La Clique

"Leave all of your troubles, leave the rest of the festival at the front door," orders compère Brett Haylock as he welcomes tonight's audience in to the enchanting Spiegel Tent, where La Clique returns for its fourth residency this August. This might seem a bold command, particularly given the wealth of unforgettable entertainment on offer at the Fringe, but then La Clique has great faith in its ability to thrill, delight, and induce childlike wonder in its audiences, and rightly so.

In this other worldly realm, puppets spring to life and bop to a booming soundtrack, handkerchiefs disappear into parts of the anatomy rarely exploited by conventional magicians, and a pair of English gents maintain the stiffest of upper lips while executing seemingly inhuman balancing acts. This is a slick show that will certainly transport you beyond the mundane.

Billed as a "melange of cabaret, new burlesque, circus sideshow and contemporary variete," La Clique showcases seven jaw-dropping international acts over the course of two hours, with the majority returning to the central, circular stage more than once. Each artist possesses a rare, brilliant talent - be it the ability to dislocate every joint in the body or to hula hoop four metal rings simultaneously around the torso – yet six of the acts could equally be categorized as comedy performances due to their hilarious tone.

There's Mario Queen of the Circus, an incarnation of Freddy Mercury, whose patter prior to his juggling exploits is just as entertaining as the physical feats themselves, or Ursula Martinez, the fabulous stripping magician, whose song 'I wanna be ethnic' superbly sends up her own Spanish persona. Muscular, denim-clad David O'Mer recalls the hunks of the Diet Coke ads as he bursts out of a bathtub to perform aerial ballet, spraying the entire front row with water, and clumsy Captain Frodo contorts his body through two tennis rackets simultaneously in a weird and wonderful spectacle. It's difficult to pick a favourite due to the diversity of the acts on display, and because all of tonight's performers are so evidently at the very peak of their game.

This August marks La Clique's return to the Fringe after aan absence from Edinburgh's summer festivities in 2007. Though the ticket price has risen to a heady £20, the cabaret is still worth absolutely every penny. I can't imagine a better way to spend an evening at the Fringe - La Clique is a wonderful treat.