Dallas Gets Creative: Dead Girl Circus

Just when you thought there was nothing new under the sun, along comes late nights at Dallas Hub Theater and Dead Girl Circus. Is it theater? Is it art? Who knows. It is two performers (there is supposedly a third, but she was a no-show when we went,) doing the strangest magic-show-cum-carnival-act open to the public at this hour. While the general atmosphere of fun (not to mention the tiny crowd) reminded me of Orange County Underground Burlesque, the focus here is trick rather than treat: there is light swallowing, body-tube insertion, invisible walking, spectral eggs, a particularly harrowing bit involving lots of broken glass, and some impressive fire eating. . . . . and that’s not even mentioning the marionette. Linked (thinly) by the affect of performers-back-from-the-dead, (and bizarrely peppy music,) the act is a series of disconnected tricks designed to wow. Massive kudos for the splicing of all of this together without resorting to a more conventional gimmick.

Different is good.