By Brett Haylock
Circus and cabaret have always been accessible to everyone. The community experience feeds the energy in the venue and it cuts through race, politics and class. Success relies on strangers elbowing each other, guffawing and saying: "Did you see that?"
There were discussions circa 2000 in the major festival world that stand-up comedy would kill theatre. Stand-up as self-flagellation was all the rage in the angst-filled '90s. Now we look at the big hitters in the festival circuit and they're all cabaret-circus shows – they've way surpassed stand-up comedy.
The Opera House has long known this and programmed cabaret-circus for many successive summers and when you dive into this year's Sydney Festival program there's just a smattering of traditional stand-up and heavy programming towards experiential theatre and circus – because that's what audiences want.
Cabaret-circus shows such as Club Swizzle allow audiences to lose themselves in the moment.
There's no doubt we'll repeat that cycle again. Just as video was supposed to kill radio, CDs were supposed to kill vinyl and now, streaming services are being blamed for "the death" of the album.
But for now the question is – what has made cabaret/circus so enticing, sexy and popular?
It's an extraordinary kind of thrill and experience-based show where audiences lose themselves in the moment. It's pure escapism.
These days, our thumbs and fingers get a work-out tap, tap, tapping at our screens but social media has created fewer moments of joyful exchange between us.
The intimacy in a cabaret-circus show is empowering for performers like Valerie Murzak, a contortionist in Club Swizzle.
The power of touch can never be underestimated and it can be used to put a stranger at ease. A smile, a tip of the trilby, a welcoming hand on a stranger's shoulder or the personal placement of a wristband before the show creates shared moments. Touch is a part of the magic of cabaret, kicking off the show experience long before the curtains have parted.
Intimacy is another thing we associate with cabaret around the world. It's also one of the signatures of this new form. In some ways that's limiting, but it's also empowering for performers. It makes them work harder, strips away everything and shares the sweat. There's nowhere to hide.
Club Swizzle's physical comedian Amy G.
The other part of the formula of great cabaret/circus is pace – if I'd grown up in another generation my "lack of focus" and "poor attention to detail" would've seen me medicated. It's lucky I found the circus.
Cabaret strives to cut out all the faff – I'm not alone with a poor attention span in this digital age. We are time poor and study after study reveals our attention spans are shorter – if something isn't really tickling you in 90 seconds, you click away, shut it off or mentally detach.
Perhaps the answer to why cabaret/circus is so popular lies in its reflection of a more carefree time – perhaps without children, without smartphones, without so much choice and without exorbitant city mortgages or rent. But even though there are historical references in the form it's still contemporary theatre that is often deeply political, drenched in satire, poignant and damn funny.
Humour has long been one of humanity's greatest assets. Difficult topics can be aired and examined through alternate lenses and the community, the collective, together can laugh and guffaw. It makes for an absolute stress-reliever.
Australian cabaret and circus companies are over-represented on the international stage. And although many of these shows aren't "Australian" in their international presentations or their accents – it's infused with our Australian sense of humour and larrikinism that we celebrate as a nation.
It's playful, firmly tongue-in-cheek, bold, brash and now at a time when we really need it, it delivers moments of escape and shared joy that we cherish long after the last drink's been poured.
Brett Haylock is the creative producer of La Soiree and Club Swizzle and is co-creator of La Clique. Club Swizzle is at the Opera House Studio until January 29.