Not Your Circus Dog Collective have created an incredibly impactful show all in 60 minutes!
This show is filled with moments that are joyful, painful, shameful, empowering and also fantastic. I can’t believe it was only an hour.
On arrival we are given a token and we have to use that token to vote on who we want to live, based on the cabaret show they are about to perform. They initially talk us through what they would do if they won – if they got to live. We think we are getting to know them a bit better but they were also having a few jokes on us, for example Stephanie says she would have her first alcoholic drink if she won, which we all think that’s nice – but of course it transpires she already drinks alcohol – she is an adult after all.
Their cabaret show was superb, it included dancing, Countdown, comedy lip-synchs, stripping and a version of ‘Where Are They Now’. It was entertaining with lots of humour.
However, not all of it was funny. The underlying theme of this show was weaved cleverly into the whole performance. It is the reality of how people with learning disabilities and people who are neurodivergent are perceived and treated.
It was so smart, so well-paced: it continually drew us in emotionally then slapped us around the face with moments of reality, for example, the struggles faced during COVID and how 22k people with disabilities died as they could not get the right access to medical treatment. The lip synching included politician talking policies which again, were hard to hear in this context.
There were several moments which hit hard. They talk about hate crime, people being hurt or killed but also the joy of sex and their sexual fantasies. We then had to vote with our tokens, although an impossible task as their performances were truly fantastic. After the count up we’re reminded that they are not circus dogs and that they are Not F**kin’ Sorry for who they are.
The clever way of bringing the audience into a positive mode and slicing through it with reality created incredible impactful theatre. It more than moved me.
This is theatre genius – as an audience member you leave a different person than you arrived. This sixty minutes will change your life.
Amazing Cast:
Housni (DJ) Hassan / Stephanie Newman / Emma Selwyn / Adam Smith
In association with Grapevine.
With thanks to New Wolsey Theatre