The Soiled Dove under The Big Top Returns!
Tickets for our 2025 season go on sale on Thursday, May 29th!

Sign up now for early access + a special intro discount on the Vau de Vire newsletter…

The Soiled Dove under The Big Top Returns!
Tickets for our 2025 season go on sale on Thursday, May 29th!

Sign up now for early access + a special intro discount on the Vau de Vire newsletter…

The Soiled Dove Experience

From The Vau de Vire Society, co-creators of the world renowned Edwardian Ball, Lagunitas Beer Circus, Phantasm Halloween, New Bohemia NYE and a decade and a half of The Bay Area’s most creatively outrageous nightlife events, comes an immersive, circus-infused, scandalous and historic dinner-theater experience that will titillate your every sense.

The Soiled Dove is a one-of-a-kind touring show that takes place under Vau de Vire’s massive 12,000 sq. ft. circus tent, the Tortona Big Top!

GANDER

Behold confounding circus performers, delicious dancers, salacious singers, voracious villains, hapless heroes, and masterful musicians, all of the highest caliber!

FEAST

Indulge in an extraordinarily tasty 3-course dinner brought to you by local culinary phenoms, Work of Art, and hand-delivered by the cast!

SWILL

Join in the carousing via a wide array of debaucherous adult beverages, nary an arm’s length away at our Soiled Dove Saloon!

The Soiled Dove experience
SWAY

Treat your ears to a Wonka’s worth of musical confectionery via The Soiled Dove Orchestra!

INDULGE

Step foot into the whimsical Barbary Coast-flavored world we’ve created and you instantly become one of us, as much as part of the theatrics as those four aerialists floating overhead.

TIME-TRAVEL

Visit a bygone era nearly 150 years past, dripping with questionable behavior, loose morals, and all manner of other delectable goodies.

The Players

Vau de Vire Society at The Soiled Dove

Vau de Vire Society

Spawned from the depths of the Bay Area’s thriving circus and dance subcultures, Vau de Vire Society has ravaged and redefined live entertainment for more than 20 years, causing jaws to drop in awe and garnering admiration around the world. This avant-cabaret collective consists of classically trained dancers, some of the nation’s most acclaimed acrobats, aerial artists, contortionists, and circus sideshow acts, an array of unique fire performers, a bevy of gifted thespians, and a barrage of the most enticing go-go’s.

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Work of Art Catering

Work of Art

San Francisco-based green catering company, Work of Art, shapes an integrated, experiential culinary event. Joining visionary forces with Vau de Vire Society, WoA creates an immersive adventure that encourages guests to participate in the four-course dinner-theater performance from the Barbary Coast era. The Soiled Dove guests experience the chaos of the times with presentations from food hawkers, scooping delights from rustic California gold pans, and finishing with a goblet of chocolate mousse (vegetarian options are available upon request).

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Testimony

Fans of interactive theater and living history who want to commune with their inner Edwardian in a raucous, Barbary Coast bordello atmosphere need look no farther than Vau de Vire Society’s ‘The Soiled Dove.’ A dinner-entertainment event that’s similar to – but more raunchy and informal – than the late, lamented Teatro ZinZanni.
JEAN SCHIFFMAN - SF Examiner
It is what The Barbary Coast might have been like in someone’s wildest fantasy. It is the sexy, talented, great food version of that era. Guests can expect an engaging evening filled with danger, decadence, circus, and a culinary spread worthy of royalty … a very unique show.
GINA WHITE - AXS
Nowhere in the Bay Area can you now see the vaudeville delights that come with a ‘The Soiled Dove’ ticket under the big top circus tent at Alameda Point. It is wild with delightful and sultry singing and dancing, a scrumptious dinner for those who can splurge and, perhaps most important, mesmerizing with acrobatic feats seen only here outside of Cirque de Soleil.
LAURA CASEY - Alameda Journal, East Bay Times, Berkeley Voice, El Cerrito Journal, The Montclarion and The Piedmonter
‘The Soiled Dove’ spills over with talent and action for those who like their entertainment more lavish and frantic than a three-ring circus.
KEN BULLOCK - Berkeley Daily Planet
Tantalizing, titillating, terrifying. ‘The Soiled Dove’ is all that and more. Be prepared for an evening of thrills, trills, and toe tapping as circus performers, musicians, and dancers provide a variety of entertainment. And enjoy a sumptuous feast and tasty swill as you absorb the evening’s amusements.
VICTOR CORDELL - ForAllEvents.com
What do you get if you cross a Cirque du Soleil acrobat with a Las Vegas showgirl, then have her cut loose to avant-cabaret tunes? A Vau de Vire Society performer, of course! Mike and Shannon Gaines’s bawdy, sophisticated outfit has been titillating Bay Area audiences for a decade, whether at the renowned Edwardian Ball, at one of its kinky New Year’s Eve shows at the Armory, or at Soiled Dove, a ribald tribute to the Barbary Coast. A Vau de Vire show delivers equal measures of eroticism, athleticism, and wit, served up with panache.
SF Magazine
The Soiled Dove is more than circus or vaudeville revival. It’s beyond your wildest idea of what a burlesque dinner theater could be. It turns the concept of a historical musical like Hamilton inside out and places you in the center of the action. When you enter the Soiled Dove you embark on a journey into a world of wonders that transcends time and space.
MARK METZ - Alameda Sun

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Past Sponsors

Oakland Kia
Downtown Oakland Association
Revive Kombucha
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Piedmont Piano