4 stars
The eponymous comedy burlesque phenom presents Clara Cupcakes: Top Bits—a largely autobiographical and wholly entertaining journey through her career to date.
Image courtesy of Elly Squire
Set up as a party to which we’ve all RSVP’d, our host welcomes us into the space and invites us to take a seat as she prepares bowls of chips while chiding us for being every so slightly early.
This theme continues throughout, with the sort of questions a performance artist gets at a party—what do you do? What do you do? What does your partner think about that?—forming an effective framing device.
Cupcakes’ responses to those increasingly frustrating questions are consistently witty and direct. Where they differ is in their medium of delivery, taking the form of songs, dance routines, extended skits and rhetorically repetitious jokes.
A one-woman variety show ensues with Cupcakes demonstrating her range of talent to a delighted audience. She’s added many strings to her bow since her appearance on Australia’s Got Talent, which itself gets a showing along with some dramatic layers of additional context.
There are truly touching moments, Cupcakes being a performer who forms connections through a deep and enduring appreciation for her audience. This is repaid in kind as willingly contribute to a triumphant and cathartic experience.
It's an absolute riot of a party, and Clara Cupcakes delivers a performance so filled with high energy fun that we never want it to end.
Clara Cupcakes: Top Bits is part game show, part slideshow, part vaudeville show and an entirely hilarious comedy show.
Tickets available from the FRINGE WORLD website.
GLEN SEABROOK-BENSON