Spiegel Fest 2024: Adults only circus show Rouge rolling into Taranaki

R18 circus act Rouge is the headline show in Taranaki Art Festival Trust's Spiegel Fest 2024.

Roll up roll up, the circus is coming to town.

Tickets are on sale now for Rouge, the headline show in Taranaki Art Festival Trust’s Spiegel Fest 2024. If you plan to book seats, however, you may need to book a babysitter as well as this circus is strictly adults only.

The New Zealand debut of Rouge will play for seven performances in the Pacific Crystal Palace Spiegeltent on Puke Ariki Landing this November as part of Spiegel Fest 2024.

The 60-minute show, described as a circus for grown-ups, comes with a strict R18 rating, and combines sensational acrobatics, operatic cabaret and some tongue-in-cheek burlesque along with whip-cracking and fire spinning.

Rouge will feature operatic cabaret and tongue-in-cheek burlesque amongst the acts.

Director Elena Kirschbaum devised Rouge for a Spiegeltent (Dutch for “tent of mirrors”) environment, making it perfectly suited to Spiegel Fest 2024.

The show is described as being “radically inclusive” and “gorgeously subversive” and puts a different spin on traditional sexy circus cabaret-type shows which generally come with a hetero-normative slant.

R18 show Rouge features a range of circus/cabaret style acts.

The show is currently playing at the Edinburgh Festival and was also one of the shows in the Glenelg Winter Arts Festival in Adelaide last month. The show’s R18 rating reflects the fact it contains partial nudity, sexual references and coarse language.

The full Spiegel Fest 2024 festival lineup will be announced in early September, and organisers say festival fans can expect everything from adult-only shows such as Rouge through to family-friendly shows, as well as some free events for people to enjoy.

Tickets for Rouge are available now from eventfinda.

Ilona Hanne is a Taranaki-based journalist and news director who covers breaking and community news from across the lower North Island. She has worked for NZME since 2011.