StoryHouse Live, Chester – until Saturday 28 September 2019
Reviewed by Julie Noller
5*****
Cabaret never fails to entertain, I’ve enjoyed performances but I can truly state that I loved this one. Having explained to my young friend who accompanied me that its full of debauchery, to which the reply was whats that…. Just wait and see.
I wasn’t wrong nor disappointed. But don’t be misled that it’s just nudity (yes there’s naked bodies running about the stage) or that it’s art. Cabaret also never fails to teach us a valuable lesson. I could watch many different versions, seeing actors old and young treading the boards and with each show learn something new. Indeed it is said that if we fail to learn from history then we’re likely to repeat it.
There are parallels between life in 1930s Germany and life here and now. Cabaret itself is based on a film, which is based on a book, which is based on a story, you get the picture and bear that in mind when watching for some parts become incredibly dark and foreboding. If you struggle to catch your breath or even find yourself shedding a tear, then forgive yourself. We could talk about politics, we could discuss what we appear to see on stage. It could in fact be personal it’s feasible that the memories up on stage are within living history. But it would just be my opinion on events gone by. I think we agree that they should never be repeated.
What is Cabaret? It’s a love story or perhaps 2 love stories, it’s about blind faith in humanity, it’s about finding your confidence and believing in yourself, deceiving yourself and those who think you hold them dear, learning to hide yourself, trusting the wrong people. In a nutshell it’s about life’s lessons that are long and hard and the ever changing world in which we live in.
Set in Berlin in the 1930’s a decade that saw the rise of fascism throughout Germany, yet to begin with was rife with a couldn’t care less attitude; what was money if not to be spent and what was life if not to be enjoyed. The KitKat Club is all this and more, a motto of anything goes, sex, male and/or female plus drugs and alcohol. The musical lyrics of Kander and Ebb never fail to hit home, rouse you, lift you and yet move you. Leaving you feeling chilled inside whilst you smile.
Director Rufus Norris has done a superb job bringing a multi talented cast together. They live and breathe their characters. John Partridge is outstanding as Emcee our host, at times comical at times rather mad. There’s an almost Charlie Chaplin (The Dictator) quality about him that has you looking on in bemused confusion. I do have to say though round of applause for John Partridges naked body confidence. Kara Lily Hayworth fresh from playing Cilla Black again doesn’t disappoint as Sally Bowles there’s an arrogance yet vulnerability about her. Perhaps nowadays she would be diagnosed with a personality disorder. Her singing is once again superb. Charles Haggerty as American Cliff Bradshaw, begins as a timid shrew yet grows on stage to a brilliant dominance. Crystal clear voice that shines through the clouds that are obviously building.
It was a doomed love affair that might just have made it, Sally fun loving and attention seeker. Life is grand whilst everyone loves her but vulnerable she leans on Cliff more as he finds his confidence in life. Sad to see the self destruct button pushed on a relationship that could’ve been as Cliff becomes realistic in foretelling the future and Sally buries her head like an ostrich; she isn’t the only one for there’s Herr Schultz the lovable James Paterson who denies anyone could wish harm to a fellow German his equally doomed love affair that should’ve been with Fraulein Schneider the dependable Anita Harris is in one small scene the sign of things to come and oh so sad. Nick Tizzard as future star of the Third Reich Ernst Ludwig, highlights everything that even by today’s standards is what is wrong with society. Hatred and jealousy being aimed at the more fortunate or those who differ in their sexual preferences. Culminating in the inevitable Cabaret closes with Ernst Ludwigs Nazis in control not only of Berlin and Germany, the cream of Berlins Kitkat Club are no longer adored. They are firstly shunned and kicked into the gutter before the final moment that even though you know it is coming still has you inhaling or in some cases sobbing. Naked and battered Emcee and company and forced to huddle within what we can only guess is a concentration camp and we watch on whilst rain pours down or is it a gas chamber. Imagination is a powerful tool but ever so scary mixed with real life.