Fun, late-night silliness to finish off an evening at the Cabaret Festival
Presented by: Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Adelaide Festival Centre
Reviewed: 13 June 2025
Late night review shows are a core part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. It’s where punters get to mix with performers, have a few drinks and revel in the joy of performance. They can be a bit loose, but they can also be some of the most unique experiences of the Festival. With the reduction in hang out spots (RIP winter garden, we miss you) and no late-night Backstage Club (where are you Mark Nadler?), Gillian Cosgriff has received the call to serve up a brand new offering. It’s part game show, part review, part party… and prizes!
Cosgriff is a favourite at the Festival and has the chops to hold a crowd. She is delightfully funny, a brilliant singer/songwriter and all-round Aussie Cabaret Legend™. Her quirky humour is given full scope in There is Nothing Like a Game! where she guides audiences through a suite of games from ordering the Von Trapp children’s ages to conducting an eight-piece glass harp. Interspersed with the games are special guests – on Friday night it was Bobby Fox, Demi Adejuyigbe and Virginia Gay. Cosgriff is also delightfully supported by the effervescent Joel Allan, who wrangles the crowd with precision and flair.
It’s a pretty fun 90 minutes of chaos involving minimal brain power and lots of laughs. Cosgriff herself admits this is the first iteration of the format and she has not had a chance to “test at scale”. It’s very rough around the edges and some sections do better than others. The games that involve the whole crowd is a hoot – especially the opening Guess Who game. Others like the Laser Minelli game (Cosgriff loves a pun) is great on paper but less interactive for the crowd. This would be a great event if the tickets were half the price to add to the atmosphere, increase accessibility and bring in younger audience members. Either that, or more workshopping and polishing is needed to really bring this event to the quality expected. There is a lot of goodwill for Gillian Cosgriff and honestly, this chaotic humour is really what fans are after, but if we’re going to stay out past our bedtime, let’s make it a bigger party for all to enjoy.
Reviewed by Hayley Horton
Photo credit: Claudio Raschella
Venue: The Banquet Room, Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: ended
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