Cirque De Cabaret, Nightingales Club, Birmingham - review
My best friends and I sat around a decorated table, champagne in hand, ready to be dazzled by the art of tease and pyrotechnics Cirque De Cabaret had to offer.
Birmingham's Nightingale Club had been transformed into a debonair lounge ready for a variety show packed full of entertainment.
Resident drag queen Trixie compered the show - combining tongue-in-cheek humour, vulgarities and a scorching singing voice to introduce each of the titillating acts on offer.
Less smooth at times, Trixie made light of the lack of stage hands to make these transitions run with ease as she frequently moved props, curtains and cleaned the stage.
Much like burlesque, boylesque is the art of formally constructed strip tease acts from male performers - an art form perfected by the performers at Cirque De Cabaret that perfectly blended entertainment, comedy and eroticism.
From cowboys to firemen, prisoners to navy seals and more - the male performers were the embodiment of the cardinal rule "its not what you take off, its how you do it" with red hot performances with a twisted sense of humour.
Audience participation was the main course of this event, with grinning ladies being dragged onto chairs, swung across the floor and blended into the acts as props wherever possible - all with the utmost respect of the comfort levels of the participant.
One of my party was pulled on stage by a performer with a snorkel and flip flops - presumably saving my friend from drowning as he performed a risque resuscitation act.
Boylesque wasn't all that Cirque De Cabaret had on offer - it also had an array of daring fire performances, exquisite silk aerial shows and explosive pyrotechnics to surprise patrons at all times.
The danger peaked with one blushing bride, out on an unsuspecting hen do, was pulled onstage for a faux knife-throwing stunt. This show is not one for those not willing to participate - at any given moment.
Roaring laughter entertainment from start to finish - Cirque De Cabaret gave the art of strip tease its much-loved comic edge with a hint of danger in a heart-racing extravaganza of entertainment.
My sides still ache from shock and laughter.
