When my mum told me, my brother and his girlfriend that she had a surprise planned for us, we had no idea what to expect. She would not even tell us where it was until the day arrived. It turned out that we were headed to Leicester Square, in the middle of Winter Wonderland. I know we’re heading into (dare I say it) Spring, but this show was simply so good, I had to write about it!
We entered a huge tent where the surprise was taking place, and after we purchased drinks and popcorn, we took our seats. We knew then that we were watching some type of show, and even after I had watched in awe, I’m not able to put a label on what kind of show it actually was. There were all sorts of acts involved: hula hooping, singing, even a guy performing on a swing in high heels.
“It also helped that they were very attractive”
The most impressive act for me was two men called The English Gents who performed acrobatics. They somehow managed to balance themselves in spectacular positions using only their own bodies, and performed amazing tricks. I was so scared that one of them would lose balance and fall, especially when one stood on the other’s shoulders. Their act was also mixed with humour, involving them smoking a pipe whilst blowing bubbles – I never thought I would see those two things combined. It also helped that they were very attractive, and the crowd went wild when they took their shirts off!
“I think he dislocated his shoulder at one point”
However, the most terrifying act was called Captain Frod. He was able to manipulate his body into certain shapes that, I can assure you, the normal body cannot do. He kept falling down all over the stage and even off it at one moment, and we could not tell if this was deliberate or not. Either way, it didn’t matter, as he laughed about it along with the audience. I think he dislocated his shoulder at one point, but I was too scared to look!
“She performed magic tricks whilst stripping”
My personal favourite performer was Ursula Martinez, who is the writer, performer and pioneer of the London cabaret scene. Her performance began with her speaking to the audience in Spanish, then she suddenly revealed in English that she was actually from Croydon! She sang a funny song about leaving the EU and how she wants to go back to Spain, leaving the audience in stitches of laughter.
As the last act of the show, she performed magic tricks whilst stripping, which was not the surprise that we had in mind – I’m not even sure if my mum knew what she had in store for us. Overall, it was a wild and wonderful show – the perfect mix of impressive skills, humour and weirdly scary acts.
9/10 – Unmissable, almost perfect.
Emily Patel
Image courtesy of tmmmb via Flickr.
For more information on ‘La Soiree’, see here.
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