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 Etta James Story. While she was …
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 - but it's certainly got heart …
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 great choice of venue for …
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 cabaret performer Anne Steele’s repertoire …
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 insight: that, institutionally no less, …
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 (rather than just aesthetically) reckless …
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 intended effect is somewhat incoherent. An …
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 and underserved - and you …
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 truly captivating their audience. With an …
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 feet. If the Oliviers ever introduce …
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 offerings. On the face of it, …
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 continues to receive next to …