The Booby Trap | The Edith Spiegeltent | til Feb 14th | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ 

The Twisted Vaudeville Circus are back at Fringe World with another showcase of Australia’s best and most unique cabaret talent.

Burlesque and drag performers have come together to show Fringe World audiences what Perth has to offer, and nothing makes me more proud to be a Perthite than seeing Fringe audiences revelling in our local queer superstars.

The MC explains each of the evening’s performers will take on one burlesque, and one drag number each, which resulted in a cumulative hour of excellence from the Booby Trappers.

Kicking off the evening was east-sider Clara Cupcakes, whose performance was right at the intersection of burlesque and drag – the perfect way to kick off the evening. Cupcakes hurriedly recruits members from the audience to help her dress, leading to a hilariously frantic group striptease that piqued my interest from the get-go.

The other ladies of burlesque also brought it to the stage with mesmerising and sensual performances that made me wonder if I really am a hard 6 on the Kinsey scale.

Local queens Scarlet Adams and Perri Oxide were representing Perth and gave the crowd a tasty sample of our delicious drag scene.

Adams was, as usual, equal parts strikingly beautiful and riotously campy, giving her cheeky adaptation of a Cyndi Lauper classic, while Oxide brought the high-drama with her biblical twist on Kesha’s Praying – a microcosm of a killer night out at The Court’s Drag Factory for mainstream audiences.

The evening’s MC was a little shaky at times, but she dealt with a number of hecklers with ease and redeemed herself (and then some) with a surprise McDonald’s-themed routine at the end of the evening – so you can have half your fifth star back.

The show features a rotating cast, so each night of this show will be different, but if Monday’s performance is a marker of what to expect I am certain you’ll be ensnared too.

Catch the final performance of The Booby Trap TONIGHT with Scarlet and special guests Ginava and Ruby Slippers! Head to fringeworld.com.au for tickets and more info.

Leigh Andrew Hill