Jake Mace
There are moments in a theatre when you witness something so naturally joyous that you’re given space to just breathe for a moment and rest from the madness of the world – one of these can certainly be found in the opening moments of Sickly Victorian Rat Circus, when we see our titular rodents struggling to plug in an overhead projector while gnawing on the cable, and as the performers scrape their shoes on the floor to emulate their characters’ squeaks.
Small Buns Duo have brought a stunningly well-themed and designed menagerie of circus acts into the narrative of two rats in search of a home to the backstreets of Catania. Armed with a metaphorical utility belt of tricks, gimmicks, costumes and props the pair tightly perform each circus act with ebullience. Particular highlights include high energy hula hooping and juggling that charmed our audience and kept everyone well engaged. The acts do not always carry the overly spectacular nature you might expect from something like a big circus show, and are instead understated, neatly presented and endearingly delivered.
Shadow puppetry intersperses these performances, delivered a little haphazardly at times but with excellent production design that leans heavily into the show’s Victorian theming. The pair jump between puppet versions of themselves and highly characterised embodiments of their murine lives as they escape their precarious home underneath the kitchen cupboard and abound on a journey out into the great beyond. These performances are joyous and fanciful, and in the story moments every movement adds a new layer to the world the duo have created.
The piece is ultimately a showcase performance that appears to be aimed directly to children, despite advertising leaning more into an all ages category that feels a little out of place with the content. The shadow puppetry pushes a loosely defined narrative forward, and as we continue along it the tightly defined identity that’s created on stage in the opening act becomes obscured by the showcasing. The narrative spindles back along towards the closing moments of the show, though despite the piece billing itself as a journey for these two rats, it doesn’t capture enough actual story moments to leave us with something to take away from the plot.
The disconnect between the story moments and the circus acts is a little too jarring to present a cohesive narrative, but for the younger members of the audience the spectacles in between provided great entertainment. The wonderful addition of some audience interaction into the puppetry later in the piece adds plenty of interactive glee that was lapped up by the rest of the room. This show certainly packs a lot of fun moments into its short fifty minute run time.
Bounding, lively, and charming, there’s buckets of potential in the concept Small Buns Duo have brought to Sicily’s emerging international Fringe Festival.
Recommended Drink: Anything cheesy – just don’t drink the rat poison!
You can catch Sickly Victorian Rat Circus as part of Catania OFF Fringe Festival at Sala Hernandez every day until Sunday October 26th at 17:30 (50mins). Tickets are available through the Catania OFF Fringe Festival Online Box Office.
