As a kid, I always wanted to run away and join the circus. After all, it takes just the right balance of obnoxiousness, outrageousness and downright weirdness to be a circus freak…things that I have in spades. But, alas, where one oddball stands tall, there are a cast of many who are just as strange, if not stranger still: cue the cast of Briefs: The Second Coming, Fringe World’s boy-dacious all male boy-lesque troupe.
Yes, Briefs are back, badder than ever. In fact, they are worse. But, as King of Cockney camp Kenny Everrett would have said, these tykes do terrible ‘in the best possible taste’. And by using the word ‘terrible’, I am placing the emphasis on them being terrors, terrorising, and even terrorists…if laughter were a strap-on bomb. And laughs, they come, in big spurting geysers of side-splitting, cheek soaking whoops and cheers as these lads do what do they best: push the boundaries of vaudeville and good taste. Yes, they push it real hard.
Expect fishy drag, a Rubik’s cube solved quicker than it takes to jump a Fringe World box office line, a monkey who will make you bananas for his banana and some very, very hot abs. And beautiful butt cheeks. And, hell, you even get to some tucking gone awry.
To surmise a plot, per se, is to suggest that cabaret has a definitive narrative: it doesn’t, it merely titillates. Like this show. Although I don’t know the boy equivalent of titillation, and if I did I might stand a chance of being a member of Briefs, because oh boy do these boys go there. And even I was shocked by the delightful dump that was the finale of their dog show…and I can handle my poo humour. But nope, that heavenly hound heft had me gasping with shock as I inhaled to laugh even harder. Yup, you guessed it: this show has to be seen to be believed.
This is the queerest piece of Spiegeltent induced burlesque I have seen in ages. It’s kooky, camp, courageous, outrageous and well-devised. These boys are brilliant – with or without their clothes on. Well…it gets far better in the latter instance, trust me. The highlight would have to be a Róisin Murphy song that mashes the men’s various skills with the simplest of costuming tricks ala a Ginava Gin swamp shaman streamer cape. The syncopated sophistication of this spot number was inspiring, audacious and well played. It reminds how seamless the most slapstick show can sometimes appear.
Briefs: The Second Coming is better than anything Revelations – or Jesus – can throw at you. This boy troupe will enrapture with their dedication toward debauchery, decadence and dick dancing. If you see only one show this Fringe World…well, besides my own that is…make sure it is Briefs: The Second Coming…it will leave you dripping wet. With laughter that is.
Briefs: The Second Coming is at The West Australian Spiegeltent in The Pleasure Garden, Russell Square. 9pm, Wed Jan 29 – Sunday Feb 9 as part of Fringe World.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
