La Clique

Last night we were lucky enough to have snagged some tickets for the Sydney Festival's La Clique which is one of the booked out hits of the Festival.
It is performed in the 'Famous Spiegeltent' (famous is included in its name).


Although of course you can't take photos during the performance I did snap this one at interval.

The stage to the left was where Marlene Dietrich actually sang Falling in Love Again in 1930. The tent is an original antique mirror tent built in Belgium in 1920. It is built of wood and mirrors and has a parquetry dance floor, glass etchings and detailed in velvets and brocades. It is a wonderful venue.
La Clique was a wonderous collection of circus type acts but most with a twist. One of the hits was Captain Frodo - the Rubber Man- who managed to contort his double jointed body through two tennis rackets (strings removed) whilst getting tangled up with microphone cords and a stool. You watched between your fingers as you just cringed as his two elbows met together on one side or both his knees wrapped around his head. I also loved Bath Boy - an extremely hunky man in jeans using a bath full of water as the starting point for an aerial act which sawa him swinging all over the tent covering most of the first few rows in bath water. Plastic sheets were thoughtfully provided although did little for protection.

It was a wonderful night although the rendition of Star Spangled Banner played on a kazoo inserted into an interesting female orifice did take me back to a certain performance in Bangkok which featured marker pens which still haunts me to this day.