May, the random 5th month in the year where Mother Nature is undecided, and New Years resolutions have been long abandoned. However uneventful May might be, it is full of bank holidays and occasional Spring weather, which can only mean one thing: the holiday season is fast approaching! Cue the automated ‘out of office’ replies and the sudden queuing system taking place on the treadmills at your local gym. With many counting down the days until we board a plane, on Friday, I was in another country without having to even leave the runway.

Sunny Benidorm, or so I was led to believe as I entered the doors at the Working Men’s Club, Bethnal Green, was the destination to be after a laborious end to the working week. With what promised to be a night of laughter, slapstick comedy, and the occasional frolic, Club Sol Party certainly lived up to expectations. Set in a fictional Spanish resort, the stage was draped in glitter tassels with glow sticks galore, and instantly screamed George Michael circa Club Tropicana.

And what do you get when you put four comedians on stage, fortunately not the start of a bad joke. Instead you get The Mauve Coats: the all-singing, all-dancing cabaret act who are the entertainers for the evening. Their toughest challenge was keeping a rowdy crowd entertained for five hours, and their method of attack was to perform a variety show. A warm up ‘Guess the celebrity chin’ quiz broke the ice in time for a raucous drag act, and naturally as more time passed the inflatable holiday memorabilia used for decoration, soon became accessories for many innuendos.

The blue coat style entertainment was far more raunchy than what you would expect at a Butlins, but the tongue-in-cheek humor was appreciated by the audience. Entering the room, The Mauve Coats (Mark Collier, Nicola Kill, Nic Lamont, and Adam Rhys-Davies) were already in character welcoming and creating an atmosphere that encouraged the participants to settle in and prepare themselves for a Friday night extravaganza.

The audience/holiday goers play their part in making Club Sol Party a success. The audience were receptive to the interactive nature of the show, which allowed the energy of the performance to flourish, creating an overall relaxed and joyous atmosphere. The mood allowed the entire room to ignore that we had just battled the sporadic rain travelling to East London, and the extra incentive of winning prizes (courtesy of a raffle), was the icing on top of the cake. The performers had an apparent repertoire with one another on stage that never saw the quartet individually vie for the spotlight and presented a feeling of authenticity when we saw the backstage dramas unfold.

Whilst we were not in Spain, and in walking distance from a beach, Club Sol Party was an evening full of heat, and a show full of craziness yet under complete control in its execution.

Club Sol Party played on 19 May and was a one-night only show at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club.