After Hours Burlesque Club / Sexy Circus Sideshow 3.0

Not every Fringe experience needs to be a political epic or a formally adventurous piece of devised theatre.Part of what makes Edinburgh unique is the sheer variety of performance on offer. Alongside the prestige productions, experimental theatre and stand-up showcases sits an equally important late-night culture of cabaret, circus and burlesque. These shows serve a different purpose. They allow audiences to decompress, to celebrate technical skill, to laugh, gasp and perhaps enjoy a drink after spending a day engaging their brains elsewhere. Both After Hours Burlesque Club and Sexy Circus Sideshow 3.0 occupy that tradition beautifully. The mistake often made by those unfamiliar with burlesque is to assume the artform begins and ends with revelation. In reality, the best burlesque is built on precisely the same foundations as any other live performance: timing, character, music, audience connection and technical control. The tease matters not because of what is revealed but because of…