CABARET From pared down to jazz-hands up, this year’s variety and cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever. Anna Millar meets the makers to find out why we just can’t get enough
'IT’S ABOUT BEING VULNERABLE, PROVOCATIVE AND HILARIOUS'
I t’s a certain man who can shimmy from club door whore to straight-talking, suited and booted Jew. For chameleon Alan Cumming, it’s all in a day’s work. While prepping for his one-man cabaret show, coming to this year’s Fringe, he would camp it up filming Burlesque with Christina Aguilera and Cher on one side of New York, before heading back, black nails, eyeliner and all, to the set of TV drama The Good Wife on the other. ‘I’ve learnt in the last year that any character can be exotic,’ says Cumming with a laugh.
For a man who started life on the Fringe as a cabaret act, ‘Oh, 10,000 years ago!’, this year’s turn at the festival with I Bought A Blue Car Today, inspired by his last decade in the States, takes him back to his roots, with a mixture he describes as ‘my rambles and some nice songs’. ‘My love for cabaret – and the audiences’ love – is still there,’ says Cumming. ‘The timeless thing about cabaret is that no matter how it’s done, the razzmatazz is delivered by the person at the end of the mic. For me, there’s a confidence mirrored in that.’ No gargantuan silver sparkles or outlandish boas will be in residence in Cumming’s late-night performance; rather a pared-down set of just him, a cello player and a pianist. ‘I’ve always loved the thrill and openness of cabaret. It’s not about being a showbiz concoction, it’s about being vulnerable, provocative and hilarious. It’s a very simple structure. You have an experience and, hopefully, so do the audience.’
Certainly, a flick through this year’s festival programme proves that the Fringe- goer’s demand to be razzle-dazzled shows no signs of abating, whatever the guise. Acrobats, freaks, musicians and comics are all lined up to take part in the ‘tapas’ style pick ‘n’ mix format of cabaret shows, of which there are more than ever before.
If the recent(ish) burlesque revival gave an edgy, subversive spin the vaudevillian, talent show format, this year’s cabaret- variety jamboree promises so much more. to
Having started life in fetish
clubs and freakshows, former world record-holding sword-swallower and La Clique performer Miss Behave (right) returns this year as mistress of ceremonies at The Crack, with a bold and brassy line-up boasting everything from clown and hula performers to slapstick virtuosos and award-wining comedians, including Phil Kay and Nina Conti. ‘I started life on the freakshow scene, swallowing for my supper,’
16 THE LIST 5–12 Aug 2010
says Miss Behave with a throaty laugh. ‘But over time I knew I wanted to make it more about comedy and entertainment than freaking people out.’ It’s the public’s appetite for more than just a little slap and tickle that inspired this year’s show, she says. ‘With La Clique, we knew we had something really special – the sex, the spectacle, the skill. With The Crack it’s just about tuning that in a slightly different way; I love comedy so this year’s show is a lot about making people laugh, whether it’s a five-minute set from a live comedian or a man trying to fit into a giant balloon.’ Whether it’s singing, dancing or rib-tickling, the pull remains the same, says the Betty Boop-styled Miss Behave. ‘I think we’re out of the me, me, me culture now. We’d rather be entertained. I like when it’s chaotic and real. In The Crack, there’s a mix of street performers, comedians, circus acts, clowns. The joy of variety is you can mix shit-hot safe bets with unknown genius.
‘Essentially,’ she says with a laugh, ‘I’m the conductor of chaos. It’s about entertainment for entertainment’s sake. If you have a good time and so have the audience, you’ve done your job.’ Besides, she adds, the setting does some of the work for you. ‘We just did the Latitude Festival and that was great but there’s nothing like playing in a Spiegeltent. It’s all about attention to detail – I want the thick red curtains; I love that timeless look, there’s a primal, intimate aspect, to it all.’
Across at the Famous Spiegeltent, in George Square Gardens, iOTA Jones, perhaps best known for his incarnation as Hedwig and the Angry Inch, brings his own carnival glitterati with an 18+ fantasy cabaret, complete with rock’n’roll numbers, vaudevillian tap dancing and death-defying acrobats, in Smoke and Mirrors. an ‘Expect
emotional rollercoaster,’ says a boa-d up Jones. ‘We didn’t want to have a show where act after act are just introduced and that’s it. I’m trying to provide entertainment and an experience that can transport the audience to a place where magic exists. I want to make people laugh and cry and I want them to walk away from our show with a sense of satisfaction and the knowledge that there’s more to this
world than meets the eye.’ I Bought A Blue Car Today, Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 623 3030, 13–15 Aug, midnight; The Crack, Assembly @ Princes Street Gardens, 5–29 Aug (not 16), 623 3030, 9.30pm; Smoke and Mirrors, The Famous Spiegeltent, 667 8940, 10–30 Aug, times vary.
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