‘Call it role play at home’, Trixie Little announces, ‘but what we do on stage is different.’

On stage she’s elaborately costumed, as is her assistant, the Evil hate monkey. He’s a well trained monkey, we’re assured, and he does a fine job of pouring champagne. But that doesn’t mean he won’t succumb to more primitive instincts.

They’re on full display in Prima Primate, a striptease routine that won Monkey the Vegas ‘King of Boylesque’ title in 2010. It’s a heady combination of the elegance and dress of a ballerina and the aggression and throwing skills of a monkey. It’s the first time I’m able to realise that monkeys and ballerinas have great agility in common.
Trixie herself is bendy beyond belief, demonstrating her flex whilst appearing under the guise of Gypsy Little, and alternately, a giant banana. She sparkles, even when she’s significantly reduced her glittery costume décor, and her sassy dialogue keeps the level of wit in line with the level of tit.

The duo out from New York have been touring for a decade, but their roots show. Calling themselves ‘shamelessly eccentric’, where else but New York does a show cross from banana-themed to yoga-inspired feats of strength and an homage to the Kama Sutra on trapeze? It’s vigorously modern, fresh and heartfelt.

The show’s originality is really endearing, which is an odd thing to admit from something billed as ‘trapeze and striptease.’ Yet Trixie and Monkey have the audience rapt; they’ve got a level of chutzpah that you need to convince the guy they drag on stage to horsey-ride Monkey around the tent.

Trixie and Monkey: definitely something different on stage.