Haus of Fash Hun
The Lir Academy
★★★☆☆
From a glammed-up stage flanked by disco balls and a pink neon sign, two women emerge. Bibi (Kate Finegan) and Magda (Jade O’Connor) strut towards the audience in shiny, black leather coats, boots and shades. An electronic dance track thumps while they spew out over-the-top robotic moves.
“Buckle up bitches,” one says. “Welcome to Haus of Fash Hun.”
Finegan and O’Connor of Femme Bizarre star in a hilarious new show about fashion, fame and the lengths some may go to keep the dream alive. We’re taken through a musical journey from Bibi and Magda’s tragically unfashionable origins to the glamorous and ditsy fashionistas we see today.
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In all its chic glory, Haus of Fash Hun is many, many things. It’s paparazzi, Berlin club techno, flashy fur coats, slapstick miming and, of course, it’s Madonna. The duo put their own spin on Material Girl, and several of the numbers include impressive aerial dance routines from Finegan.
‘A haon, a dó, a trois’: How a tiny French village fell in love with Irish dancing
Pamela Anderson: ‘I felt like life was really like death for me’
Jamie Dornan: ‘I lost my mom, and I lost four of my best friends in an accident. I had a difficult few years’
Dr Lydia Foy: ‘I never got an apology actually. It would be nice to get one’
“Your life may be a mess, but your looks don’t have to be,” one quips. “If you don’t celebrate you, who will?”
The Austrian and American accents are far from perfect, and the plot is a bit convoluted, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. Haus of Fash Hun is completely and utterly cracked – and in the best way. The duo’s exaggerated dramatics left the audience in stitches, and the show’s core message about fame, materialism and self-worth leaves some semblance of a moral to the onstage antics. It’s all very silly, but a wild ride nonetheless.
Continues at The Lir Academy, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, until September 23rd
