‘Lords of Strut: The Family Show’, by Lords of Strut

Assembly George Square, Edinburgh Festival Fringe; 7th August 2015

Strut is indeed the word for this hilariously posturing pair of street dance champions, Famous Seamus, and his little brother SeanTastic.  Facial hair belies the fact that their childhood glories may have been many years behind them yet, in Seamus’ mind, the pair are still the cream of the crop, here to change our world, through dance.  I don’t know about my world, but they certainly brightened up my afternoon with their wit, charm, and indefatiguable determination to give us an excellent show.

As in the best clowning tradition, that show is hampered by set-backs – in the midst of family rifts and reunions, will they ever get to present the Big Finale? In fact, the Lords of Strut have the classic clown relationship underneath their shell suits, lycra and red velvet baseball caps (‘Because we’re Urban‘).  Control freak Seamus (Cormac Mohally) is an attention demanding limelight hog, with wild eyes and hyper energy, determined that this is His Show, and must go His Way while the puppy-dog Sean (Cian Kinsella) tries his best to help whilst inevitably causing more chaos and winning us all to his side.

I can’t think of a single demographic who couldn’t love this show – even though it says ‘family’, a bunch of mates will do. Warm hearted passion and hysterical humour allow the pair to lovingly push at the boundaries of normal social acceptance (Mohally’s transformation of a small audience member into ‘Young Sean’ has us biting our fists in glee).

It’s easy to see that the two performers have developed from street show training grounds, as every moment grabs and holds our attention with high energy, surprise and charisma.

On top of the 80’s inspired dance moves, the pair also incorporate acrobalance, a little bit of blockhead work, contortion and ladder balancing within their renowned routine.  These may not be the most hard won circus skills in Edinburgh this Fringe, but their presentation is perfect.

The Lords of Strut are camp, manly, silly and charming. And, apparently, they also do videos so, if you’d like to find out a little bit more about these unlikely dance heroes, have a gander here.

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