Theatre review: Sophie's Surprise 29th throws the season’s wildest party, mixing offbeat laughs and high-calibre acrobatics
At The Cultch’s York Theatre, wonderfully weird characterizations meet gravity-defying feats in a raucously unpretentious banger that has “hit” written all over it
Sophie’s Surprise 29th. Photo by Roger Robinson
The Cultch presents Sophie’s Surprise 29th at the York Theatre to June 28
YES, WHIPSAWING AROUND on roller skates by a neckstrap is beyond difficult, as is riding buck naked on a unicycle while trying to pull on a pair of pants without showing your naughty bits. But you know what may be just as hard? Making people laugh—a skill that Britain’s Three Legged Race Productions has honed as much as the inspired acrobatic choreography in Sophie’s Surprise 29th.
So the physical comedy, the offbeat humour, and the satirical characterizations make Sophie’s Surprise 29th a raucously cool mix with circus in the troupe’s unpretentious banger at the York Theatre. And before we go on: Get tickets now. This one’s going to be a much-deserved early-summer hit.
The chaos begins even before the party starts, with the crew throwing random chip bags, birthday hats, and popcorn into the crowd.
Developed through London’s cabaret scene and the Edinburgh Fringe, the production’s central conceit is that an audience member is chosen to become Sophie each night, beginning the show by emerging from the streamers at the back of the stage to screams of “Surprise!” from the audience.
Thankfully, what ensues is delicious anarchy instead of perfectly flowing, Cirque-like acrobatic vignettes. What instantly wins you over are the abrupt stops, interruptions, and intentionally messy segues to acts set to retro-90s rock hits. In one oddball moment, an artist stops to read a bad parody of Twilight-style teen erotica; in another, a rollerskater is panting so hard he can’t get his words out at the mike.
Performers take on hilarious stereotypes, embracing the weird details of each characterization. There’s a nerd whose aerial rope routine is a wonky-gawky treat, the bespectacled, frizzy-haired artist as seemingly surprised by her feats as the audience; a goth with Prodigy-guy hair horns loves his bunny stuffy; a Lululemon ambassador gives gasp-inducing new meaning to “human pretzel”; and, as the scene-stealing, recurring clown of the evening, Sam Goodburn becomes a clueless drug-dealing rave kid who can’t quite pull it together.
Swear words and middle fingers fly, and much fun is poked at the audience: watch Nathan Price’s sarcastic fratboy ask for, then ignore, a karaoke request from good-natured “Sophie”. And this crew is not above using cookies to bait an audience member into participating.
All the comedy belies the extreme high level of acrobatics going on here, a must in a city whose tastes have been honed on acts from around the world. It’s not just the gravity-defying choreography—say, a woman dropping headfirst from a trapeze into a dude’s hands—but the creativity: one of the most surreal somehow finds a ’50s burlesque-housewife sprouting a gigantic yellow balloon head (it has to be seen to be believed). The entire experience is amplified, of course, by the intimate sightlines at The York, where you can sit mere inches away from a body being swung like the PNE Pirate Ship ride.
Maybe it’s the British ’tude, but all of this is pulled off with cheeky nonchalance. “Thank you very much, that was very difficult,” a performer deadpans to the wild audience applause after one feat. On behalf of all of us who desperately needed a laugh this week, here’s saying, “No, Sophie’s Surprise 29th, thank you very much.” 
Sophie’s Surprise 29th. Photo by Roger Robinson
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