Ticking ever closer to the end of our festival and ever closer to record saleswe welcomed Cabaret Whore to the Studio.
Today's Reviews
Exerminating Angel - Glen's Theatre Blog
Five dinner guests, hidden agendas, brutal honesty and what could easily be the dinner party from hell – no, not TVs Come Dine With Me but Future Ruins’ Exterminating Angel.
It is difficult to write a definitive review for this piece as, within a pre-defined structure, the actors are free to improvise the dialogue. It makes each performance unique and brutally naturalistic.
As five friends gather around the dirty plates and empty wineglasses, remnants of their dinner party, it is a good job the knives have been cleared away, otherwise who knows what carnage would be inflicted.
What starts as a seemingly innocuous dinner party turns progressively darker and sinister as secrets that perhaps, in the cold light of day, would best remain hidden, are forced out into the open.
To give too much more away would spoil the suspense; however, despite the feeling of catharsis the friends may feel, one suspect the friendships will never be the same again.
Dialogue often overlaps in a cacophony of sound, multiple conversations take place around the table and audiences tune into fragments to give a unique viewpoint. Exterminating Angel also uses that most powerful, yet often underused, theatrical device, silence, to heighten the atmosphere and build a palpable tension. It’s a technique that works well in this dinner party setting, where the flow of conversation often runs dry and there is that uncomfortable pause waiting for a fellow guest to take the lead and break the ice.
The company work well together and in this improvised environment bounce lines of each other with apparent ease. Anna Bolton, Noeleen Comiskey, Gerry Howell, Tom McHugh and James Rigby all create realistic characters, all with a hidden darker side and a sense that there is something more going on beneath the surface that we are only just glimpsing.
Jack McNamara’s direction never provides all the answers, allowing the audience to take their own interpretation away. He does provide the framework for a look into the human psyche and what friendship actually means. There are plenty of comic moments that we can all identify with but, as the behaviour becomes more erratic and bizarre, there are moments that genuinely elicit gasps from a shocked audience.
There is potential for the piece to become even darker than it currently is but, in its current form, it is a deeply layered and darkly disturbing play that will stimulate thought long after the lights dim.
Cabaret Whore - Glen's Theatre Blog
Life is a Cabaret old chum, come to the Cabaret. Sally Bowles has never been to a Cabaret quite like Cabaret Whore though.
Four of Cabaret’s most celebrated divas have been brought together on one bill to celebrate the splendours of the art form.
Each has their own unique take on Cabaret, each desperately trying to cling to a rapidly dimming spotlight and career.
Welcoming audiences to the show is star of off, off, off, off Broadway, Bernie St Claire who bears more than a passing resemblance to Judy Garland. She chats to her audience; signs autograph for a critic and scours the auditorium for alcohol.
She is, as she freely admits, ‘a Diva of a certain age’ who sings of her jealousy of Elaine Paige, her unfortunate name and her ‘love’ for her daughter. This is of course the world of Cabaret so it’s not a traditional ode to love with lyrics thanking her daughter for ‘making my life a write-off’ and ‘if you hadn’t been born my life would have been better.’
Second Diva of the evening is Kasha – the gem in the rusty crown of communism. Clad in a bright pink lycra jumpsuit she mangles both English and music to provide a parody of performance artists.
Third to enter the spotlight is a faded star of children’s classic Rainbow Creek. Despite being 33 years since her heyday, Babydoll is still clad in her blonde ringlets and bright yellow dress, a spooky aged version of the plastic doll she lives her life with. Despite the outward chirpy nature there’s something sinister about this child/adult hybrid and her relationship with ‘Daddy’.
Headline act of the evening is French Chanteuse La Poule Plombée. Former singing partner to Edith Piaf ‘The Little Sparrow’, this is ‘The Frumpy Pigeon.’ It may not be wise to mention Piaf’s name though to the knife wielding manic French woman – she blames Piaf for dumping her and exiling her to the cultural wilderness of London.
Each character is beautifully observed and sung with real passion. Her lyrics (with music by Michael Roulston) capture the pain of these tortured women but also reduce the audience to tears with their acidic comedy. There’s a deceptively simple feel to this show but, although the quartet of Diva’s are by nature grotesque parodies, there is something chillingly recognisable in all of them.
Young’s vocal range is impressive and her comic timing spot on but she also encompasses the passion and sadness in these four unique women. Life may be a Cabaret but you’ll have never seen such a lively cabaret as this. Vive la Frumpy Pigeon!