Cirque du Cabaret was a last-minute decision, but not a difficult one. Circus, burlesque, the Spiegeltent.. how can you lose? When I checked the website for London Wonderground, of which the Spiegeltent is part, availability seemed to be limited - and when I checked the Cirque's own website, they said as much: so I booked. Indeed, this was their last show in London this year.
It was raining when I left - the first lashings of Tropical Storm Bertha, I suppose. Well, the platform indicator at West Brompton was wrong again, telling me the train was headed to town when it wasn't. So I changed at Earl's Court, where the platform indicator also thought that train was headed to town! When a train finally arrived that was headed to town, it was delayed on the platform for ages, first waiting for the train I'd come on to leave, then apparently waiting for the next train to arrive.. Just as well I left in time.
It rained on me as I crossed the bridge, but the bright lights of the Wonderground called to me from across the river. I made my way straight to the box office.. where people were queueing, and had started to do so from the wrong side. Guess it doesn't matter. What mattered more was that it was pouring on us as we waited. Could they have been any slower..? Once I'd collected my ticket, the Spiegeltent wasn't hard to find; it must be the best advertised venue in the place. On my way, I passed a curious sight - a slow-moving carousel, crammed with people holding drinks, with music playing. A revolving bar. Well, they were out of the rain, I guess..
When I got to the Spiegeltent, I discovered that they hadn't opened yet. And there was a queue. A very long queue, that snaked down the road and under the bridge. So, with the end of the queue under the bridge, at least there was cover! Not perfect - it did drip on my paper - but better than nothing. After a while, someone made her way along the line, tearing tickets and muttering at us where to sit. I caught something about "red" and "not in the first three rows" and she was off again. Finally, the doors were opened and in we went.
Initial confusion about where to sit - given that no-one on the door was giving directions - cleared when I saw that many of the seats had red cushions. Ok, so just don't sit in the front three rows. Actually, there's hardly a bad seat in the place, so I picked one and sat, trying to find somewhere for my wet coat. And waited for the show to start. And waited, and waited. It must have been 15 minutes late.
When it finally got underway, the producer came onstage. Turned out she was Irish. Asked whether there were any more Irish in the room - a bunch of us yelled from the side. "Well, we are certainly used to the rain!" she exclaimed. Can't argue there. She soon turned the stage over to Mr. Louche, the MC, who entertained us with witty banter and introduced the acts.
Now, this is, of course, a mixture of circus and burlesque. There's another show running at the moment, in the same venue, called Limbo - runs until the 17th. I saw it last year, and it's spectacular. They have a high quality of circus acts, around which they build a framework of sauciness. Cirque du Cabaret, on the other hand, also does circus acts, but not of such high quality - their emphasis is on the sauce. All the performers are female, and it's more a burlesque show with circus tricks added.
It looks fantastic, though - and I have to imagine that the adhesive required to hold the teeny bits of covering in place that preserve their modesty must be really, really uncomfortable when you're taking them off afterwards! It deserves its over-18 rating; by the end, even I was shocked. Slightly. There's a short interval, during which they sell raffle tickets, and which seems mainly designed to give them time to clean up the stage after the fire-eater. And what a spectacular act that was - the most memorable of the night, and truly messy as she flung props left and right. Entertainment was to be had at the interval, simply from watching an usherette, in stilettos and fishnets, a teeny jacket and a little top hat with a feather in, unroll pretty much all of an industrial-sized roll of kitchen paper with which to mop up the floor. Lordy, they earn their wage!
Standout acts of the night were the fire-eater, just for her flamboyance, and the musical act - the Four Femmes on the Thames (Femmes rhyming with Thames). One of them limped on with a crutch, bless her. Their parodies of popular songs chime well with originals to provide a comprehensive volume of love songs to London. I'd happily listen to them again.
This show is finished, as I say, but for more circus talent and a show a little less risqué, check out Limbo - you won't be disappointed.
Tomorrow, at the moment, is coming up as a show akin to Marry Me a Little - along the same lines, a show of roughly one hour's duration with no interval, and no plot, only songs. Just with less famous writers. Edges is running in the Tabard pub theatre in Chiswick - I was there just once before, when I lived close to there. And on Sunday, I'm back to The Globe, to see an interesting-sounding play called Holy Warriors, which chronicles the relationship between the West and the Middle East from the Crusades to the present day. I made sure to book, considering how popular the venue is - and given that premium seats for this show are available for £10! I just hope Bertha doesn't cause havoc..
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