What’s better than a one-woman show? A one-woman show with a trapeze hanging from the ceiling, like Chekov’s gun over the mantelpiece. Nicole Burgio’s devised, autobiographical, solo circus show, xoxo moongirl, makes a lot of promises – and the ones it delivers on are brilliant.
The storytelling doesn’t quite match up to the stellar circus work
Burgio is clearly an extremely accomplished circus artists. Her routines – acrobatics, clowning, aerial silks, and the trapeze, are each wonderful in their own right and better than the one before. Her aerial work in particular is as visually beautiful as it is impressive, clearly carefully visually designed from costume to lighting.
Unfortunately, the storytelling doesn’t quite match up to the stellar circus work. Burgio dives headfirst into her own experiences of a family plagued by her father’s physical abuse of her mother. The story spans her entire life – while she begins with her childhood, most of the play takes place quite recently, as Burgio plays both herself and her alcoholic mother. The character work is good, it exaggerated, but the timeline of events is quite confusing. It takes work to follow the leap from childhood to adulthood, and some of the transitions between characters are fluid enough to leave uncertainty as to who, precisely, is speaking. This leaves some of the relationships unclear as well, especially Burgio’s sister, who is only briefly mentioned. She pops up as the second of two roles played by audience members, leaving the characterisation almost entirely in the hands of that lucky person. The audience interaction was generally successful, and while the transitions into those moments were a little clumsy, they didn’t distract from the story.
Burgio is clearly a talented performer – besides her obvious strength and skill demonstrated on the aerial apartuses, she moves swiftly between playing herself, the presenter; herself, the daughter; and her lovingly portrayed alcoholic mother, who’s chief concern upon promotion at the hospital she’s worked in for 38 years is whether she can get away with wearing a tiara to work. Hearing Burgio talk about her mother was a beautiful highlight – may we all have someone in our lives who loves us so unconditionally. However, the portrayal sometimes felt confusing. Burgio’s silks act, for example, was performed in character as her mother, a choice that was never really explained. The connection with the moon – a destination she declares in the title and a scene with a hypothetical lover / audience member and then arrives at for a brief meeting with an alien and a stunning trapeze act – is frankly unclear, and was one of the more confusing aspects of the production.
Burgio was accompanied onstage by musician Mel Hsu, who’s cello, guitar, and vocal stylings underscored the piece but felt underutilised after one full song made it clear how strong her presence could be. Overall, xoxo moongirl featured some beautiful circus work that was very worth seeing, but the connective tissue tying it together didn’t quite manage to do the job.
