This review is of the show's 2014 run. The show returns to London Wonderground in September 2016.
Wow. There’s really no other ejaculation worthy of this show. It’s an eye-popping spectacle that is both fabulously sexy and seriously clever. There’s never even a hint of anti-climax. And you’ll definitely leave wanting more, more, more.
After wowing the crowds at this year’s Glastonbury, Brisbane’s Briefs boys have brought their deliciously fuck-you swagger to the South Bank. Comprising six Aussies and one New Yorker, ‘The Second Coming’ is like a blazing disco ball of energy exploding in a nightclub that’s inside a theatre, inside a circus tent.
Compered with the driest and dirtiest wit by high heel-wearing, bearded Shivannah, the show is a raucous blend of impressive circus skills, burlesque and cabaret. It’s imaginative, playfully perverse and crammed with pin-sharp references to everything from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ to ‘Pulp Fiction’.
This is intelligent, self-aware entertainment. The performers are as sexy as hell – and knowingly flirty – but what really raises the temperature here is the sheer skill anchoring it all. Thom Worrell’s aerial acrobatics are mesmerising while Evil Hate Monkey’s banana ballet is a comic masterpiece. What makes them so hot is how talented they are.
Bodysuit-wearing drag performer Dallas Dellaforce manages to say more about gender conventions in ten brilliant minutes than many hours of earnest theatre; and youngest member of the line-up, Louis Biggs, trumps his own striptease with a display of astonishing aptitude involving an iconic ’80s puzzle.
This is steamy, cheeky fun, powered by a relentless energy that will leave you wanting to lose yourself in the nearest club. By the time the Briefs come together (looking like a particularly fabulous group of superheroes) for a final crowd-pleaser, you’ll be out of your seat and whooping.