Show reviewed: 04/03/26

Show rating: A wonderfully terrific 4.5 stars.

Wonderfully Terrible Things is about tea. Everyone drinks tea. This is not a show about tea (unless you’re Christine Ibrahim, the Cirque Songstress, then you are the tea we are having. All of us.) On the surface appears to be all about steaming hot… sexy tea…served in a dark danse macabre that transcends the idea of what you see is what you’re getting. Underneath the wine dark depths of the lake in Rymill Park, swim perilous creatures unknown, luring patrons into Gluttony with the promise of super freaks and debacher-tea.

Cabarets have traditionally been a place where artists, creatives and intellectuals gathered to discuss philosophy that challenged the status quo and became homes that spawned dangerous ideas. This show is full of all sorts of interesting ideas that will blow your minds and boggle your eyes. Sex, I mean, tea, sells. The people who bought tickets expecting just sexy got poured a cup of hot hot tea. The first modern cabaret with political commentary and satire set to music, was the infamous Le Chat Noir. It was a Parisian nightclub where the patrons sat at tables and drank alcoholic beverages while being entertained by a variety show on stage, lead by a master of ceremonies.

Wonderfully Terrible Things pays tribute to its historical cabaret origin’s with and it is interesting to see how audiences reacted to the difference between a cabaret act and a circus/physical performance. This vulgar little phantasy has its cabaret teeth and it isn’t afraid to bite! Mistress of Ceremonies, Christine Ibrahim, is a wicked queen (by choice naturally, darlings) and one of the audience members muttered this was a “man hating” production, to which Christine replied that it’s actually a very positive environment that embraces all sexuality & and I found this to be true. She has composed and written original music for the show that shows of her skill as both as a social commentator, a musical force of nature with her superb voice and sense of perfectly crafted lyrics to a beautiful score. She is best known as the Cirque Songstress and she can still deliver on that front.

Themes included in the show were quite dark including bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, enthusiastic consent and gun laws beside some incredibly lurid physical theatre and dance. For those who did go for sexy time circus, we actually got our money worth with Captain Finhead creating mayhem as he hung above a bed of nails in nothing but a kilt with his upper body strength. And then he did it again with fire, because it clearly needed more danger. Can’t have enough danger…

The sizzling Nat Oakes aroused in me a burning desire and has me questioning the life choices I’ve made as a bisexual as I’ve decided I need to add fire as a preference to men and women. It was both hawt and hot. One of the themes of the show is the power of sex as a values neutral activity and the ways we can empower ourselves in owning our sexuality and enjoying our bodies.

Natalya Alessi is a real cracker of a vixen with her whips and straight to the (en) pointe, I’m smarting in my lady parts that I have wasted my life as a writer. Clearly the whip is mightier than the pen and I’m giving up poetry to become a full time fringe festival cabaret/burlesque groupie. Is this a thing? I was told they are called producers.

Jordan Adams is both sass and sublime as he performs on the straps. The audience were enraptured by the gorgeous aerial choreography and they are a beautiful technician. One of the boundaries this show pushes is that it is okay to appreciate and celebrate our visceral natures.