A bespoke new live entertainment space is opening in West End to coincide with the Brisbane Festival.

The West End Electric, by Brisbane-born production house Strut & Fret, will include a permanent 400+ seat theatre, a main bar and a mezzanine bar, all fittingly located in Brisbane’s bohemian heart on Boundary Street, West End.

Multi-talented designer James Browne is bringing The West Electric to life with a stylistic nod to London’s famous theatre district.

“It will be chic and luxurious but with the essence of historical vaudeville, bohemian hedonism and abandonment. The space itself will be immersive, full of surprising elements that are unforgettable,” says Browne.

Strut & Fret’s director and founder, Scott Maidment, says it feels very fitting to launch The West End Electric with the Brisbane Festival, as he and partner Sarah Stewart staged their first Brisbane Festival production over 25 years ago. Since then, Strut & Fret has become a major producer of live entertainment, touring 38 countries with high-flying spectacle, explosions of stunts, nu-circus, extreme theatre and dynamic music.

Strut & Fret’s smash-hit circus-cabaret spectacle, LIMBO – THE RETURN will be the premiere show at The West End Electric. First performed at the Adelaide Fringe in 2013, the original LIMBO toured 17 countries and wowed audiences from Brussels to Bogota. LIMBO – THE RETURN is an intoxicating mix of cabaret, circus, acrobatics, and heart-pounding live music.

Photo credit: Glen Scarborough

Led by New York’s Jank maestro Sxip Shirey, alongside maverick musicians Grant Arthur and Mick Stuart, LIMBO – THE RETURN features over 50 instruments, including the sousaphone, and Stuart’s own creation, the polymba, a unique instrument made of multiple African thumb pianos.

Joining them on stage is Bulgaria’s stunning aerialist Maria Moncheva, French gravity-defying Chinese pole master Mikael Bres, Australian acrobatic dance sensation Hilton Denis, Spanish acrobat and slack rope daredevil David Marco, UK rope virtuoso Ben Loader, and seductive Australian fire-eating singer Clara Fable.

“There’s stunts, there’s comedy, there’s moments that will move you,” says Maidment. “But most of all the audience is part of the action, as it’s happening in, above and all around them.”

LIMBO – THE RETURN premieres on 29th August at The West End Electric, 125 Boundary Street, West End.

Tickets: https://strutnfret.com/west-end-electric/

Further info: https://www.facebook.com/thewestendelectric

 

Photo credits: Glen Scarborough