Picture: Roy Tan
Briefs: Bite Club continues at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London until 31 July 2022, then runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 5 to 28 August 2022.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Back for another spell in London after the inevitable Covid-induced lay off is Australia’s outrageous gang of fit misfits led by the acid-tongued Shivannah (Fez Fa’anana). The Briefs boys are here in the capital, fresh from their appearance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival (has anyone ever left Glastonbury ‘fresh’?!), and they’re dishing up more of their saucy circus revelry but this time with a classy new twist.
Perhaps in deference to their Queen Elizabeth Hall debut – “we usually get stuck round the corner in a wooden tent in the car park”, seethed our hostess, in reference to the show’s usual slot at the Wonderground spiegeltent – the boys have upgraded their music to a live band, and the vocal delights of the sensational Sahara Beck no less. More about her later…
I’m pretty sure that the last time I was in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, I was playing the triangle in a Mahler symphony. The differences between the two gigs are stark: for one thing, I didn’t hit my triangle while wearing crotchless chaps!
Yes, this is boylesque at its best: incredibly fit performers wowing us with their breathtaking gymnastic choreography, all the while teasing off what little they’re wearing to begin with. It’s all good, sex-positive fun, underpinned, crucially, by a clear commitment to and respect for their circus artforms. There’s juggling and hula-hooping and stunningly good silk work, there’s beautifully choreographed fan dances, hat manipulation and, as we’ve come to expect in a Briefs performance, a show-stopping trapeze act that involves Mark ‘Captain Kidd’ Winmill splish-splashing in and out of a giant champagne coupette or bird bath. Oh, and there’s a most unique strip tease on a treadmill. Joyous!
Sadly, there was no programme – and I couldn’t catch the names as they were credited at the end of the show – but brava all around for Shivannah, Winmill and the ‘Brissie bombshells’ Thom Worrell, Brett Rosengreen and Louis Biggs.
For all the flesh and nudity, it’s actually not quite as outrageous as the show has been in previous years. The language is just as fruity – the foyer is papered with multiple warnings about haze, strobe lights, nudity and adult language! – but I found this new Bite Club act to be not quite so… well, biting. This was confirmed after reading my last review of them from 2016. Surely the Briefs boys aren’t going mainstream?!
In one sense, they are, yes, but their new addition to the family – the live band led by Queensland singer-songwriter Sahara Beck – takes the Briefs brief and elevates it to another level. Beck is new to me but I’m already smitten by her sound, having spent the journey home from the Queen Elizabeth Hall listening to her offerings on Spotify.
Her live performances throughout the 100-minute show are captivating, from haunting melodies with the most wispy, gossamer thin vocals to big, punchy rock ballads. For such a diminutive figure – Shivannah comically towers over her – Beck packs a hell of a punch. I’d’ve been happy just listening to a gig with her on the guitar and her band of drums, bass and keys.
On the downside, there were a couple of technical hiccups – particularly with the lighting cues – but none that this team of pros couldn’t deal with. The traditional Briefs raffle, which sees the cast flog strips of tickets before the show, also didn’t quite pay off as joyously as it did in previous years. I recall the last time that the winner was given very special treatment courtesy of the boys, but I’m sure the show’s still finding its feet in this lovely but rather austere auditorium, which will always be more Mahler than Mata Hari.
Anyway, it’s been a week, hasn’t it? Brexit hell, tiresome Tory leadership shenanigans, a scorching heatwave that literally set the capital on fire… So I can’t thank Shivannah, Beck and the gang enough for cheering me up and sending me out into the weekend with a big smile on my face. Their positive message throughout of love and kindness to all, irrespective of sex, gender, age, race, or religion, was also heartwarming. (The ushers at the QEH, many of whom were ladies of a certain age perhaps not so used to this kind of concert, were also all very lovely and welcoming.) If you’re looking for something to take your mind off the rather grim news, have a pre-show G&T or two to get you in the mood then enjoy the sassy spectacle – you won’t regret it.
Craig Glenday
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