Black Cat Cabaret, 20th June

This. Was. Fabulous. And I do not say that lightly. I’ve been wowed and awed by some pretty stupendous acts, especially at the London Wonderground which seems to curate its shows with such care – Limbo and Boom Boom Club. And the Black Cat Cabaret was pretty up near these giddy heights.

I think what sets this show (and others like it) apart from other cabaret revue nights is that there is a story to everything. Each act is its own little vignette. And it’s coupled with a banging soundtrack to keep things sizzling. And of course, there’s a lot of sex to it. Not necessarily in nudity, but in the attitude it exudes.

Dusty limits is a debonair and devilish host as always. His risqué humour was perfect for this show. However, as with other appearances he has made, I do think one song is really the maximum he should be allotted. He’s a great performer but he’s not the best singer in the world.

Unlike the second act Lily la Scala whose voice is tremendous. She portrayed a boozy, libidinous, living doll, managing to wobble in a rigid, artificial way all over the stage and into the audience, while singing opera. This climaxed with, well, a climax for one poor (lucky!) sod in the audience who got to have Lily astride him as her song, and she, peaked.

Before this we had been wowed with an act I hadn’t seen before – Joe Moss did what I would loosely call acrobatics with a giant hoop, turning and twirling it while balanced inside. Hoops made another appearance later on, this time in normal ‘hula’ size. I’ve seen a few hula hoop acts before and they’re always quite fun. Jess Love made this one different by having a whole heap of attitude to her like she found the whole thing a drain on her free time. Oh, we're all clapping now? How very dull. And then she messed up! Oh no! Or did she…??

All the acts were good but one that I found rather stirring was Vicky Butterfly’s performance – it started out with a pretty standard burlesque act of wings, this time lighted, that she wound and wended about her, but then she climbed aboard the moon at the back of the stage and proceeded to ride it as if it was a big seesaw, holding on with ropes to an emotive? soundtrack of the theme to Requiem for a Dream and Edward Scissorhands. Beautiful.

Cabaret rouge were the ‘house’ dance troupe popping up to do quick routines such as an homage to the can can, or a tribue to Degas and his ballerina girls, alluding to what life was really like for an aspiring Parisienne ballerina trying to make ends meet and ending up on the wrong side of a coke addiction. The dancing was fun, funny, outstandingly good, but you couldn't forget its dark undertones.

Tom Baker who crops up at a lot of things (especially It’s Your Funeral) was a part of the band but also did a solo stint, engaging the audience in a singalong, which I have definitely seen him do before but I can’t pinpoint when – maybe at Boom Boom Club. Anyway, it’s a great song about the end of the world, fun to sing and it was no less fun this time.

I also liked the way they messed with gender roles - a love triangle involving a man and two women was danced out with all three parts played by women, and the aerial act was performed by a man and woman - but the man started out in a dress and the woman, in trousers, seduced him.

I enjoyed the night so much I am very tempted to go again as I feel I didn’t even have as good an experience as I could have, had I not spend half the acts writing notes about what each performer was doing for the blog!

Limbo, 20th May

Limbo the show was truly astounding.

I missed out on Cantina last year, and after seeing Limbo I'm kicking myself for that. I was blown away by the whole thing and, at only 75 minutes per show, it all whizzed by far too quickly for my liking. Luckily, not only did I pay to see it with some friends, but also got to see it  courtesy of Limbo PR people. Once isn't really enough.

Some of the feats performed in Limbo were literally jaw-dropping. I mean it. I looked around the audience and everyone's mouths were agape. At other times, we all had our hands up, peeking through our fingers like you would a horror movie you love, or clutching our cheeks in delight. 

There were acts I had honestly never seen before. One of the men performed a take on ropework, only instead of a thick braided or silk rope he had what looked like a spongy pole set up on stage. This he effortlessly climbed, balanced against and wrapped himself round. Then he would propell himself up it to then practically freefall down to the stage, bringing himself to a halt in the nick of time by tightening his legs. Even having seen it once before I felt nervy watching it again. 

The troupe (excluding musicians) was made up of four men and two girls and it was refreshing to see the men make up the majority of the show. Although the girls were clearly very talented as well, it was nice to see some men take centre stage in something like this and show that they can be just as flexible and multi-talented as women in this sphere of entertainment. And they were supremely multi-talented. I can't imagine how they went about casting this.

There was a contortionist for example, who was the first 'act' of the night. But he didn't just do that - he later had to juggle (with fire!), he also performed magic. One of the other guys tap danced... and sang... and... 'floated'... I can just imagine leading artists in their field showing off their one talent at auditions for this show, and the director going, "great! Now, what else can you do?" Being good at just one thing wasn't enough for this show. It blew my mind how much stamina they had to get through the whole show with barely a break in between acts. You could see them panting from the exertion.

There wasn't exactly a storyline to the show but each performer had a character they stuck to throughout the show which gave the performance some cohesion. The contortionist was this sort of sleazy, depraved guy, put to good effect early on in a humourous take on a striptease (which everyone expects in this kind of show) where he tried to get one of the girls to get naked for him. Except, even though they took off item after item of clothing, they somehow never got down to brass tacks. Different, and funny.

One of the girls was a sexy little vixen, coming on stage with a whip at one point, and being the temptress to the other girl's more demure look. This little vamp turned out to be a sword swallower and fire eater and put on of the most impressive fire eating shows I've seen, not to mention making me feel the most queasy after seeing the swords going down her throat. A little twisted nod to the song that had just been performed - Nasty, nasty, tasty tasty!

Equally as impressive, (or in fact, rather more so) was the guy who could 'walk on his hands'. He did a whole act balancing on his hands, something which was a bit of a motif through the show, when he would pop up and do handstands on whatever happened to be on stage at the time - you know - two of the other performers, one of their heads, or a ladder on fire. That kind of 'mundane' thing. His body was almost unnatural. He had muscles I never knew existed and you could see every one popping out of his body as he used them to keep himself perfectly balanced on the smallest of platforms. 

My favourite part of the evening though, was one of the acts I've never seen before. It was so simple but so sublime, and I'm almost sure my description of it won't properly convey the wonder of it. Three of the guys, naked from the waist up, climbed up a pole each. And began to sway. And sway some more. And faster. And lower. Dipping into the middle of the stage, barely avoiding hitting each other. Dipping low into the audience, touching people's hands as they did so. It was mesmerising. And unbelievably sexy!

The music deserves a special mention too. The musical director managed to create special and intriguing sounds from all sorts of things, a glass bowl for example which helped to set the scene for each feat or helped to provide background as the equipment for the next part was set up. The songs were all great fun, the brass element making it feel like a party you were involved in and everyone loved their version of dubstep performed with a tuba. 

As I found the rest of the show so utterly enthralling it makes me a little sad to report that the ending was a bit of a weak point. They finished on an illusion which  was fairly obvious to figure out, and the last song, while fun, wasn't my favourite of the night. It didn't really matter though, I still left the Spiegeltent buzzing from what I'd seen, and so did all my companions. This show is joyful, with a bit of a knowing wink to everything they do. I shall be waxing evangelical to everyone I know about it. 

Coming up in May...

I have been going to lots of things lately and have a bit of a backlog of things to blog about. Not only that but I've got a few things coming up which I'm going to which I'm excited to blog about.

So, stay tuned for posts on Land of Kings, the Well and Bucket, Punch and Judy covention and Happiness Forgets which I went to in the last week or so.

In the next few weeks I'm going to The Miller's opening. And I'm very much looking forward to Limbo at the London Wonderground. I was sent a press release about this (it doesn't happen often!) and some photos so let me share some of that with you now (there's also a trailer on my To Do Page):

Presented in the magnificent 1920s inspired Spiegeltent, LIMBO is full of cult couture from a cast of international performers. The festival itself is the perfect place to relax and enjoy London. It offers beer tents, sideshows, live events and fairground rides – a piece of 1950s Coney Island right in the heart of the capital. Music will be a dominating force of the production with New York’s Sxip Shirey composing exclusive music for the show with his ecstatic melodies, irreverent electric-acoustic noise and playful, sexy beats. He will be joined by musicians Grant Arthur and Mick Stuart.

Welcome to an exotic illogical world, where peculiar characters wait on the edge of false awakening. With the whisper of spirits and domination, illusion, suspension; LIMBO is boundless.

It's from the people who did Cantina last year, which I didn't manage to get to but I know people who did and they said it was amazing so I am sure this will be too!

I'm also looking forward to Zoo Zoo at the Blues Kitchen, which only happens twice a year. I've really been enjoying nights that play old school RnB and northern soul and this looks like one of the titans of the scene. I went to Mousetrap by the New Untouchables and had a whale of a time so have similar high hopes for this. I've been to the venue before and really like it so it should be a good'un.

And this Saturday will be my very first Tweat Up and I think I've picked the most amazing one to make my first as it centres around tacos and Mexican is my favourite cuisine. It will be such a chore to have to eat ten different tacos from different traders and vote on them all. Oh and to have to have two complimentary drinks as well. Fingers crossed it isn't too overcrowded or too rainy...

I'm also going to Field Day and the Hand and Flowers but I won't be blogging about those. Need to give myself a break sometimes. I'm sure I'll put some photos and comments on my Facebook page though so check that out (it's new!).

Boom Boom Club, 2nd August

I was incredibly impressed with the Wonderground setup in general. I expected something a lot flimsier. The show was held in the spiegeltent, which looked like a big red top once inside, with a stage at the back, and a bit of a catwalk leading to a circular stage at the front where the performers did their stuff. We ended up sitting beside the catwalk – I had faith that they wouldn’t have an in-the-round setup if they weren’t good at performing in the round, and on the whole they were, but I think sitting facing the stage probably would have been a tad better. Some of the performers, such as Pirate Phil (an ex-banker who had seen the light and told us about it in song) and the kitty cat – a striptease artist, did roam the audience somewhat, but being nearer the stage and at the front, all in all was beneficial.

The show is very polished, the performers are top class. It’s visually impressive with some great costumes – and it’s sexy. Unfortunately no photography was allowed so you have to go see it yourself to see what I mean.

There was a very loose backstory which tied the acts together and also gave their actions some purpose. The night was called Prospero’s Tavern and the people who came on stage were either regulars of the Tavern or connected to Prospero (of the Tempest fame) in some way. For example, Miranda, his daughter, who was ‘drunkenly’ heckling Prospero for the first half of the act, was allowed to come on stage and ‘embarrass herself’.  And of course, being intoxicated, she was stumbling and falling all over the place, the perfect ruse to allow her to twist and turn herself inside out, for she was in fact a contortionist. Or when a quarrel broke out between two sailors who incorporated their acrobatics into their choreographed fight. They deftly swore at and punched each other in between somersaults and some very impressive balancing acts. 

There were a couple of amusing songs and even a singalong at one point. The hour went by far too quickly. I could really see why the Boom Boom Club has the reputation it does and I imagine most other acts I will see of this ilk will pale in comparison. Certainly those I’ve seen before so far do not even hold a candle to this. I am going to La Reve next week though, who have been going for quite some time and also have a very good reputation so we shall see how they compare.

One of the highlights for me was ‘The King’ hula hooping to some of his greatest hits. This doesn’t sound like much but I was transfixed by what this tubby little guy dressed a bit like Elvis could do with a hoop. Did I say ‘a’ hoop? I mean several hoops at the same time, even manipulating them to start at his waist and then travel off in different directions. His finale was to hoop with upwards of 20 all at once! He looked like a giant slinky. I fear I am not doing this act justice but it was jaw dropping.

I was also completely seduced by the woman who performed one of the burlesque stripteases. Or, rather, I should say, the woman who was stripped and molested by the possessed hand that tormented her. I think this probably needs explanation. Through a clever fake appendage, she made it look like her hand was a severed malevolent being (like an evil version of Thing from the Addams Family) which was attacking her – first it was being a bit of a sex pest, groping her here and there, then it took an even more sinister turn, choking her to the ground and then reviving her with a tickle to her nether regions. It was funny, creepy, weirdly convincing, and she was utterly gorgeous.

After the show is over, you are all invited to clear out so they can move the chairs away, and then you’re called back in for the ‘after party’ should you wish to stay. This only happens after the Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances and is an extra £5. It might be very different on a Friday or Saturday when people don’t have work to think about the next day, but the majority of the audience last night did not return for the afterparty and the atmosphere was muted. Most of my group wanted to stick around though - after all, we had paid the extra and we were promised live music and two more performers who hadn’t been in the show. We danced around a bit to the music, even though few others did, watched the other two performers (a fire hula-hooper, and a girl doing swinging hoop acrobatics) and stayed until the last song. Overall though, I wouldn’t say you should feel hard done by if you happen to go on a night when the afterparty isn’t an option.

If you like this kind of stuff, you will love the Boom Boom Club. And if you don’t, you should still go – this might change your mind. Brilliant.