A former award-winning architect who followed her dream of running away with the circus, Irish/French singer Camille came to international attention as La Clique's glamorous mistress ofceremonies and recently starred in the Oscar-winning Mrs Henderson Presents.

Something of a professional schizophrenic, her unmissable new solo show La Fille Du Cirque sees her move from Jacques Brel to Nick Cave and between uninhibited soul-bearing and fishnetfuelled mirth.

On the backstage world of La Clique
"We're all crammed in the dressing room together, fighting for the mirror, and everybody's naked. When I first arrived I was quite prudish about it and everyone laughed at me.

"When each performer is on stage you've got three or four people backstage mimicking them. That's what we watch - the backstage show. Then if we think we can get away with it we pop round the front and get a drink.

"Miss Behave, the sword swallower, is allergic to metal - she'll break out if she doesn't wear little patches. And once or twice she nipped the inside of her osopahegus. You tend to forget how dangerous it is."

On her own show
"The emotional songs do take their toll. Sometimes you're sitting there thinking, 'I'm having kind of a mini breakdown on stage'. I used to be an actress so in this show I take on 20 or so different characters.

"Some of them are doing the tease, some of them are childlike and one is a drunken man. When I did that in Ireland, the security guard nearly pulled me off the stage because he thought I'd lost the plot.

"I start very formal but by the end of the show I look like I've come running through bushes, mascara all down my face. The tent is like a playground - the stage is anywhere - sitting on someone's lap or climbing up onto the bar."

On her bohemian upbringing
"My father was a racing driver and he met and eloped with my mother when he was racing in France.

"My mother has always been very glamorous, like how I dress on stage now. He's Irish, known for his theatrics.

"Sometimes he'd make us all dress up in different wigs or outfits to go out. I'd be 14 and going out for a meal dressed as Miss Marple.

"We used to have one of these old record players and my sister and I would perform ballets for them in the living room.

"I'm very lucky as a singer that I have both the passionate French side and the playful Irish side."

On her secret life as an architect
"I had my own architecture practice for a year. I designed apartments, restaurants, golf clubs. The other day I found my old grey suits which I used to wear and I laughed.

"Towards the end I started dressing in what I wear now - little pink dresses and flowers.

"Sometimes I'd have to go out on site and all the builders would be looking.

"Five years ago, when I first started singing, I had to do a corporate gig where I came out from behind a birthday cake in blonde wig and fishnets.

"The room turned out to be full of all these architects and engineers I'd worked with, open-mouthed. I still love drawing."

On her love of Brighton
"I love the spontaneity and, for an Irish person, that thing of being totally open and chatty. Last year, people invited me to parties and dinner - you weren't just doing your show in the evening, you were being invited into people's lives.

"My friends came last year and we got the little electric train and hung out at the amusements on the bridge. I got stuck in the secondhand shops and came away with seven hats.

"I also bought myself my first two corsets from She Said and there was this woman who made nipple tassles for me and my friends. Never to be worn, just displayed on the mantelpiece!"

Starts at 7pm, Mon 9.15pm, £12/£10, 01273 647100