Arts

Theatre Review: Celtic Illusion

Anthony Street, ex-principle dancer in Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance, has created his own touring show in Australia. Billed as a fusion of Irish dance and magic, Celtic Illusion takes you half way there.

Celtic Illusion (1)Presented by Eureka Entertainment
Reviewed 16th April 2015

Anthony Street, ex-principle dancer in Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance, has created his own touring show in Australia. Billed as a fusion of Irish dance and magic, Celtic Illusion takes you half way there.

The dancing is magic. It is precise, energetic and interestingly mixed with everything from sleazy jazz and street dance to martial arts by the show’s creator and choreographer and his assistant, Peta Anderson. The two principle dancers lead an immaculately trained troupe in a whirl of high energy movement and colour.

The magic tricks sprinkled throughout the performance are well executed and provide a touch of variety, as does the occasional live musician and vocalist. Unfortunately, during these artists’ performances the backing music tracks are played at such volume and are so complex that the soloists battle against them. This is a pity as the flute and fiddle players are very good and the three original songs by Hayley Griffiths are very prettily sung. It is difficult to make out the lyrics of the songs and they are not particularly Celtic sounding, so if they are meant to enhance the narrative of the piece they miss the mark.

Dancing to backing tracks of Angela Little’s music, the troupe perform beautiful, lyrical soft shoe and exciting, high impact hard shoe numbers, but my favourite moments are the unaccompanied question-and-answer segments where the dancers get to show off their military precision. The high-light of the night for me is a dance solo from Street accompanied brilliantly on Irish drum by one of the ensemble.

This is a travelling show, so sets and props are minimal and the pizzazz is provided by lots of bling in the many costumes and by a simple but effective lighting design by Xavier Dannock, plus the dazzling smiles of the talented and tireless ensemble.

The suggested narrative of the show isn’t apparent and it doesn’t deliver the “grand illusions” that it promises but as an Irish dance variety show, it is excellent. It has been touring since 2011 and the next performance is in Mt Gambier.

Reviewed by Sue Oldknow
Venue: Hopgood Theatre, Noarlunga Centre
Season: Travelling with Country Arts SA. Last show in Mt Gambier, 4pm 19th April
Duration: 1 hour and 50 minutes with a 20 minute interval
Tickets: $49.90 – $59.95
Bookings: Country Arts SA http://www.countryarts.org.au/show/celtic-illusion/

Celtic Illusion

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