Leicester Square headliners BRIEFS have returned to London this Christmas, and thank goodness they have. As well as their Brief Encounters and their Carnival Kidz shows, they have also given us their even raunchier, late night (10.15pm) show: Club Briefs! Performing after their other show, Club Briefs is strictly an adult only show (18+) as it contains full frontal nudity.
This evening (and the whole days profits) were donated to the Terrance Higgins Trust for World Aids Day, Fez Fa’anana (briefs director) presented before the show kicked off. With familiar faces from their other shows, Club Briefs opens up their stage at the beginning of the show, offering those more confident (or slightly merry) audience members to cat walk down the stage to hits DJ’d by Harry Clayton-Wright. Club Briefs is a stripped back (excuse the pun) cabaret show with incredible act after incredible act. Early on into the evening we meet Rowan Thomas, a Cyr Wheel performer. With a very large Cyr Wheel and a very small stage, Thomas’ amazing unique and acro wows you with his control, and let’s also say he’s mastered a quick change. A lovely shift to the usual brief boys performance was when we saw our first female performer of the night step out onto the stage. Lisa Fa’alafi (co-creator/director Brat Kids Carnival + Hot Brown Honey) performed her ‘Grass Dance’. Mr Monkey, who has also performed with the boys in ‘Second Coming’, returns with his naughty Banana clowning and burlesque performance. Mr Monkey was crowned the Las Vegas King of Burlesque 2012, and I urge you to come along and see why.
Luke Hubbard brings his award winning circus acrobatics, tumbling and hand balance performance. Hubbard’s performance is one of the stand out for the nights, with a silent but gripped audience, Hubbard has you begging for more. A personal favourite for me when it comes to circus performance is hoop dancing, so when I saw Crystal Stacey take to the stage I was very excited – and she didn’t disappoint. This exhausting number is high energy and needless to say, very entertaining. Dale Woodbridge-Brown performed possibly the most daring act to date with his whip show. Without giving too much away, the slightest miss calculation by Woodbridge-Brown could be fatal – this one is certainly worth waiting for. To finish the night off, Thomas Worrell steals the night with his mash up performance. Worrell offers a comedic performance of when Frozen meets Sia. Expect mega fast spinning, stunts, contortion and even a cheeky wig reveal.
It’s lovely to see that throughout the night, all the cast of the Briefs family are there not only to support, but also to move set, help with acts and generally audience please, including Captain Kidd, Louis Biggs Harry Clayton-Wright, Brett Rosengreen. Once the final curtain call is complete, the music picks up and you are invited to party (or club) with the cast (with the bar still open)! Although not strictly a meet-and-greet, this is a great opportunity for photos.
Club Briefs is not to be missed, and you could even catch Brief Encounters and Club Briefs one after the other. Tickets are selling fast so make sure you get them soon.
Reviewed by Benjamin Martin
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