Circus Oz in collaboration with Otto & Astrid
15 November
Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse
circusoz.com
to 25 November
 |
| Rock Bang: A Circus ROck Opera. Otto & Astrid. Circus Oz |
A version of this was in The Age.
Rock-huge speakers. A rock-black stage. A tiny rock-red drum kit. Get ready to “Make some noise, Mel-BAWN!” because Rock Bang is the circus rock opera we’ve been waiting for.
Otto are Astrid are a brother and sister indie punk-rock duo from 1990’s Berlin. They’ve toured as Die Roten Punkte (The Red Dots) since 2006 and are in Australia so much that it’s rumoured they are as Melbourne as Circus Oz.
Their fans don’t believe any such rumours and understand that, this time, the true story is they when they were performing in Azerbaijan – where the 2012 Eurovision party is still happening – they met the Circus Oz tour, fell asleep in some crates and woke up in Wagga Wagga. With a new circus family, there was only one thing to do: write some more songs and tell their epic story with a circus show within a rock concert. If only there were a double album to go along with it!
Their fairy-tale begins in rural Germany. They keep their rock make up and red lip stick but Otto wears shorts and Astrid has pony tails. And they have six acrobats and four musicians (including music-theatre-rock-wonder Casey Bennetto) to create their world and bring their songs to life.
As their tale fractures when Otto and Astrid’s parents are killed in an accident – there was a train, or maybe a lion – unicycles ride tracks, punk acrobats become relatives and friends, stunt Astrids tumble, and a gold angel straight out of that 1987 Wim Wenders’ film flies.
Their clowning and satire is so rock, so punk and so real that it’s impossible to even think that Otto and Astrid didn’t see the Berlin wall fall in 1989 or form the band after seeing Bowie in 1990 and finding toy instruments at a primary school.
With earworm hits like "Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter (I Am A Lion)" – now with a troupe of silver dancing robot lions! – success was easy. But Otto doesn’t understand Astrid’s love of sex and drugs because he just wants rock and roll, stability, and a straight edge vegan girl who’s into hard-core punk.
Otto and Astrid could win Eurovision, make CBGB re-open, and inspire a real an-arch-y. Or keep reminding us that rock’s really about love, red lipstick and flying in silver spaceship above a crowd of fans. And banging with a circus who know how to rock.
