The Sparkle Society & Cluster Arts presents Cab Suave, a tongue in cheek circus performance set in a questionable nightclub run by a vivacious female owner Mal (Latonya Wigginton) and staffed by the scandalous Dames, Ember (Winter Cyan), Baby (Abby Kelso) and Trance (Laney Mejias).

We are introduced to the cast by the larger than life Private Detective Dick Johnson (Jack William Wilde) who’s banter and predictable physical Jonhson jokes throughout the show stitches together the individual acts with just the right amount of humour.

After the opening intro sets the scene we are treated to a cyr wheel act from Ember who will later also perform some fire-twirling.

The skill required to use this piece of equipment never fails to impress, especially on a stage as small as this.

Almost all of the transitions are facilitated by Dick Johnson moving the story forward with stereotypical film noir narration, this allowed for fairly seamless stage resets and equipment changes.

Of all the acts, the highlight for myself and my guest was Latonya’s performance on static trapeze, her strength and grace were remarkable.

This stood out for the wrong reasons though as it was the only one of the circus acts that seemed to be performed without any errors.

Other bits you can expect to see with albeit less skill include tissu, hula hoop, balance ladder and juggling.

Laney breaks up and

also accompanies segments by showing off her great voice as Trance singing live in a few of the numbers while the rest of the show was scored well with prerecorded music keeping the energy high.

The lighting was good throughout however, the sound management could have been a little better.

This was a story of a straight man bad guy getting converted by a queer posse to become one of their own and it was a fun all-round experience that either suffered from being under-rehearsed or some nasty first-night nerves.

I do hope that it’s first night nerves that have likely been exaggerated by over two years without performing and stuck in isolation.

Cab Sauve will play three shows in Brisbane at the Ron Hurley Theatre before going on the road for both Midsumma Festival and the Comedy Festival Melbourne and the Adelaide Fringe.

I wish them well with the rest of the tour.