Sky in the Pie is a surreal, dreamlike experience, and the latest offering from The Feathers of Daedalus Circus. This multi-talented company, under the direction and writing of Joanna Vymeris, has created a children’s show (12 years and under) that combines the poetry of Roger McGough with music, acrobatics and eye-catching design. For all its charm, however, Sky in the Pie does suffer from a quality common to dreams—especially the enjoyable ones—that of a lack of focus, and a story that drifts from moment to moment.
The show starts promisingly enough with a young girl waking up and getting ready to go to school. Dry ice drifts across the stage, signifying a transition from dreaming. As she leaves, her enchanting bedroom—complete with a comfortable bed, with the moon and a star hanging from the ceiling for decoration—unfolds into desks, chairs, and the whole space transforms into a much more prosaic classroom. School friends and her teacher enter. From there, we observe the events of the girl’s day, from learning to lunch, and the story of another girl who turns herself into a book. When our heroine returns home, it is to find “sky in the pie” for dinner, and then bed with her “caterpillow” for comfort, as she listens to a story about scary scarecrows. (The scarecrows then appear to assure her that they scare crows, not kids.) The dry ice returns, and the girl prepares herself for sleep, and then another day at school. The action is throughout Sky in the Pie is accompanied by a running commentary, in rhyme, from the
performers. Questions are asked, statements are made, like, “I wish I could remember my name” but answers, if necessary, are often solicited from the audience. We are all drawn into the dream.
This should prove popular with primary school kids, and this is a fun, genuinely child-friendly show. There’s lots of impressive acrobatics, also juggling, riding on a unicycle—even a moment or two with puppets. But the skills of The Feathers of Daedalus Circus are still a bit rough around the edges, and the set design is really the strongest element. If the company can find a way to create plots with lots of suspense, and memorable characters, they’ll build a strong following. It’ll be fun to follow their progress.
“Valore’s routine is an absolute showstopper and would be the perfect closer”
The Haus of Kunst is a collective of diverse artists from dancers and singers to burlesque and pole dancers. Set in a prohibition-era bar, the Haus of Kunst treats the audience to an array of acts, all of which straddle the line between cabaret, burlesque and circus.
The show is rather slow to start with the drag king presenter Don McNasty performing a far from energetic rendition of No Diggity by Blackstreet ft. Dr Dre and Queen Pen. After ten minutes of back and forth, the actual show begins, opening strong with an incredible dance featuring burlesque feather fans from the sultry Cleopanther. After this, the Sweet Peas, two women dressed identically all in green, perform a cutesy but technically challenging flapper-style dance. The ‘world renowned’ tiger tamer Diva Hollywood takes to the stage next executing impressive whip tricks featuring an (un)lucky member of the audience.
Following this, Miss Laurie, who until now has provided musical accompaniment on the keyboard, sings a humorous song about how everything she does is for attention. Though funny, Laurie unfortunately forgot a large chunk of the song. The Sweet Peas then return for their second dance, this time stage fighting while balancing in pots and pans. The show closes with dancer Kitty Valore performing an exceptional pole routine to the song ‘Kiss the Girl’ from Disney’s The Little Mermaid followed by a final dance from Cleopanther to a medley of rap songs. Valore’s routine is an absolute showstopper and would be the perfect closer.
The set is relatively simple, but it’s barren nature rather conjures up the image of a once-great venue trying to find its feet again. A plain black backdrop and unadorned furnishings do not exactly make the upcoming performances seem like they’re going to be particularly exhilarating. Some more colour would go a long way in piquing the audience’s curiosity. Also, rather strangely, the acts all sit at the back of the stage throughout the entire show which detracts somewhat from the current performer. Exciting-looking acts waiting in the wings naturally attract an audience’s eyes and it would be nice if each act got their moment in the spotlight.
Varied lighting is not used to its full potential though it is unclear how much the production itself could control this seeing as McNasty’s request to turn off one particularly bright light was refused by the technical team. Still, some more colourful light displays would help to immerse the audience in the performances.
The acts’ costumes and outfits are incredible, most notably, Hollywood’s red and gold lion tamer ensemble, and Galore’s iridescent mermaid tail that she later sheds to perform her routine. Galore did take a rather long time with her off-stage costume change, but the wait is certainly worth it.
Haus of Kunst has a lot of potential and has an exceptionally talented cast, but some more style, flair and polish would certainly contribute to the bold, passionate and daring atmosphere that the collective so desires to create.