The Underground Hour | Claire Owen & performers
As they share their story of coming together, they dance and sing their way through a great range of classic show tunes and contemporary commercial hits. The fourth wall be damned, they performed directly to us, sharing their story and all of themselves. They love the audience as much as we love them, and crave our adulation. And we were more than happy to give it to them.
The Underground Hour | Claire Owen & performers.
The Underground Hour - a crowd-pleasing, glittery cabaret that harks back to times of feathers and Frank Sinatra. If you like your performers giving you all they’ve got and your showtunes to go up a key to hit a big finish, then this is the show for you. Big talent, big energy and a full house almost burst the seams of the small underground bar, Brooklyn Standard, in Brisbane’s CBD. Someone give these people a big band and a wall of lights. They deserve it.
Dream a Little Dream | For the Record #17
Hosts Maja and Siobhan are fresh and natural fronting the night and bring what they like to call ‘chaotic MCing’ to keep us entertained between acts. Their effortless banter and truly random segues alone would have me coming back month after month. Even if Siobhan’s penis hands will haunt until my dying days.
Apocalipstick | Polytoxic
Apocalipstick used drag and gender-fuckery to engage the audience through laughter, the absurd, and the excess. There is nothing better to make someone think about serious issues than to make them laugh! Laughter sits with you in a light vein and it makes you come back to the funny sketch again and again looking for one more laugh. Drag invites laughter by highlighting the contradictions of gender through the excess: hoping for a fuck, office tape and markers become the perfect beauty tools for a face-lift and make-up, and thin-glass toxic masculinity is the weapon of the man looking for acceptance in the wolf pack.
Apocalipstick | Polytoxic
Apocalipstick really, truly deserves to be seen. It made me laugh out loud - repeatedly. It’s visceral messages will blow you away. It’s an ultimate feast for the senses. It’s nuanced delivery is nothing short of outstanding. It’s what makes Brisbane even more special.
Songs My Aunties Taught Me | Heru Pinkasova & Dr Rhythm
Wow wow wow. I feel like my eardrums have just been given a delightful, melodic pounding. Songs My Aunties Taught Me is part opera, part beatboxing, part comedy, and one hundred percent remarkable. This first collaboration between songstress Heru Pinkasova and the beatboxing, drumming Dr Rhythm is a melodious fusion of two very different art forms, which tells the stories of influential women in Heru’s life; both her mother and aunties, and the great women of colour who sang before her.
Dionysus | Tom Oliver Productions
What kind of show has us singing along to a gospel song one moment and gawking at a hyper realistic stiff plastic cock in the next? A fringe-festival renegade cabaret, that’s what!
Songs My Aunties Taught Me | Heru Pinkasova & Dr Rhythm
The interactions between Aunty Heru and Jonny Drama brings out a humorous side to the show and the chemistry between them is endearing as it feels like they have both known each other for a long time and that they have toured lengthy with this show despite it being their first. As talented as Heru is with her voice, Jonny’s beatboxing skills are similarly impressive.
Chameleon | Karen Lee Roberts
There are many moments I feel swept away by the honesty of living her experience throughout the entire show – particularly the scene where she acts out the consequences of going off meds including a full blown episode involving her partner. Alexandra pleads for help whilst portraying what it’s like to experience the fear of abandonment and confusion caused by changes to her brain chemistry. This was deeply raw and personal and an effective mechanism to flush out any remaining judgment the audience might have.
Creepy Cabaret | EC Venue and Damien Cassidy
Creepy Cabaret is just that - a tale of fake blood, puppets and blow up dolls, and a homage to sex (or lack of) complete with a twist on risking the status quo. It’s a great show and producer Damien Cassidy has pulled together a diverse international stellar cast in the one room.
By Request | Jenny Wynter
Jenny and Angie Wynter made a great team. I assumed they had set rhythms of songs they were going to perform and then Jenny improvised the lyrics. Her talent as a professional singer shone through, unbelievable that she could sing so beautifully and be constructing lyrics at the same time. I fully expected to see smoke coming out of her ears, that’s how fast her brain appeared to be working.
One Bottle Later | The Good Room
Following Covid-safe distancing and hand-held signs directing us not to speak, we entered into a magical space. The room was beautifully lit by Jason Glenwright with waiters dancing around and making sure everyone was looked after. I felt like I was transported in time to a 1920’s nightclub. The attention to detail was delightful.
Common People Dance Eisteddfod | Common People Dance Project
Through sheer force of will and an encyclopedic knowledge of 80s choreography, Neridah has created the impossible – the dance off to end all dance offs that citizens from all sides of river and all walks of life could enjoy. Comprising of at least seven choreographed routines, three celebrity judges, over 100 performers and a competition where cheating is encouraged, it became the hottest ticket in town.
Nautical but Nice | Ruckus Slam
Yo ho ho and a barrel of fun. Ruckus Slam, purveyors of poetry, cabaret and alt-arts for the indie kids of Brisbane, have delivered another sterling production in their most ambitious venue to date.
Yummy | Yummy Productions
It’s a celebration of expression, a show-case of drag, and post-gender performance art all in one. It's not just for the boys, it's for everyone and every form of expression. Bring on the gender revolution led by Yummy.
WHAM! BAM! Cabaret SLAM! | Ruckus Brisbane
And no, I’m not in the midst of a 90s flashback to Homebake, bleach blonde undercut, flanny and all. This is Brisbane’s newest scratch night - WHAM! BAM! Cabaret SLAM! Here, local artists of all shapes, sizes, modalities and talents levels will battle it out once a month for fortune ($100) and glory (the coveted and elusive full audience ‘Space NEEEEeeeddddllllleee’).
Betty Grumble | Sex Clown Saves The World
Adults only, take no prisoners, leave no lover behind; this fucked up take on cabaret literally starts in a tip and ends in a furnace. It is scandalous, it is shocking, it is… political? Totally political. It’s debonair, it’s filthy, it’s fucking weird. It’s proper wired.
Regan Lynch Does It In Public
Regan dishes out his formative moments and his hero-worshipping reveries with equal measure, and it’s all good. He’s super charming, he’s easy to like. He sings, he dances, he gets his kit off. What's not to like.
The Return of the Angry Mime
There’s something really lovely about stages like these. As our host pointed out early in the piece, you may be treated to great glory, or witness to failure, and that is beautiful in itself.
Ruckus Slam | 3rd Birthday Party
Unexpectedly, hungrily, over the past half a dozen years, Brisbane has developed a thriving poetry scene. As is the way in our deceptively lively river city, it happened under the radar.