Otto and Astrid are two lipstick-smeared German musicians from Australia who manage to merge pump rock and children’s nativity-like songs while being wonderfully dysfunctional.
Astrid wears a traditional Japanese-style dress with a neckline that you might see on a vampire, while Otto wears traditional clown makeup, creating a visualisation of their different characters – Otto being the more shy and almost sheepish one while Astrid is outgoing and takes the lead in most of the songs.
They use a wide range of musical instruments, including a bass drum set, two electric guitars, and a keytar (a mix of a keyboard and a guitar) to play their rock punk songs about sandwiches, personal safety, and cats.
The pair break up the songs well, with their frequent sibling squabbles, mainly involving Otto wanting to change the set list so he can add some of his own songs (which Astrid strongly disagrees with!) This leads to most of the show being Otto attempting to get his sister Astrid off the stage so he can sing his own music as a solo act.
Finally, after managing to sneak in a couple of his own songs into the production, Astrid allows him to perform his song ‘Kittens’ to the audience while wearing kitten ears and encouraging the audience to make paw motions with their hands.
Audience interaction is also looped into their musical sets such as when they pick someone out from the audience and decide that the after party would be at their house and invite others to come along and bring pizza.
Otto and Astrid are definitely good fun and might make you laugh even if you don’t want to.
Plus, they give out packets of crisps at the end, so that’s always a bonus.
Otto and Astrid: The Stages Tour, 21:10, Upstairs at Assembly Roxy, until August 30
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/otto-astrid-the-stages-tour
