Sydney Festival: La Clique at the Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North. January 5-16, 18-28 9.30pm; January 23-24 7.30pm (2 hours with interval). www.sydneyfestival.org.au
You may have dreamt of doing things so far out of the ordinary, explained Rubber Man Captain Frodo, that you have never dared to try. But now you have seen the outlandish things we do for a living, dream on.
Well I, like most readers I imagine, never did run away and join the circus. But one Canberran of my acquaintance, Michael Simic, aka Mikelangelo of the famed Black Sea Gentlemen, not only ran away to Melbourne but now leads in La Clique with his particular style of jaunty, naughty, funny songs of sex and violence. La Clique is not cabaret-circus for the fainthearted, and certainly not for the young (under 18s not admitted).
There are no naked animals in this very intimate circus in the quite small Spiegeltent, but you can guess what will happen as magician Ursula Martinez makes her little red handkerchief disappear time and time again until there seems to be nowhere left for it to re-appear from but ….
The circus acts are real. Captain Frodo is excruciating to watch getting his body parts through two tennis racket frames, Miss Behave swallows a sword far too long for my liking, while others make hula hoops do amazing things, or do trapeze tricks cleverly timed to music, or make neat comedy out of remarkable strength and balance, climaxing with the surprising David O’Mer’s bathtub gymnastics.
But the essence of the show is its continuous humour. It’s a cavalcade of characters, clowns maybe but so skilful that sincere applause for their art goes hand in hand with constant laughter – always with them, never at them. Two hours pass in no time. The bubbling excitement in the crowd grows even during interval as the bar serves a treat, and at the end of the show the stage is cleared for more music, dance and action than anyone can poke a stick at.
I was reminded by La Clique of the zany strength of Circus Oz in its early days, but with a raunchy rather than almost old-fashioned “committed” social commentary. Small scale and tightly constructed, this show is great festival material and should not be missed.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
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