Gossamer Thread's Curious Cabaret
As I take my seat in Norwich’s Playhouse to see Gossamer Thread’s Curious Cabaret, I feel very aware of myself At An Occasion. There are so many pretty women in so many beautiful dresses - a flashback - me, ten years old, being told to dress up and wearing a red sequin cowboy hat and jeans to a fancy family wedding - why does everyone else know how to be a person? Why am I an embarrassment? Anyway, I think by now I have worked myself out and, armed with pen and paper, I am ready to be wowed while also terrified of audience participation in equal measure.
‘King of Cabaret Noir’ Joe Black prowls on stage and opens with a hot rendition of Sweet Transvestite: yes yes yess. He hosts the night and is consistently a Bit Too Much (I love it). We’re totally treated to a mixture of self-deprecating anecdotes, cutting humour, bizarre noises, strange body movements and some sultry chair-work whilst singing in German - what more could you want?
I mean the show has literally everything: acrobatics, mind reading, burlesque and a magician. OK, the show has four acts. It is fast paced and kind of fragmented - I am definitely buffeted around by the show. I am glad of (and kind of overwhelmed by) the return of the host in between acts to create some impression of consistency, as well as the presence of Katy moving props in-between sets (she lives out my worst nightmare of being forcibly involved in the show by Joe Black, to the extent that she is holding hands and bowing to ominous music along with the rest of the cast at the end). Daisy Black is amazing - her first act being a hilarious and incredible hula hooping routine - there must have been a hundred hoops - and her second being some intense aerial work on chains (at one point she is suspended mid-air, a chain wrapped around each calf, doing the splits? I say the word ‘amazing’ out loud). Alex McAleer does some impressive mind reading but my buttocks are so clenched from fear of being involved that I spend the rest of the next act trying to cool down muscle spasms and can’t concentrate on Rod Laver’s act. He throws some cards around, but like, impressively and people love it. I am waiting for him to strip the whole time (he just kind of has that air about him). UK’s #1 burlesque performer Betsy Rose is our final act with some adorable, playful and super hot burlesque. I’m not sure little Norwich quite knows how to react. She’s great, I can’t take my eyes off her; I am inspired and impressed. I giggle at all the rude bits.
Whilst in general the bit too muchness of the show hit the spot, there were a couple of times (OK maybe just one time) that it was really was just a bit too much - Rod Laver returns to the stage in Round Two to juggle ping pong balls with his mouth. Now, I don’t want to speak down about a skill I clearly don’t possess, but my notes during the set are just the words ‘NOOOOO, what the hell, I hate it’, huge, over a double page. In between the mouth juggling he approaches the microphone, cheeks stuffed, and proclaims saucily, ‘Four balls, in my mouth, at once’; there are some hobbies I’m not sure need to be indulged. But you know what - it’s all part of life’s rich tapestry, I’m no theatre girl, a couple in the row behind me are cackling their butts off, and he’s won multiple awards, so who am I to judge?
The whole thing is very loud and I would definitely suggest going when you’re not feeling too fragile. I had been out at Miami Vice the previous night (top); I was carried through my hangover and tiredness by the pure manic energy of the show, and left feeling rejuvenated and slightly hysterical. Bizarre, a bit mismatched, but wonderful; better than a Bloody Mary. No one was ready.
Photo: Richard Shashamane
