Having been fortunate enough to see the vast majority of headline shows that Underbelly's programmed in the 11 years since they set up shop on the Southbank, I'm confident that …
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Cabaret
Hot Gay Time Machine, Trafalgar Studios, review
December 4, 2018
Acutely pitched and incomprehensibly energetic, Hot Gay Time Machine's high camp soiree into Toby Marlow and Zak Ghazi-Torbati's sexual awakenings is intelligent, unadulteratedly obnoxious and sublimely silly. Lucy Moss, Toby Marlow …
At Last: The Etta James Story, Cadogan Hall, review
October 23, 2018
Piecing together the drug-fuelled ups and downs of one of music's most loved enigmas, Vika Bull raises the roof of the Cadogan Hall with an electrifying performance in At Last: The …
Liberty Rides Forth!, Waterloo East Theatre, review
October 10, 2018
With a tour de force of a singing trio, witty lyrics and a fabulous shoe collection, Liberty Rides Forth! may not have the production values of a West End musical - …
Woman of the Year, The Space, review
October 8, 2018
Anna Nicholson has true talent for improvisation and facilitating audience participation - which is where the fast-paced, energetic and enjoyable Woman of the Year really holds its own. The Space is a …
Anne Steele: Welcome to the Big Top, The Crazy Coqs, review
October 2, 2018
Anne Steele’s vocals dazzle in Welcome to the Big Top, but I’m unconvinced this seasoned performer’s overly-sentimental patter entirely translates for British cabaret audiences. For us Brits at least, New York-based …
Six the Musical, Arts Theatre, review
September 5, 2018
Hamilton meets Spice Girls meets Madame Jojo's - in Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow's electric gig-theatre piece about refusing to be reduced, or erased, to a mnemonic. Six starts with an unequivocal …
Black Cat: Bohemia, Underbelly Festival Southbank, review
September 1, 2018
Black Cat: Bohemia sets Underbelly's Spiegeltent alight with an impressive international line-up, an endearing and charismatic MC and plenty of real searing flames - but one too many moments feel genuinely …
Taking over from SOAP as Underbelly Southbank's second Spiegeltent headliner of the summer, Circa's Peepshow is regrettably culpable of the same sins: imaginative ideas seem oddly infrequent, sequences often feel underehearsed and …
SOAP, Underbelly Festival Southbank, review
May 31, 2018
The next headliner in Underbelly Southbank's 2018 season, SOAP, splashes about but rarely makes waves in its endeavour to be the raunchy circus smash of the summer. Talent feels underused …
Described as the 'grammy-nominated godfathers of alternative cabaret', The Tiger Lillies take us on an eclectic journey into all things dissident and dark in Devil's Fairground - but at moments withdraw from …
A Spoonful of Sherman, Greenwich Theatre, review
April 2, 2018
It's about as twee and anodyne as shows come - but A Spoonful of Sherman is well-produced, energetically performed and entirely successful at bringing its (elderly) target audience to their …
Love Happens Here: an LGBTQI Cabaret showcases some genuinely great voices, but suffers from a lack of the nudge-nudge-wink-wink delivery characteristic of both the cabaret genre and the most successful am-dram …
Ad Libido, VAULT Festival, review
February 25, 2018
Ad Libido's superb structuring, relentless creativity and unmitigated rigour ensures it's as didactic, thought-provoking and genuinely affirming as one could hope for. Fran Bushe’s quasi-autobiographical Ad Libido adeptly deconstructs a taboo which …
Children Are Stinky, Underbelly Festival Southbank, review
August 11, 2017
The Children Are Stinky duo are tremendously competent hand balancers, jugglers and acrobats. But - far more importantly - they also know exactly how to make kids gasp, cheer and …