Brisbane-based, world-class Briefs Factory have taken over The Art Boat for Brisbane Festival, and will leave you with a smile on your face and wanting to continue the party. The Art Boat is a collaboration between Seadeck who operate the boat, Briefs who provides the entertainment aboard and Brisbane Festival who selected the show to be part of the program.
Josh McIntosh has designed the brightly coloured, patterned tentacles that adorn the boat. For those unfamiliar with Briefs Factory, they are a circus and burlesque troupe and that is exactly what you can expect on The Art Boat.
DJ Candy Sweets provides the pumping soundtrack to the cruise with tunes such as Shake Your Groove Thing, Donna Summer’s Bad Girls and Underworld’s Born Slippy. Not only bringing the sounds, her exuberant personality and her fantastically colourful outfit – a pink and red heart print jumpsuit paired with a black glittery cardigan add to the fun, celebratory atmosphere. She can be seen dancing along to the tracks she spins throughout the event.
The majority of the acts are performed on the stage in the form of a runway extending along the centre of the boat’s deck. However, the performers make full use of the space on the Seadeck, swanning in and around guests, and using the staircase to the upper deck for dramatic effect.
Shivannah (Fez Faanana) is the Mistress of Ceremonies, tying the proceedings together. Captain Kidd (Mark Winmill) provides a hilarious boylesque and hoops act. His seemingly Captain Jack Sparrow inspired eye make-up just adds to the amusement when he makes sultry eyes at the audience.
Each of The Art Boat events features a guest artist. On the day we attended that artist was Strawberry Siren. Sidney Bechet’s Egyptian Fantasy and The Johnny Staccato Band’s Night Train provide the soundtrack for her performance. Dressed in an olive green raw silk dress, long gloves and a round mortarboard like hat adorned with small flowers in varying hues of pink.
There’s an amusing and somewhat confronting wedding scene to the song “A Perfect Day” as three dishevelled brides with their mouths wired open (see image below) are joined by Brent Rosengreen a matador-like groom with an umbrella. Amazingly all of the costumes in the show are made by one of the cast members and from recycled objects as Fez jokes it’s “because we’re broke artists” rather than a care for the environment.
He warns that circus is dangerous before asking the crowd to make room and keep back for the next act. Rob Thomas from Broome performs his unique cyr wheel act all while removing layers of clothes. The song he performs to is “It just won’t do” and for anyone who remembers the music video for the song which had a guy watching scantily clad women playing volleyball in bikinis, having a man taking his clothes off to the song turned the image on its head (quite literally with him upside down in the wheel).
Sometimes we found ourselves so mesmerised by the costumes that we weren’t fully taking in the performance itself. Such was the case for one of the final acts when Miss Burlesque Australia, Diesel Darling, took to the stage in her fuchsia, gold and flower adorned outfit. That flower strapless bra is a work of art, so too Diesel Darling’s burlesque act, especially with the unanticipated change of tempo.
The Art Boat gets the audience involve, if they want to be. Whether you get to strut on the runway, or join in the dancing with a conga line, Briefs want you to get involved, but also won’t force you to. People of all ages joined in when we attended.
The Art Boat is a unique Brisbane Festival experience in which you will be thoroughly entertained for 75 minutes all while cruising down the Brisbane River. You will want to stay on for the next cruise to continue the party or continue it elsewhere. Either way, The Art Boat is an uplifting, very amusing way to spend an afternoon or evening. If The Art Boat is programmed at Brisbane Festival 2025, we highly recommend you book your spot.
5 CROISSANTS
Matilda Marseillaise was a guest of Brisbane Festival
You can also read our interview with Fez Faanana here
