Club Noir - A Night at the Opera

Club Noir nights have always been a bit special, themed as they are around seasonal holidays (Valentines, the upcoming Halloween), but this Fringe show is something else. As well as being a kind of 'Greatest Hits' revue of the best routines the club has to offer, there's the genuinely unique selling point of their hook-up with Scottish Opera. This led to a crowd more than usually mixed in terms of age, background and class, from fur coat and no knickers to the wellest of well-bred folks.

As always, the audience provides as much entertainment as the main event and there were diamonds and ballgowns aplenty amidst the corsets and PVC. On stage, tenor Nicky Spence particularly impressed with his commanding voice and stage presence, as did soprano Nadine Livinsgston who was more than game when it came to getting invovled with the lewder aspects on show. It's just this kind of interaction that gave the night coherence; the opera never felt like a gratuitious add-on and the quality that the singers brought was more than matched by that of the burlesque. Another welcome addition was the Random Aspekts crew, a dance troupe who wowed with a routine set to classical music.

Special mention to the closing act, the Shiverin' Sheiks, who brought some mad rockabilly and 50s psychedelia to the proceedings. A night to see and be seen, to dance wild and dress even wilder, and to partake in something novel - possibly the birth of the Opera Ned? Good unclean fun.