KEY POINTS:
It is a cliche to want to run away with the circus, but after seeing La Clique, plenty of Aucklanders will probably indulge in escapist fantasies.
Mind you, rather than join the show itself, most audience members probably want to run away with one of the perve-worthy performers strutting their stuff in this R18 threesome of circus, cabaret and burlesque.
And given the feats of strength, balance and daring that are performed none of us would be up to it anyway.
With just the right amount of danger, sex appeal, freakishness and camp comedy, La Clique is the sort of show that David Lynch or our own Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror Picture Show) would be proud to call their own.
La Clique has the simplest of formats. A charming host welcomes the audience and introduces each act. The artists do their thing and at the end the whole company joins in a curtain call.
The Spiegeltent is an intimate and exotic venue and every performer in this festival-fit show is perfect. They are highly skilled, sexy and funny. They don't take themselves too seriously and they like a drink - in short, perfect company for an hour and a half.
Best of all there is no attempt to stitch on a story to make the different acts hang together so you get none of the po-faced, new-age nonsense of a Cirque du Soleil show.
The act which will have most of Auckland talking is David O'Mer, who is literally the poster boy for the show.
His bath tub routine in wet jeans is impressive and I'm sure the plastic sheeting brought out at the beginning of the act is more about keeping the audience controlled rather than dry.
But for my money, Denis Lock and Hamish McCann have a more quirky appeal.
As the "English Gents" they perform amazing feats of strength and balance while maintaining a stiff upper lip.
It's obvious they have earned every well-carved muscle and somehow they make sock garters and bowler hats appealing. Land of Hope and Glory indeed.
If girls are more your thing, La Clique has a bevy of beauties. Rima the tiny belly dancer is just one metre tall, Yulia Puktina makes hula hoops look glamorous and dangerous, Miss Behave steals drinks and swallows a sword, and Azaria Universe, an Auckland girl made good, is a sweet seducer, fabric dangler and naked dancer.
La Clique is the sell-out show of the Auckland Festival and justifies all the hype.
It was simply one of the best nights at the theatre I've had in ages. Every performer wants to seduce and astound an audience, but these guys actually do it.
When: to Mar 25
