La Clique – Leicester Square Speigeltent, London

Director: Craig Ilott

Reviewer: Miriam Sallon

Comprised of acts both erotic and implausible, La Clique showcases the best cabaret and circus from around the globe. Not satisfied with merely performing feats of seeming physical impossibility, the performers are also unspeakably sexy, fearless and frisky, uniting in a rallying cry for an outrageously good time.

Our host for the evening, Bernie Dieter, opens the show by both welcoming and warning us. She gives a fair taste of things to come, advising that should anyone use their phone during the performance, rather than having it confiscated, they’ll find it shoved down the pants of the “silver fox” on the front row (-who looks quite delighted at the prospect, by the by.)

Acts include the painfully agile acrobat David Pereira, indescribably sensual aerialist duo, Zoe Marshall and Lydia Norman, and jaw-dropping “bath boy” Stephen Williams who, let’s just say, had his pick of the audience by the end of his bath. Sword swallower Heather Holliday is perhaps too skilled for her own good, causing shrieks, pained faces and tensed shoulders the audience over, rather than the tumultuous applause she deserves.

The executions of some of the acts are completely bizarre- Pereira, for instance, covering himself in foam and showing off his gymnastic talents by shaving those hard to reach places; or Marshall’s displaying her aerial abilities whilst hanging from the hoop by her hair. It seems no matter the performers’ skillsets, originality is demanded throughout.

Whilst the production of the show itself displays great creativity and imagination, the acts alone would have been enough to carry the evening, without the rock concert-style lighting design (Jamie Heseltine) or the accompanying live band (as directed by Marty Hailey). But the marriage of excellence on all sides is what makes La Clique so sensational.

A salacious maelstrom of imagination and prowess, masterfully executed with lashings of excess. What a glorious way to heat things up on a cold winter’s night.

Runs until: 4 January 2020 | Image: Contributed