These variety nights are a perfect tasting platter of what’s on at the festival, and always entertain the crowd with some late-night naughtiness
Presented by: Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Reviewed: 15 June, 2024
Delightfully taste-test the Adelaide Cabaret Festival lineup with fabulous, big-personality host Victoria Falconer guiding you through an array of local and interstate performers across a range of styles.
If you’re new to the cabaret festival, these variety nights are a great way to introduce yourself to the exuberant, boisterous, sexy and confident world of cabaret! Enjoy a fun candy-bag mix of comedic personalities, sexy burlesque stars, gifted vocalists, and occasionally very little clothing, all backed by a fantastic live band.
Unsurprisingly, the night’s host, Victoria Falconer, is a sequin-covered delight, welcoming you warmly into her low-lit Parlour of performers, who she has personally hand-selected for your pleasure. She also takes over the stage with her signature accordion-focussed songs and laugh-out-loud attempts at making Aussie bush music sexy. Victoria is Adelaide cabaret royalty, and you may have witnessed her comedically sassy and flirtatious accordion-accompanied appearances at previous Adelaide Cabaret Festivals and many Adelaide Fringe seasons.
Victoria’s Parlour of performers is brilliantly un-immersive, which is a good thing. These snippet performances are enjoyed with awareness and connection with those on your table and other audience members around you in the cabaret-style seating (and with shared bottles of wine) – this is the delight of cabaret bringing the room together with sexy, humour-filled energy in a relaxed and casual atmosphere.
It’s also great to see performers from an array of backgrounds and more People of Colour on stage at the festival, including Victoria herself who has Philipine and British heritage, singers Mama Alto and Luka Sandeo (for whom this performance was excitingly their Adelaide Cabaret Festival debut).
With it being Pride Month as well, it’s hugely important to acknowledge the queer creativity, participation, and performance that cabaret would be absolutely nothing without, and Victoria’s lineup is so brilliantly queer-proud.
The night covers a wide array of performance styles, with the naughty comedy of tongue-in-cheek duo Mel and Sam, Miss Curvella tantalising the audience with latex-covered flesh, belting vocals from Maeve Marsden, and the masterful silliness of award-winning comedian Jeromaia Datto who has the audience in fits of laughter, which is hugely impressive considering he barely says a word.
If you’re lucky, the night might just end with a sultry and passionate performance from the Cabaret Festival’s very-own Virginia Gray parading around and in a bathtub for a cheer-inducing finale.
For both Cabaret Festival-newbies and seasoned attendees, these variety nights are a perfect tasting platter of what’s on at the festival, and always entertain the crowd with some late-night naughtiness.
Reviewed by Georgina Smerd
Photo credit: Claudio Raschella
Venue: Banquet Room, Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: ended
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