Clara Fable grew up in Brisbane but she left at the age of 20, with one reason being the heat. Which is a tad ironic considering her act which, shall we say, is smoking hot.
Fable is a songstress and fire-breathing queen and one of the stars of Limbo – The Return, the latest iteration of one of production house Strut & Fret’s most popular shows, which previews from August 29 as part of Brisbane Festival.
This global smash-hit show will be the first to tread the boards of all-new 400-seat theatre and bar, The West End Electric, furthering Brisbane’s status as a cultural capital on the world stage.
Fable is front and centre and during a sneak peek we watch her play with fire, eat fire and set herself on fire. And she thought Brisbane was too hot?
“I’m not really a summer girl,” Fable says. She’s more a “little vampire girl” and she does enter in a cloak looking a little like Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
Fable cut her teeth performing at Dracula’s Cabaret in Australia and New Zealand after starting out in musical theatre as a youngster. She may not like the climate of her hometown – and she has arrived in the middle of a heatwave – but she is thankful for starting out here.
“I have such great memories from when I was 18 or 19, working as the face of some of Brisbane’s most famous nightclubs at the time, like Family,” she says. “I always loved West End, it’s where you go for great food and drinks and a more sophisticated night out. So I couldn’t be more excited to be performing at our all-new venue, The West End Electric. I hear the cocktails are going to be amazing.”
Hopefully she will wait until she has finished her act to try them. Fable will breathe fire, dance and sing alongside a global cast of world-leading circus and performance artists. These include Limbo’s extraordinary maestro Sxip Shirey, from New York City, who leads a motley band of multi-instrumentalists performing his signature Jank sound, inspired by New Orleans big brass bands, hip-hop, electronic and Balkan music.
The jaw-dropping show reimagines the original Limbo, which toured to no less than 17 countries, wowing audiences from Brussels to Bogota with its stunning fire-breathing and gravity-defying stunts.
Limbo – The Return comes from a Brisbane-bred, globally prolific production house and one that has given us a string of hit shows including Blanc de Blanc and The Party. The show is so hot, Madonna saw it twice then asked its director, Strut & Fret creative director (and director of Limbo – The Return) Scott Maidment to work on her world tour.
The company’s new permanent local venue, West End Electric, is sister to Strut & Fret’s Sydney theatre The Grand Electric, which has been likened to a New York club or a theatre in the Moulin Rouge district of Paris and has quickly become one of the city’s hottest entertainment destinations since it opened in 2023.
Maidment is a Brissie boy who grew up on the northside. Returning home to his own venue is a “full circle” moment. His company has been a regular guest at Brisbane Festival, usually in a Spiegeltent, but development at South Bank meant he had to rethink that. So now he has The West End Electric and it’s so cool and intimate – “the show happens in, around and above you” he says – and it’s in the heart of bustling West End.
“It has been a pool hall and a nightclub in a previous life and once Prince played a secret gig on the premises,” adds Maidment. Of the venue’s intimacy, he says the audience will “literally see sparks fly”.
There are two bars, so “expect a cracking cocktail list and the kind of experiences that have you on the edge of your seat – starting with Limbo – The Return.”
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Strut & Fret is a global phenomenon, although international touring was shut down during the pandemic. But the company has fought its way back and is now performing all over the country with shows also on the high seas on various cruise lines.
At last year’s Brisbane Festival, they presented The Party, which was pretty raunchy. That show recently wound up in Darwin, where it was a big hit.
Limbo – The Return is not as saucy as The Party, Maidment says, and that may excite or disappoint, depending on your point of view. But it’s hard to imagine it disappointing anyone because Maidment and his team scour the world for the best circus and cabaret performers and their shows are always hugely entertaining.
Limbo – The Return plays The West End Electric, 125 Boundary St, West End, August 29 to September 21, from $59 (recommended for ages 15+).
thewestendelectric.com
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