Review: LA CLIQUE, Leicester Square Spiegeltent

Returning to the West End La Clique is back with a new cast. After two decades of presenting some of the finest vaudeville talent around, is this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning for this cabaret institution?

Co-produced by Underbelly, this latest ensemble leans heavily on the creators and performers of Sophie’s Surprise 29th, an immersive show which appeared in their new Underbelly Boulevard venue this April. Its core quartet of aerialists Katharine Arnold and Cornelius Atkinson and acrobats Isis Clegg-Vinell and Nathan Price are all present and correct and are joined by other world-class stars including jugglers Asher Treleaven and Florian Brooks.

The Spiegeltent used this year is not the largest, but what it loses in capacity, though, it makes up for in atmosphere. Director and co-producer David Bates acts as MC on the night, geeing up the crowd as the conveyor belt of artists arrive and depart. Even if sat in the booths that make up the periphery, it is hard to miss the excited glint in his eyes every time he speaks from the small round stage. La Clique is one of the very few cabaret productions with an Olivier to their name and has been responsible for bringing to the UK many of the finest global vaudeville talents around.

The current crop of stars are far from shabby. Whether shimmying up and down silks or twisting in and out of an aerial hoop, the superb Arnold is as good as it gets. Even before her feet leave the ground, she draws us in through her classic routine in which she plays a plastic surgery patient wrapped in bandages and with dotted lines around her body. It is clever theatrical touches like this that metaphorically elevate this aerialist as much as anything she swings through the air on. The goth-like Atkinson looks like he has abs on his abs and is a natural on the straps with ability to spare.

Clegg-Vinell and Price are one of circus’ most enduring duos and have seen six Prime Ministers come and go since they first performed together. Their roller-skating routine is an evolution of the standard version popularised by The Skating Willers dynasty and is only bettered by their finale. Bates claims to the audience that the jaw-dropping, heart-stopping and show-closing Trio Vertex featuring Atkinson, Clegg-Vinell and Price is new to the London stage; those who saw Sophie’s Surprise 29th may beg to differ.

Whether he is throwing his diablo around with sexy abandon or sensuously reading an erotic novel, Treleaven is the comedy high point of La Clique while Brooks is a physical marvel who is always finding new ways to expand on his gentleman juggler act. Both have been on the cabaret scene for over a decade and are wonderfully engaging. Danik Abishev is as charming as ever whether he is artfully hand balancing or jumping around the stage aboard a flaming ladder, tap dancer Bayley Graham rat-a-tat-tats with Hollywood panache and Miranda Menzies’ hair-hanging is an eye-grabber even if it lacks Bella Diosa’s speed and dexterity and Fancy Chance’s sheer chutzpah. 

While West End theatre caters to the chin-strokers and provides fodder for dinner party conversations, circus spectaculars like La Clique are packed full of visceral visions and watercooler moments. It is unlikely you’ll see anywhere else in the capital this season someone flinging a goldfish through the air or have roller skates fly inches past your nose and there’s no doubt that it is an unmissable highlight of the cabaret calendar. That might sound like PT Barnum-style hyperbole but, as this year has shown, not even a show based on a film inspired by Barnum’s own life could compete with this: while Simon Hammerstein’s Come Alive! has phenomenal production values, it lacks the kind of heart and soul on display here. 

This anniversary should hopefully be an opportunity for Bates and Underbelly to take stock of their entertaining production. The old school format of the latest iteration resembles a factory assembly line and some more audience interaction would have been appreciated, especially in this venue.

The show sorely missed some live music or singing along the lines of Chastity Belt, Le Gateau Chocolat or Reuben Kaye, acts that always go down well in the communal confines of a Spiegeltent. The line-up also feels too safe considering there is a 16+ age threshold. Without some more creative input, there’s a danger that productions like this will lose modern audiences. As Sophie’s Surprise 29th amply demonstrated, post-pandemic audiences are more open to immersive and transgressive experiences that go beyond the standard Shaftesbury Avenue fare and marquee events like La Clique are in the perfect position to take advantage.

La Clique continues at the Leicester Square Spiegeltent until 5 January 2025.

Photo credits: Craig Sugden