EMPIRE: A Rabbit Hole of Raunchy Humour

Empire starts out with a bang and continues on with a mixture of impressive acrobatics, sexy routines and shockingly raunchy acts. Its like you fell down a rabbit hole and instead of finding the Mad Hatter and Queen of Spades you get erotic hosts Oscar the Impresario and his wife Fanny. Which is even better because Oscar really likes to show off his man bits.

The cast members are hot with performances like a BDSM figure skater style routine, a duo of badass acrobatics, a contemporary dance defying gravity sequence and a cute asian guy in pigtails. Each performer brings their own unique act to the stage that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. That or I don’t go out much, but I was really astonished the whole time I was sitting there. My favourite performance was the branch balancing act which can best be described as meditative and peaceful. The guy performing wasn’t moving all that much, but you can literally see the beads of sweat pour down his body – I have to admit, it was kind of hot.

The production is staged in the centre of  the Spiegeltent, surrounded by small chairs (literally) and booth seating that you can reserve at the back. It seems like they set it up so there isn’t a bad seat in the house. Before entering the tent, there is also a bar that you can buy small snacks and drinks (alcoholic and nonalcoholic) at.

I wouldn’t advise this as a family event, even though I sat next to one. They just didn’t seem too happy because they brought their little girl, and the show seemed a little too R-rated for her. Empire is more of a girls night out, a guys night out or a sexy date night out.

The burlesque, cabaret, circus-like, variety show will be shown until October, 18th, 2015 at 318 Queens Quay West under the ‘Spiegletent’.