Walking into The Peacock tent on the opening night of the Adelaide Fringe Festival season felt like a much needed escape from the chaos that was the rest of Gluttony and the Rundle St/East Tce intersection. I made a point of not looking up much information about LUMINOUS prior to the show tonight, though I knew it had attracted much praise and interest in previous years so in all, I was keen to be surprised and impressed.
Soon enough, we were plunged into darkness, with UV lights providing a haunting glow and signalling the show ahead. The performers exhibited a great display of contortion, balance, aerial work, juggling and hula hooping, with black-light body paint patterns clashing and crashing into each other like a painting come to life. The skill with which the artists maneuvered their bodies around the stage was indeed impressive, the aerial performers especially holding the attention of the audience as they wrapped themselves around a length of neon-orange material suspended from the scaffolding, inches from the front row.
Being seated off to the side of the stage impeded my view for some of the show and I do think this brought the overall quality of the production down, but that was probably my fault to a degree. The soundtrack was a mix of instrumental house and electro, which drove LUMINOUS‘ eccentric and vibrant movement – each somersault, limb extension was choreographed with precision to the pulsating beats. The show wasn’t without its slip ups, juggling pins were dropped here and there and there were moments where this threw the performers out of sync but even then, the crew pulled themselves back into form impressively.
For the first show of my Fringe season, LUMINOUS was definitely one I came away from thinking I’d seen something unique and quintessentially fringe. If you’re interested in a blend of circus and physical theatre that evokes a Cirque du Soleil vibe (but way more underground), this is probably going to be right up your alley. No doubt as the season continues, so will the troupe’s confidence onstage – their opening night showed they’re off to a good start.
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LUMINOUS is running at The Peacock through until March 14th. Grab your tickets here.
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