Gogo Bumtime cabaret review: The hole truth
A riotous drag-punk cabaret revelling in chaos and absurdity
It’s refreshing to see a show with such a clear message at Adelaide Fringe, that message being simply ‘look after your bumhole, lest you become an asshole’. Surely something we can all get behind. Gogo Bumtime is quite the ride: a drag-chaos-punk-pubey-cabaret celebrating all things anal. Except it’s not a Fringe show after all: it’s Gogo’s big break, a TV special of their own, and we are the studio audience.
This is a show for the late-night crowd who want to believe there’s still space in the world for a show that refuses to fit into a neat little box and thinks the only dirty word is ‘mainstream’. And you absolutely cannot fault performer Siobhan Gibbs’ commitment to the bit; their energy and stage presence is irresistible. The TV format allows for different characters to come in and perform little segments, so Deirdre pops up for a cooking section (complete with talking potato), there’s a red-hot lip-sync croc fight battle, a bio-hazard ably handled by a stage manager who is not at all too interested in hogging their moment in the spotlight and a sweet little incel even joins the fun. Through it all, looms Bumhole, dispensing props, bits of costume and even wisdom. If that sounds chaotic, it is, but Gibbs, their joker-drag smile quirking up and down, relishes the chaos and is the perfect conductor for all that anarchy.
Gogo Bumtime continues at the Chapel at the Courtyard of Curiosities in The Migration Museum until March 15; picture: Seamus Platt.