La Clique at Edinburgh Fringe ★★★★★
★★★★★ La Clique at Edinburgh Fringe | The Famous Spiegeltent, St Andrews Square
La Clique is in a fringe league of its own, creating spellbinding vaudeville magic IRL, transporting us away from our digital cage for a magical 100 minutes. Let go of your phone and let La Clique in.
Celebrating 21 years of cabaret sensation, La Clique creates its own lexicon of mythology with circus, burlesque, comedy, magic and speciality acts fusing for the ultimate night out.
The rules of La Clique are all observed:
- The tight structure and collective environment: La Clique regulars will know that the pre-show music is always the same, until the lights go down ceremonially and the magic begins. From front of house staff to the key talent mopping the stage, La Clique is a close family troupe who support each other – it’s a magical quality which really creates a unique atmosphere.
- Surprise in a world of the obvious: Think you know what you’re getting? Think again. From performance legend (and noted lesbian) Ursula Martinez’ orgasmic return to glory, to the batshit Daredevil Chicken ripping p*ss, class and ass out of Las Vegas cabaret, La Clique always delivers the ‘woah’ moments.
- The emotional, whimsical moments that unexpectedly makes you feel: The most magical moment of the night is provided by Tara Boom, taking the traditional act of foot juggling with umbrellas to new heights emotional, mesmeric beauty. And all that, after the brilliantly bonkers popcorn routine in the first half!
La Clique runs like clockwork, but not in a sterile, joyless way. The whole crew make every effort to to ensure that this is an epic show guaranteed, seven days a week. Somehow the show always feels fresh, risky and different, no matter how many times they perform or how many times you buy a ticket. This year in Edinburgh’s Famous Spiegeltent in St Andrews Square is no exception, with beautiful homages to classic La Clique acts like David O’Mer’s (aka bath boy) splashing about on aerial straps. This time, the bath tub routine is given a sublime remix by LJ Marles – who really is at the top of his game – mixing incredible strength and skill with humour, and a camp energy that feels far from the toxic machismo often seen in circus.
La Clique 2025 has a fair few nude acts, which the audience certainly isn’t complaining about (!) but perhaps a slot could have been found for a bit more old-school variety. We missed Captain Frodo’s wacky weirdness, but we hear he did wow audiences earlier in the run. Ringmaster David Bates and his team are bringing back lots of the extended family for special turns and to keep it fresh through the Ed Fringe run. This means the line-up will rotate through the month, but sad though you might be to miss one performer, you’ll be wowed by another. For our part, we were ecstatic to enjoy another opportunity to see that delicious and dangerous popcorn act by Tara Boom, which never fails to blow the roof off the Spiegeltent.
VIVA LA CLIQUE! La Clique continues to be the vintage champagne of cabaret that we all need right now. The unmissable entertainment show of the fringe. As usual.
I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.
