Review: Slap and Tickle, Centrespace

What’s better to get you over the midweek hump than a bit of saucy circus?

Bristol’s female-led alternative circus company Lavrak served up some silly, sexy fun with this burlesque cabaret at Centrespace gallery in town.

A small circus group started by two friends and run by Nicole Pretlove and Amy Nicholls, Lavrak is just starting to establish itself in Bristol – and it’s certainly one to watch. The performance was wonderfully rough around the edges, and it was the lack of polish and fantastic sense of humour that made the evening so great. The atmosphere was inclusive, cheeky – and buzzing throughout.

Hosted by a very naughty elf (Jess Mess) who had some decidedly adult games for the audience (and a few sex education tips and cautionary tales for grown-ups), the show took us through eight very different performances.

Fifties housewife (Pretlove) added a coy and flirty trapeze twist to the mundane task of hanging out her laundry, followed by a Beyonce-esque burlesque dance performance that would make even Jay Z blush (Georgina Thorne). The whole thing was a mash up of sex and circus skills, including a particularly interesting use of poi by dancer Emma Tierny and stylishly seductive aerial hoop (Jude Whitburn).

Between acts, our naughty elf kept us entertained with condom splitting, hoop throwing and a touch of striptease while the other artists set up for their performances. The whole thing was very tongue in cheek, even including a bit of ‘boylesque’ from jingle boy Ollie Gibb, dressed in some imaginative crochet and knitwear and sporting some rather interestingly placed bells…

The whole show was fun, silly and feminist – these ladies certainly knew how to work the crowd and were definitely enjoying themselves as much as the audience. We were happy to whoop and cheer as the show hotted up with hula hoop duo (Emma Tierny and Lucinda Zimmer), followed by some very steamy, feather shaking action from burlesque Charleston performer Julia Graziani.

The show closed with tattooed, rock’n’roll pole dancer Anna Frost working the room with a Las Vegas style, over the top strip routine with just a little bit of bondage. The entire show felt like a supportive, inclusive collaboration between some great emerging talent. The atmosphere was designed to make everyone feel involved, great about themselves and to forget those typical British reservations about sex and the ‘right’ kind of femininity.

It was seductive girl power with a sexy nod and a wink and whatever your gender, it was a real giggle and a great opportunity to see this wonderfully creative and comic circus group before they inevitably become more polished and move on to bigger and no doubt saucier things.

Slap & Tickle is a cheeky, sparkling and nipple-tassle-tastic celebration of women in all their shapes and sizes, leaving the audience feeling a bit naughty and full of confidence.

Lavrak performed Slap & Tickle at Centrespace on Wed, March 7. For more on Lavrak, visit lavrak.org

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