Theatre Review: Birds of Paradise, Tapac, Western Springs

Stilt walkers add to the zaniness of <i>Birds of Paradise</i>. Photo / Supplied

Magnificent and just slightly mad, Morag Magnolie Brownlie's "birdlesque cabaret" is more than a pukeko's squawk, a tui's warble, a flirty fluff of tail feathers, a celebration of mating rituals - both the avian and human kind.

Beneath the fanciful plumage, courtesy of Trelise Cooper, Missy Milner, Brooke Tyson, World and Shona Tawhiao, behind the sassy courtship displays, lies a cautionary conservationist tale.

The last buzzard dies.

The whole zany affair is hung on an imagined meeting of David Attenborough (splendidly played by Daniel Batten) and Victorian ornithologist Ms Mmmm (Brownlie, in full cry) which implies a time warp but provides another interesting study of ritual behaviours and sexual repression before chemistry wins the day.

Gorgeous Georgie Goater, Naressa Gamble and Seonaide Lyons are the key dancers and with the hilarious Mike Holland strike the perfect cabaret note, bright and buff and comedically true. Lyons also sings, impressively. But Henry Ah Foo Taripo's drag queen persona tends to overwhelm his other impersonations.

Greydis Montero and Isbert Ramos, from Cuban Groove, are too blatantly in your face for the space, and the solo stripper is cartoonesque in comparison with the true beauty, who performed in the show's premiere season in Matakana last year.

Add in a Samoan dance troop (Charlene Tedro noticeably pregnant throughout her vigorous booty-shaking performance), stilt walkers, an almost operatic diversion from Erika Strata - Caitlin Smith was missed on opening night - and these Birds of Paradise are a bit of a mixed bag.

Tapac's performance space, limited by a mix of tables and regular seating for the audience, presents a significant challenge. The magnificently costumed stilt walkers have no real place to go and their magic is lost when viewed, all nostrils and knees, from beneath. An odd delay before the arrival of a prized peacock also stilted Brownlie's delivery - momentarily.

Brownlie has a wild imagination and the irrepressible will and wile to manifest her visions. Birds of Paradise is a big one, and a great show as is. But with a bit more polish and room to move, it has the potential for still more.

What: Birds of Paradise.

Where: Tapac, Western Springs.

When: To December 18.