Circus, burlesque and cabaret have been delighting audiences for years with their tricks, risks and risqué behaviour. In a world of special effects and multimedia, people still want to see the impossible become possible.
Inspired by the Montmartre of the 1920s, the Black Cat cabaret aims to combine dancers, acrobats, singers and comics for their audience.
Our compere for the evening was Dusty Limits, a man who knows his audience and what makes them laugh and the night started well with familiar French music from the band and Sammy Dinneen (le chat noir) performing daredevil acrobatic deeds on a giant ring.
Lili la Scala however failed to impress. Her chanson paillarde was effective, but slightly painful on the ears and just a little bit too sad for an evening where we were being told to ‘drink ourselves to death’. The other songs of the evening were unnecessary and as the audience had already refused to clap along, the sing along fell flat.
Cabaret Rouge on the other hand danced with both grace and humour and their tribute to Edgar Degas was very well done. Jess Love was extremely talented with her hula hoops… Not to mention the speed at which she stripped off her costume (standing on stage completely nude) so she could remove her tights!
Sadly our seats didn’t allow us to see Vicky Butterfly’s performance as the moon goddess, but the final act – Katherine and Hugo – totally wowed the crowd with their suspended cage, in a performance that was both mesmerising and beautiful.
Although there are some very talented acts, the overall evening was disjointed, disappointing and just didn’t provide the anticipated “wow” factor we’ve grown used to experiencing at the Wondergound.
Reviewed by Michaela Clement-Hayes