Briefs: The Second Coming
by Briefs Factory
The West Australian Spiegeltent
30th of January
Review by Evie Perry

I thought I had seen the last of The Time is Ripe’s ‘Monkey’. There Monkey performed an unforgettable act of sexualizing the peeling of a banana, an image which now lives on infinitely within the dark recesses of my mind. What I confronted in Briefs: The Second Coming was a performance far more provocative, and as an experience, something significantly more disturbing. Monkey had returned, and this time, the image of what he did may never fade.

Monkey defecated into the mouth of a drag queen.

The award winning show, The Second Coming (yes, pun intended) conjures what I’d imagine the characters of John Waters’ cult-classic Pink Flamingos (1972) would perform on Friday nights in an underground burlesque strip club. A real horror show: at once both petrifying, and yet, mesmerizing. The performance ranged from an adorable hat-juggling act (Louis Briggs) to a mime routine involving a nightmarish Marilyn Monroe figure with obscenely oversized ‘assets’ (Dallas Dallaforce).  As jaw dropping and graceful as the acts seemed, the endless comparison of bananas to penises from Monkey became, once again, exhausting.

Fez Faanana hosted the show, effortlessly breaking awkward silences and deftly injecting some of the more controversial acts with a sense of perspective. Faanana comforted the audience with self-deprecating jokes, stating ‘I’m just a fucking tranny’ (to please the transphobic members of the audience I assume) and to my sheer relief setting a house rule of banning smart phone photography. One certain aspect that struck me from the commence of the show was how Faanana spoke about giving an expressive indigenous acknowledgment (unlike some politicians) to commemorate the land. Additionally, the Australian themed costumes featured the aboriginal flag to signify aboriginal importance in Australian culture and arts. This acknowledgement is the first of all of the Fringe festival performances I have witnessed which I believe is striking. This suggests how two marginalized communities (LGBT and Indigenous Australians) will intersect to form a stronger example of how many disregarded groups are oppressed in similar fashions by the dominant society. This for me made The Second Coming to not only to be entertaining however give humanity and support to Indigenous Australians, which is all to often neglected.

I was watching in awe of the death defying trapeze act and a hoop fire act performed by Monkey that is certainly comparable to the talents of Cirque de Soleil.  The performers produced thoroughly rehearsed individual acts, mistakes where made, yet hardly noticeable. The complexity of the acrobats and the high quality of each performance earns Briefs: The Second Coming five stars.

Briefs runs from Feb 2 to Feb 9; find tickets here.