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Hugely entertaining evening of alternative cabaret with a Chinese pole routine that left the audience gasping in amazement.Summary
Rating
Excellent
Leicester Square is a tourist hellhole that I avoid at all possible costs. Wait, what’s that you say? The La Clique show is back at the Spiegeltent and it is… right in the middle of Leicester Square? Oh, well that’s different. Described as circus, comedy, cabaret and music, the production brings together an extremely talented international troupe to showcase a series of performances. There isn’t anything to link them or a theme, other than fun – cheeky and sexy fun!
We begin with the exquisitely choreographed burlesque of Miss Jolie Papillon, closely followed by the amazing Katherine Arnold who takes to the air for our first, fantastic, aerial display of the evening. Ashley Stroud is next, showing off a mighty fine set of pipes with a rendition of ‘Diamonds are Forever’. The standout performance, however, must go to Mikael Bres, who begins with quite a hammy introduction as he prepares for his act, before a loud gasp resounds throughout the audience as he leaps upwards and defies gravity. This is the exact moment when the show completely clicks into place. His Chinese pole act is simply extraordinary and he can have fun with the audience throughout it, teasing us with catching feathers or making a sudden drop; gobsmacking stuff. Following him is the very funny Sam Goodburn who struggles to put his trousers on – while riding a unicycle. Beware, audience participation comes to the fore here with his first volunteer gradually getting into it, but a second volunteer later on noticeably just going for it and providing another highlight of the evening. After that – well, Gay Jesus (Hugo Desmaroais) teases, berates and riles up the audience before launching into an amazing aerial routine. Our final performer is Tara Boom who makes popcorn in an unusually deranged way with multiple hoops.
We take a short interval and then are back for a second performance from each of the entertainers, with Boom’s foot juggling of umbrellas proving to be quite something and an amazing visual. For a finale, Arnold and Demaris team up for an aerial duet, spinning around and around over the front rows: wow!
This was my first experience of La Clique or indeed with this type of show and two things jumped out for me. First, while we had seven performers, each was still actively working and involved while another was performing; a full group effort there supporting by either handing props, collecting discarded clothes or operating pulleys for aerial efforts. The other was that as little mistakes happen or the timing is slightly off, it’s clearly just one of those things for a show like this and it either becomes a funny part of the act, with the performer happy to have a little laugh at themselves, or someone just hands them back a stray prop and they continue. It’s striking how supportive of each other everyone in La Clique is.
On the way in we were all told that, unusually, photography (no flash!) and short videos are allowed. Well, I saw more people using their phones during Hamilton than I did at La Clique last night! Okay, that is a slight exaggeration but most people were happy to sit there and take it all in, as once the show started each performer captured 100% of our attention.
These performers are each amazing and combined together create a stunning, exciting show. I think with a festive audience and a drink or three the atmosphere in the Leicester Square Spiegeltent will be electric over the coming weeks. Well worth a visit.
Created by: Spiegeltent Productions
Presented by: Underbelly in association with David Bates
La Clique plays at Spiegeltent Leicester Square until 7 January. Further information and bookings can be found here.
