What Hongkongers can expect from La Soirée, known for sexy acrobatics

Brett Haylock describes himself as a man with a short attention span - a trait he puts to good use in creating the multiple genre format of short performances for the stage show La Soirée, now in its 12th year of international touring, but making its Asian debut in September at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

La Soirée's last London run won the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for best entertainment - the show's second Olivier - for its fast-paced presentation of acts drawing on the traditions of cabaret, vaudeville, burlesque and circus entertainment, each given an unexpected spin.

"We've taken the age old variety format, sexed it up a little, sped up the timing and made it entirely relevant to a new generation," says Haylock, the show's founder and creative producer.

"It borrows heavily from the variety world, but it's not a museum piece. There's cutting-edge social commentary built in. We don't bash an audience around the head with a narrative. It's pure escapism. But there are a few moments in the show that I think will make people wake up the following morning and think 'I'll give that some thought.'"

Haylock was passing through Hong Kong on his way to check out new talent at the Edinburgh Festival, on the fringe of which the show was born in 2004.

"This show's first incarnation, as La Clique, before rebranded as La Soirée, was as a midnight alternative cabaret in Edinburgh, which is, of course, the most dynamic and crowded arts marketplace in the world," he says.