Downstage Review: Adagio is a Christmas Treat

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An Adagio Christmas at Downstage is like a set of traditional Christmas cards and it is a Christmas party too. Everybody shows off, does their customary clever tricks and tells their naughty stories with actions. And they seem to do it not just because there is an audience to be entertained, but because it’s good fun.

Mason West is magic, he climbs stacks of chairs, shimmies up walls, poles, ropes, and even other people and he does it with a light grace, charm, wit, skill and daring. Two of the girls do a clever sexy thing on a trapeze which is just a little bit embarrassing. There are clever witty musicians and everybody’s hands get into the performance.

The big guy Asalemo Tofete is the clown, the magician and the ventriloquist and sings the final Christmas notes at the end. Angela Green is pert and properly cute and Jenny MacArthur is nearly the Christmas fairy up there with the star. The whole cast manage to be funny while doing all sorts of amazing acrobatics.

It is a cosy little show, a get together of the circus people and the musicians in Downstage’s clever space where you can climb and chase and appear out of nowhere and where snowflakes and glitter can fall on everybody and sound can come from all around. The space suits this kind of physical stuff, actually it is a space that suits theatre of all sorts.

Everybody loves the fun of the circus and Downstage has a winner here. It is the second Adagio in what appears set to become a Downstage tradition. If you missed it last year be quick this time. If you loved it last year be quick again. Adagio is a Christmas treat.

Sharon Ellis is a Wellington based theatre reviewer.

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