Review: Cabaret

Life is a cabaret, old chum; come to the Cabaret


Creative, crass and crazy. Those are the three words that best sum up The Just So Society’s production of this fast paced piece the cast pulled off with flare. The audience was taken on a whirlwind journey through Berlin’s nightlife at the Kit Kat Club to the darker side of Nazi Germany.

The interaction between audience and actor was brilliantly executed, particularly by Emcee who was played by Sebastian Carrington-Howell. His performance is to be commended throughout; his charisma and charm contributed to his ability to deftly carry the show from emotional scene to upbeat number. These scene changes were sometimes untidy and quicker transitions would have helped keep the pace upbeat. Having said that, the cast did an excellent job of working around the orchestra who took up half the stage. The orchestra played superbly and melded well with the cast.

The club scenes were a brilliant combination of little black dresses (every girl should have), suspenders and talented dancers. The opening and closing sequences were very well executed but the highlight for me has to be watching Two Ladies. The song is about a threesome and the three performers carried it off, leaving the audience in stitches. The slapstick comedy was well timed and the comical dancing did not compromise the quality of the singing.

Aside from the complexities of the club’s couples, the main romance is between Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw. Although both Emma Taylor and Tommy Rowe, who played these roles, gave strong performances individually, I was not always convinced by them as a couple. The chemistry seemed to be lacking, which meant it was hard to suspend disbelief in their duets. However, they both swept me up in their individual worlds and their solos carried the audience back to the 1930s.

The couple that stole my heart was the love interest between Fraulein Shneider and Herr Schultz, played by Ayanna Coleman and Mark Gregory. This presentation of an older couple conveyed the complexities of powerful emotions and difficult times. Separated by circumstance, as Herr Shultz is a Jew, this couple never gets the happy ending they deserve. Ayanna Coleman stole the audience’s heart with the songs, So What? and What would you do? – which for me marked the most moving performances of the night.

These two songs transport us from the positive atmosphere at the beginning of the play to the cynicism at the end. The first song suggests that anything can be survived, whereas the second stresses the lack of choice and the destruction of ideals. The character of Fraulein Schneider takes us on this journey and managed to symbolise the development of the plot.

The play dramatically demonstrates the effects of Nazi Germany in a blunt and brilliant manner. The end of the first act with the song, Tomorrow Belongs to Me, the video of Hitler playing and the salute by the brilliantly acted Herr Ludwig (David Patterson) was impressive. The touch of genius was to have those outside the Nazi regime to collapse as if dead on stage. This silently symbolic image shocked the audience into an awareness of the trauma of the period.