The Times, August 26, 2008
One of the hottest tickets on the Edinburgh Fringe is about to transfer to London for the first time.
A fizzing, seductive combination of cabaret and variety show, LA CLIQUE has performed successful seasons from Sydney to Dublin to New York. It first landed at the festival five years ago, rapidly attaining cult status thanks to its intimate setting in a glamorous, old mirrored tent in George Square and the calibre of international talent on offer. Now LA CLIQUE is spreading its wings, and on October 2 the shows opens an extended engagement at the Hippodrome in Leicester Square.
The atmosphere outside the Spiegeltent in Edinburgh is both frenzied and inviting. Punters beg for tickets while celebrities jump the queue. The buzz builds inside, where most of this slick performance occurs on or around a simple, circular platform centre-stage. The spotlight is on small-scale circus acts, contemporary burlesque routines and unique cabaret turns that run a gamut from highly polished to outrageously comic to drop-dead sexy.
A Canadian twosome known as Cabaret Decadanse present lip-sync puppetry with real flair. The English Gents, another male duo, execute a faultless balancing act that doubles as a parody of stiff upper lip masculinity. Mario, Queen of the Circus, is an adept juggler, unicyclist and mischievous stand-up whose hero is Freddie Mercury. Yulia Pykhtina lends an enticing eroticism to hula-hooping, while Ursula Martinez's blend of striptease and magic act is a total hoot. Witnessing the slapstick contortions of the double-jointed Norwegian goof Captain Frodo as he squeezes himself through two tennis rackets is a painful pleasure.
In complete contrast is David O'Mer, a hunk in wet jeans, whose aerial ballet above a bathtub is a lip-smacking sensation.
The choice of venue for LA CLIQUE'S London run is apt, given the Hippodrome's varied history as an entertainment site from 1900.
One of its earliest incarnations was as a water circus featuring elephants, polar bears and sea lions frolicking in an enormous pool. The legendary escape artist Harry Houdini later visited the stage. By the 1960s it had been converted into the dinner-dance venue Talk of the Town, with Judy Garland and Shirley Bassey among the headliners pulling in the crowds. In the early Eighties it became a nightclub, reverting once more to its original name. More recently it has been used for private events.
Now the Hippodrome's glory days seem to have passed. But LA CLIQUE could change all that if the London season catches fire as it has in Scotland, for it all adds up to a great night out.
Edinburgh box office: 0131-667 8940; London box office: 020 7907 7097. http://www.lacliquelondon.com
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