Any expectations you may have about Fingers Crossed Creative’s Intergalacular Sci-Fi Spectacular, times it by ten; this bizarre show explodes with elaborate, wondrous, fantastical visions of colour, performance, comedy and out of this world costumes.
With a show full of cabaret singing, burlesque dancing, alien acrobatics, rainbow spandex, and a giant robot named ‘Boom Bot’, this 18 + performance is something that will have your mouth wide open with amazement.
Intergalacular Sci-Fi Spectacular ran from February 12 to 21 and was apart of the City Of Newcastle’s New Annual festival.
Co-Producer of Fingers Crossed Creative, Ella Heathmore said the show’s overall experience was like stepping into another universe.
“There are 12 different acts, and each of them wild and wacky; there is a pod ritual, burlesque performances, someone is also birthed out of a cocoon,” Heathmore said.
“There are epic song and dance numbers to start and end the show and some aerobics.”
The show kicks off with an opening song number and two mullet rocking alien brothers who act as the show’s hosts— this is followed by a bizarre yet enthralling cocoon birthing scene which sets the vibe for the whole show.
With each act odd and more hilarious than the next, this intergalactic cabaret show is an absolute spectacle, a must-see, and a performance that keeps the audience continuously guessing.
The whole show was hosted within a purpose-built venue called ‘The Hangar’ at Newcastle’s Civic Park and was ultimately a mini-festival with food and drink trucks inside.
There was also some supporting sideshow acts like The Booty Parlour, where people dressed up in wacky sci-fi costumes or The All-Seeing Eye, where people spoke to a fortune-telling oracle.
New Annual’s Project Manager Kate Britton said a large need was identified in the area for a creative performative art festival.
“We look at the community here, and there is an amazing arts sector that does incredible work and has been around for a very long time, and really is the bones of our city,” Britton said.
City of Newcastle Councillor Carol Duncan said the festival was tailor-made for the city which delivered and supported cultural and community programs.
“I think the inspiration for New Annual is the seeds of the beautiful culture that this city was always meant to be,” Cr Duncan said.
“Particularly since the closure of BHP and that huge economic and cultural change in what was the working industrial city into an increasing city of education, research, and cultural expansions.”
Other New Annual productions included Taylor’s Run by Curious Legends, which featured huge, illuminated mobile puppets, and art exhibitions like ‘Void’, which explored contemporary Aboriginal artistic practices.
If you missed out on seeing the Intergalacular Sci-Fi Spectacular, never fear, the production will be returning for New Annual from September 24 to October 3, 2021.
For more information visit newannual.com.
Hayley McMahon