There’s something about the circus that awakens your inner child. Enthralling performers take the stage for one reason and for one reason only: to fill you with laughter and delight. For La Clique, the cabaret-style theatrical production running across the globe and now landing in Singapore, that is a promise easily delivered on.
La Clique brings with it a host of world-class acts all showing out for the first time on our shores—set in an immersive 350-degree space in the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre. With a maximum of 250 guests per show, this production gears up to be a far more intimate experience than you’d expect of an evening at the circus.
You might be able to feel, say, the flames from Heather Holliday’s unbelievable fire-breathing routine. The magnetic Holliday hypnotises audiences with her flaming torches, twirling them effortlessly and creating massive plumes of fire from her mouth. The incredible showmanship and wow-factor of the act will leave you wondering if you truly witnessed it in reality, but the roaring applause from your fellow viewers will confirm that the trained performer did, indeed, exhale giant bellows of flame live on stage.
Holliday’s gifts do not end there—clearly, she has a penchant for the dangerous and death-defying. Look out for her sword swallowing segment. As the name promises, she keeps audiences on the edge of their seats by fully swallowing a series of increasingly impossible swords. Holliday starts off with one blade, sliding it effortlessly through her open mouth into her body as she leans backwards, the hilt of the sword resting on her lips. As if that was not enough, she quickly progresses onto swallowing multiple swords in one go—then a curved blade that anatomically, seems like an impossible fit. (Spoiler alert: she makes it work by angling her body to match the blade, and the screams from the audience are appropriately loud.)
If this all seems like too much to handle, worry not—the show is well balanced out with lighter, funnier acts. Emcee and songstress Bernie Dieter brings to the stage years of cabaret experience, entertaining between segments with upbeat songs. One such song centres entirely on the new era of post-COVID-19 live performances, in which she alludes to the adjustments performers have had to make to keep putting up a show. Where ordinarily Dieter would have incorporated far more audience interaction into her act—although she does just fine in this socially-distanced version, easily singling out a blushing audience member with the call: “Hey, sexy bald man”—this time round, she has to make do with her edgy jokes and crooning vocals.
Another unmissable highlight is acrobat Oscar Kaufmann’s Bath Boy act, which takes him out of a bathtub and far above the ground. Set to a melancholic tune, he effortlessly jumps and twirls in the air with the help of two ropes, testing the boundaries of what the human body can accomplish. The night does not end there—you’ll get to watch several more fun, punchy performances from all sorts of cast and crew, united only in the fact that they unequivocally and undisputedly fill you with sheer delight.
Tickets to La Clique can be purchased online.
