Comedy - Whats The Show

Bernie Dieters Club Kabarett

7 June 20246 June 2024 Faith Jessel

Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett Rating

★★★★★

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Bernie Dieter is back with a bootylicious BANG and its settings on stun!

Dare to enter if you can handle the heat. A sultry fusion of circus, song and sexy burlesque, where the thrill of the centre ring meets the seduction of the velvet curtain. Temptation breaks all the boring boundaries and sinks itself into your lap. Ach, mein Gott! What a ride! You must see it darling- it’s BEAUTIFUL!

Like a glittering diamond in the rough under the dome of the Moore Park Spiegeltent, ‘Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett’ is a lesson in surrendering to the decadence of hedonism and celebrating the human form in all its glory. Settled within the intimate shadows and velvety atmosphere, we are offered a tasty blend of gritty underground danger and pure, unadulterated flair without ever tipping the scales into crassness or whimsy. This requires astounding skill, my friend.

What’s the X-factor that makes this experience so uniquely delicious? It captures and embraces the unbridled spirit and liberated essence of Weimar-era cabaret. This show is a thoroughbred, real deal cabaret that knows exactly how to deliver and doesn’t hold back. Vibrantly avant-garde and at times ironically grotesque, it provocatively pushes buttons, relishing in its own signature sauce of salaciousness. A big juicy f**k you to conformity and the mundane.

Talent upon talent upon talent. The spotlight ignites seven heavenly bodies – titillating tornadoes of effortless circus expertise. Our hair is literally blown back, our eyes ache from the dazzle, our spirits soar with the thrill of it all. This is a full on fatal attraction of strength, skill, and seduction in the form of a mesmerising array of aerial feats, fiery displays, hoop artistry, whip cracking and contortionism. Eight outstanding acts deliver the perfect balance of clowning and spell binding agility, each one jaw-droppingly unforgettable in its own way and expertly woven together by the quick-witted banter of the incomparable Mistress of Ceremonies, the marvellous Miss Dieter, a ringmaster-class of song and repartee.

How can I possibly describe this powerhouse of a woman? She’s a vocal force, delivering numbers with bodacious energy and precision that’s both captivating and rare. Backed by a very tight and pulsing 3 piece band, Dieter fearlessly embraces contrasts, pivoting from unbridled ferocity in ‘Rebel Yell’ to tender vulnerability in a haunting rendition of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’. A presence that’s both commanding and nuanced, she weaves a sonic tapestry that’s utterly immersive; she defies expectations and forges a connection that’s both raw and profound. Dieter IS cabaret.

The ultimate wild child of the Club circuit family, ‘Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabaret’ shatters the mold, of leaving similar variety shows for dust. The finale is a glorious personal homage to the alchemy of art and drinking, where transformation and reinvention converge in a dazzlingly gutsy and original song.

As you gather your wits to depart, the stage lies in perfect disarray, a telltale testament to the night’s divine debauchery. Littered with party popper innards, discarded costumes, confetti, shreds of balloon rubber, feathers and a spray of white powder which I suspect may represent an illicit substance 😉 This is the aftermath of a night of extravagant fun.

Bernie, you devil, you’ve done it again! You’ve released a kaleidoscope of creativity and set the bar ridiculously high with a night that revisits and then rewrites the rules of cabaret. The impossible is now possible and your imagination knows no bounds.

This is the ultimate winter retreat from the chill of a turbulent world. Indulge in the warmth of Dieter’s organised chaos to help you forget and play for a while, to remind you of the unapologetic, permissible pleasures of being human. All are welcome. So leave your inhibitions at the door, grab your favourite poison and sit back as the candles and stage are lit for a night you won’t forget.

Danke Darling Dieter!

‘Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabaret’ plays at Sydney Spiegeltent Moore Park Entertainment Quarter until July 28th. See https://www.entertainmentquarter.com.au/event/bernie-dieters-club-kabarett/ for details.
What are you doing??? Click the link and hustle those tickets!

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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Hannah Gadsby Woof!

8 April 20246 April 2024 Karen Yee

Hannah Gadsby brings their new show “Woof” to Melbourne Arts Centre for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Their star has risen well and truly since her show Nanette hit Netflix in 2018. Today, they grace the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine (AU/NZ edition) with the headline “Comedy’s enfant terrible is relishing their anti-hero era”.

As a newbie, it was a wonderful introduction to Gadsby’s fast-paced, quick-witted, intensely analytic humour, which brought out belly laughs galore. Snappy asides like bullet spray on the way to the main punchlines compounded the fun. I was surrounded by pre-Nanette die-hard fans, so there was a lot of love in the house. And I can see why—Gadsby is earnest, humble, intelligent, funny, vulnerable, honest, and a truth-teller.

They’ve worked hard to be where they are now. For someone who can go for weeks without speaking (they have autism and ADHD) and who says they are bad at everything in life, including having fun, they have certainly played their cards to their advantage. They say their only skill is to talk to a room full of strangers and not feel scared. But what they choose to say has been both strategic and a personal lifeline. Nanette deconstructed comedy and social norms derived from centuries of white male dominance at a time when Australia was debating the same-sex marriage plebiscite. For this, Gadsby bared their soul, and it was raw and confronting.

Interestingly, Gadsby has tried hard, in good faith, to like Taylor Swift. It hasn’t worked. They even used her as inspiration for their 2016 show, Dogmatic. Of course, they have major differences: Gadsby has a depth of intellectual engagement with their art form and uses it to subvert and confront. Their 2023 Picasso-blasting exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, It’s Pablomatic, is a case in point alongside Nanette. However, I can’t help but see some similarities: both use the power of story-telling and self-disclosure in their work, which fosters a high level of devotion in their predominantly female fan base; both live their lives in a way that encourages their fans to be unafraid to be themselves and in return, their fans care deeply about them and want to support them. But there is a vast contrast in their lived experience of otherness and, therefore, the depth of their fight.

Now, Gadsby has a global voice and has just launched a new Netflix comedy show, Gender Agenda, featuring seven gender-queer comedians from around the world. Being nouveau-riche means staying in posh hotels where the concierges don’t know how to respond to questions about doing your own laundry and the bathrooms have no toilet brush. Gadsby worries about becoming a rich arsehole, but I doubt that will happen – they take a spare travel toothbrush with them to clean up after themselves when a low roughage travel diet messes with their regularity.

“Woof” is a show about the worries that lead to anxiety. If you think the ending is a bit loose, well, that is the point. There is no closure, no easy answers. What happened to all those plastic dolls called Cabbage Patch Kids from the 80s/90s? Did they end up somewhere in a “Blair Witch style croquembouche”? Will Hannah Gadsby be able to enjoy swimming with a whale on her day off? Will their brain let them remember fun times as vividly as they remember a randomly defiled Tim Tam packet left for them to clean up when working as a hotel cleaner?

Enjoy this show where your host “takes all their worries and lays them out on stage in front of a darkened room full of strangers. It’s like group therapy, but the group is the therapist”. That’s us, but we don’t feel like strangers. So now Gadsby adds us to their list of worries, too, because therapists are all “f***ed in the head.”

“Woof” is playing until April 20 at the Melbourne Arts Centre Playhouse.

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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Kaboom! A Cracking Science Show for Kids

3 April 2024 Kat Skarbek

Kaboom! Do you like ice cream? What about your air conditioning? I’ll bet you especially enjoy not having Polio, don’t you?

If you think science is a boring subject best left to school kids, you might be surprised to know that all the things named above were created by, you guessed it, science! Just ask Magnus Danger Magnus (yes, it’s his real name!).

Magnus is a supercharged, multi-award-winning, high-energy entertainer with, as he tells you himself, absolutely no qualifications whatsoever. We spent a delightful Saturday afternoon in his company as he shared his gleefully explosive science with happy, lively crowds of kids and parents at the Comedy Festival.

With his ‘safety third’ approach to experimentation (first comes flammability, second, wow factor), Magnus rampages across the stage excitedly, armed with the curiosity and energy of a toddler and some seriously dangerous chemicals. He fascinates, educates, and draws you in with his absolute love of science and his absolute disregard for his own safety.

The audience revelled in Vortex Cannon smoke rings and liquid nitrogen experiments that delighted and wowed as they exploded (safely), boiled and turned into foaming colourful messes all over the auditorium. He drew young helpers from a very eager crowd. Everyone, parents included, joined in all the yelling, whooping, and clapping throughout, especially when he sang the periodic table as he turned water into fire all over his hands. Don’t try this at home, kids!

Magnus’s infectious enthusiasm for science makes him the perfect example of someone who believes in teaching things in a curiosity-led, hands-on, fun way that will create a whole new generation of science-loving people.

Kaboom is a show that is not to be missed, especially if you have curious kids.

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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Melbourne Comedy Festival – Necrophilia

3 April 20242 April 2024 Karen Yee

Don’t be fooled by this deliciously named one-act play “Necrophilia” by Aussie writer Lincoln Vickery. This tightly written dark comedy, directed by Ben Ashby, is making a return season at the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival after winning Melbourne Fringe Judges Pick in October 2023. Whilst humour is derived from the awkwardly taboo subject matter, this play has a sensitive side. There are no visually disturbing scenes and the play treats all characters with respect as humans trying to cope with their bizarre situations.

The play opens in a morgue, with a sheet-covered cadaver on a trolley. The Motley Bauhaus Theatrette’s small stage and bare bricks perfectly conveyed the feeling of being in a cold basement mortuary. Darren (Declan Clifford) and Mark (Gene Efron) are in mid-conversation whilst preparing a body for viewing. The contrast between the usually unseen business of “making dead bodies look hot as shit” and the desensitised workers bickering about a “victimless crime”, especially when we realise that Darren has just confessed to feeling a rush when defecating in a certain street near his house under cover of darkness. He cleans it all up immediately, he explains, so, whilst technically a crime, no one gets hurt. He also explains the origin of the fetish – an accidental experience accompanied by unexplained pleasure that then becomes a fascination and a repeated behaviour that reinforces the rush.

These themes of fetishism and its origins and whether or not they affect others are explored within this play, and the quality of the writing really shines – there is no dull moment and lots of laughs. If you have come for the comedy, you won’t be disappointed. Vickery doesn’t miss any opportunity to bring out the hilarity of the situations in which he places the characters. For example, bumping into your boss at a sex shop, walking in on your boss dancing in a blissful moment of private surrender. However, the treatment of the underlying themes brings substance to this play.

Amanda (Gillian Mosenthal, who also produced this) is the necrophiliac and boss in question and the only character who reveals her insecurities directly to the audience. Instead of judging, we are invited to journey with her in her struggle and shame. I was impressed with the attention to psychological detail in the writing, particularly with the reveal of Amanda’s childhood trauma. Vickery has done his homework on this psychiatric condition. But there is no schmalziness here. It’s just a fact.

The minor characters shed more light on the question of whether necrophilia is a victimless crime. The recently bereaved daughter starkly contrasted with the mercenary med student who rents out cadavers to fund her studies. “Dead people are tools. I don’t care what you do”. Both characters were ably played by Joanna Halliday, who stole the scenes with her fearless performances.

However, the exploration of loneliness and the desire to connect in the face of shame draws us in. The actors have a lovely chemistry that brings the relationships to life. They really care about each other, and so do we. A developing romance between Mark and Amanda is at the heart of the narrative. But will it withstand the shame?

Come and see Necrophilia for the laughs, but you will be in grave danger of taking away a dose of heartwarming humanity.

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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