REVIEW:La Clique (The Spiegeltent, Dublin)
One of the most irksome of "cabaret" problems is solved in La Clique, a lollapalooza of burlesque, circus acts and chanson, which opened this year's Dublin Fringe Festival on Saturday night.
With your average 'new cabaret' night, one or two dips in the evening seem obligatory, as the weaker, less structured acts pad out the bill. La Clique, by contrast, offers a succession of acts each of an equally impressive level of craft and entertainment value.
Gathering performers from the International (though English speaking) performance scene, La Clique has toured everywhere from New York to Edinburgh, offering its menu of excellence – if such an uptight term could possibly apply to a woman who plays the kazoo by sticking it where the sun don't shine.
The evening starts explosively with local chantooz, Camille O'Sullivan. It is easy to be a bit blaze about someone who performs so regularly on the local scene, but as her contribution here displays, O'Sullivan is not just another neo cabaret star. In this setting, her whispering, miaow, roaring, performance works brilliantly, grooming the audience into anticipating something special right from the start.
And whether your particular something special runs to Captain Frodo, therubber man who can – with a little twisting and bending backwards -- fit himself through the head of a tennis racket, or Miss Behave, a sexed up clown in a red PVC dress with a penchant for devouring long, sharp objects, La Clique has some in stock.
The show's most important trick, however, has more to do with the way everything fits together so snugly. Part of this at least is achieved by performers who all have enough charm to register as something more than just another acrobat, just another sword swallower, just another singer. The skills are never in doubt, but the ability to conjure up a sense of intimacy while, for example, flamenco dancing on roller skates around the tent, is what makes La Clique click.
With your average 'new cabaret' night, one or two dips in the evening seem obligatory, as the weaker, less structured acts pad out the bill. La Clique, by contrast, offers a succession of acts each of an equally impressive level of craft and entertainment value.
Gathering performers from the International (though English speaking) performance scene, La Clique has toured everywhere from New York to Edinburgh, offering its menu of excellence – if such an uptight term could possibly apply to a woman who plays the kazoo by sticking it where the sun don't shine.
The evening starts explosively with local chantooz, Camille O'Sullivan. It is easy to be a bit blaze about someone who performs so regularly on the local scene, but as her contribution here displays, O'Sullivan is not just another neo cabaret star. In this setting, her whispering, miaow, roaring, performance works brilliantly, grooming the audience into anticipating something special right from the start.
And whether your particular something special runs to Captain Frodo, therubber man who can – with a little twisting and bending backwards -- fit himself through the head of a tennis racket, or Miss Behave, a sexed up clown in a red PVC dress with a penchant for devouring long, sharp objects, La Clique has some in stock.
The show's most important trick, however, has more to do with the way everything fits together so snugly. Part of this at least is achieved by performers who all have enough charm to register as something more than just another acrobat, just another sword swallower, just another singer. The skills are never in doubt, but the ability to conjure up a sense of intimacy while, for example, flamenco dancing on roller skates around the tent, is what makes La Clique click.
posted by luke clancy at 3:03 PM
.jpg)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home