Thursday 27 August 2026

Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday)

Return of the GODZ Opening NIght – Sydney Fringe Festival at The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park – Thursday 27th August, 2026
Photographer: Belinda Rolland © 2026

It’s a brisk full moon night and the crowd is gathering at the Entertainment Quarter. Anticipation is building, fuelled by the copious amounts of champagne provided courtesy of tonight’s principal sponsor. We’re all here to see The Return of the Godz, part of the Sydney Fringe Festival. Billed as “outrageously funny adults-only circus spectacular where Greek mythology collides with world-class acrobatics”. You can understand why we’re all excited. The way in is lined with food concession stands, just like an old fashioned circus. Not a lot of healthy vegan options on offer, but that’s not this crowd. We’re here for noisy, sexy circus.

And the tent was jam packed with extravagantly dressed and audibly excited patrons. After a heartfelt welcome to country, and an address from Sydney Fringe Festival Director, Patrick Kennedy, the crew took to the stage. The 5 fit gentlemen were introduced as the Godz – Mercury, Bacchus, Hercules (ok he was a demigod) and I missed the other two, but it didn’t really matter in the end. I’m guessing Atlas was amongst them as there was a lot of heavy lifting going on. They were dressed in “god appropriate attire”, but over the course of the evening, all that vanished revealing five fit, buff bodies.

We got all the expected circus treats – juggling, knife throwing, human stacks, aerials and much, much more. Oh and watch out for the hilarious whip cracking. But this was all spiced with sexy, flirty comedy. Their circus skills weren’t world-class as the blurb promised, and there was a bit of wobbling in some of the more difficult lifts, but this could well have been intentional. When the chairs were being stacked, they played up the lack of their certainty to heighten the tension in the crowd. And at no time were they in danger of collapsing into a heap. Even if that were to happen, the rest of the troupe was constantly at the ready to correct, save or counter any missteps. A worthy special mention goes to Hercules’s ladder routine.

Regardless of perfection, the crowd was there to have fun and that was delivered in spades. There was much flirting with the audience, a great soundtrack that became part of the humour. In one tense moment, the acrobat said stop the eery music as it’s too tense, which was followed by an awkward silence then a loud cymbal crash that made everyone jump in their seats.