BACK in 2008 a group of performers on the Brisbane club scene launched an all-male variety show with a twist.

Now Briefs is an international touring combination of circus and burlesque which has been described as Cirque du Soleil meets RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Co-producer, choreographer, performer and “overall Mama” of Briefs Fez Faanana says the show has developed and changed over the years, drawing on a talent pool of 20 boys.

“Now there is more production behind it and everything is a bit more refined since the old days,” he says, fresh from a critically acclaimed run on London’s Southbank with the current six-strong cast.

“We do try to keep it gritty and dirty.”

Having spent two years on the club circuit, Briefs’s breakthrough came when it went to the Melbourne Fringe.

“We won a couple of awards and realised we could make it a viable touring show,” says Faanana, who is behind the big group opening fan dance and closing disco.

“We thought it would be too risqué and politically driven – as an all-male show we weren’t sure where we could have gone.”

The version coming to Brighton Comedy Festival will feature Australian aerialist and contortionist Tom Worrell, as well as a couple of names who may be familiar to Brighton audiences.

The Evil Hate Monkey appeared at Brighton Fringe in 2008 as part of Udderbelly show Le Scandal, while Mark ‘Captain Kidd’ Windmill has previously worked in the city with Boogaloo Stu. Both acts have won awards at the Las Vegas Burlesque Festival.

Faanana – who comes from a dance and theatre background –is ringmaster for the night as well as giving his take on the classic bearded lady act.

“The whole male side of burlesque is at such an interesting point,” he says. “It’s interesting to see where it is going to go – it’s a great time to be touring and performing.”

And there is more to come – with the company currently investigating whether they can fund their own big top.

“We would love to tour with something which made it more of an experience for the audience,” he says.

“When we are in the bigger theatres you have to give a bigger style of performance – it’s a very different dynamic going to different venues. It will be good to get back to a theatre in Hove – we’ve mostly been playing Spiegeltents this summer.”

As for the rest of the year the group is moving between Brighton, Berlin and Brisbane ahead of an Australian summer festival – which will be broken up by going to Edinburgh for Hogmanay.

“We have been trying to chase the sun,” says Faanana. “We’ll be freezing our b**** off when we go back to Edinburgh.”

Briefs: The Second Coming at The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove, Thursday, October 16, to Saturday, October 18

  • Starts 9.30pm, tickets £20/£18. Call 01273 709709.