults Only defies expectations (and a whole lot of boundaries), but most importantly, it’s really, really good fun.
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All opinions and thoughts expressed within reviews on Theatre Travels are those of the writer and not of the company at large.