In late 2008, late night queer cabaret Briefs burst onto the Brisbane avant-performance scene. As a concept, it is a male-only, burlesque cabaret review – but this description doesn’t really do it justice. The press release does a better job, calling it “a late night encounter of ballsy boylesque bandits, high-flying circus soldiers and burly gender offenders”. The troupe of performers are all highly accomplished and at the heart of the show is subversion of the various genres in which they each excel.

Held in the back of a left-wing bookstore in Brisbane’s artistic heartland, West End, the event was a massive success and proved arts audiences did want their comedy, drag, circus skills, theatre and performance art all rolled into one colourful ball and performed D-I-Y style with minimal production and fuss. It also highlighted (along with events like Decadance and Q Sesh) the massive resurgence in the underground/alternative queer scene in Brisbane, which is alive and thriving, but not particularly visible in the usual gay venues around town.

Since this time, Briefs has gone from strength to strength as an event series. Briefs 2 took over the under-used but beautifully appointed Russian Club in Stones Corner and Briefs 3 was a short season for the 2009 Brisbane Festival. In 2010, Briefs jets off to be part of the Garden Of Unearthly Delights.

Local luminaries Fez Fa’anana, his brother Natano Fa’anana and aerialist Mark Winmill (famous for his Captain Kidd sailor boy routine which he has performed around the country) are at the heart of the event, surrounded by an evolving roster of performing artists.

“Like a lot of life changing concepts Briefs was spawned on the sweaty and gritty tumble runs at the Brisbane Powerhouse where a lot of us circus performers train,” explains Natano.

“The idea came about from a conversation between Mark Winmill and I, which we then excitedly told Fez about. Basically we saw lots of all female shows – Burlesque, that sort of thing – popping up here and there and we thought how novel would it be to get all our male mates who perform to do an all male show celebrating masculinity in its various forms. It had to be funny, it had to be highly skilled and it had to take the piss.”

Natano says that the show isn’t ‘queer cabaret’, it’s more ‘bent cabaret’.

“That’s mainly because it was never intended to market ideally to the queer market and our audiences have shown that there has been a cross section of cultures. We could have anything from an emo cross-dressing carnie to an accountant dressed in beige. Point is Briefs opens the doors and welcomes all types. You’d be surprised who you might end up sitting next to. It could be someone you know, or worse, your mother!” he laughs. “As far as what to expect from Briefs now on, ‘expect the unexpected!’ Because us Briefs boys still don’t know what the fuck is about to happen 5 minutes before opening.”

Mark, Fez and Natano are also part of Samoan/Australian performance group Polytoxic and do a lot of work with young people, including mentoring and circus skills training.

“For me I really enjoy working with young people,” Natano explains. “They are fully inspiring. I’ve worked as a circus trainer for young people for almost 3 years now. Your classes are always different. You don’t know what to expect, so you need to be on your toes. You need to be creative in maintaining young people’s attention because if you don’t they’re climbing the walls. Literally, carnie kids will and can climb almost any wall. These young’uns really look up to you as a person – and not only as a trainer – so offering my knowledge is a pleasure.”

Natano said that he used to worry about how he was perceived by his students when they saw him in the context of Briefs.

“We’ve always encouraged our more mature young students to experience all types of theatre. The idea of switching from trainer to late night cabaret performer was a tricky one. But young people are incredible in discerning between ‘training space Natano’ and ‘Briefs Natano’ or Mark or Fez and recognize and respect the difference. The awesome thing is often our best Briefs members in the audience are our circus young’uns and their mums and dads!”

Briefs has made a very prestigious and exciting name for itself in Brisbane and the upcoming shows for Fringe are the first time the show is traveling away from home. Are Sydney and Melbourne on the agenda for 2010/2011?

“I personally would like to slap all the Australian capital cities with the Briefs stick,” responds Natano. “But that all depends on where [the Briefs boys] are this year with our individual schedules and if some big shot producer comes along and rescues Briefs from the great stockpile of shows that could have been. But seriously some bigger venues have approached us and we’re in the middle of negotiations so fingers crossed.”

Don’t miss Briefs at Adelaide Fringe in the Garden Of Unearthly Delights, Rundle Park / Kadlitpinna Park, Corner of East Terrace and Rundle Street, Adelaide, from 12 – 14, 20-21 Feb at 11.30pm. Tickets $20 or $15 conc.