Cabaret: Little Death Club

You could not ask for a more delicious summer evening to enjoy the intoxicating delights of the Fringe's Garden of Pleasure.  Amid the fireballs and fairy lights, alluring semi-clad performers roam free in this delectable optical feast.  It is no wonder the impressive queue awaiting admission to De Parel Spiegeltent were well primed to submit wholly to the many charms of the supremely seductive Bernie Dieter.   

Dieter, bedecked in glossy black feathers, shimmering sequence and bejewelled stilettos, had ensured there wasn’t a “starfish” among us. Her sultry voice and clever wit rang clear and true in her delightfully funny musical tales. In particular, her online dating foray with her “kinky uber geek” who dressed her as a wookie to “do” her like a “6ft dog” had us all crying with laughter.

The line-up of guest artists this night was pretty solid too, There was Marcel Lucont’s deadpan delivery about Australian capital city greeting signs, and wine that should not be served at the “temperature of balls” along with his poetry on animal sex,: “You said, let’s go wild, so why can’t I put this in there?”.  

The Party Time Ghost duo wowed us with their physicality and remarkable balances. Next up was Leah Shelton, a pole-dancing, wine-swilling tribute to bogan subculture, pelvic thrusting the crowd with a ‘goon bag’ golden shower. 

Completing the line-up was the velvety baritone, Le Gateau Chocolat who asked us to imagine Sandy from Grease as a “black man with a beard” who enjoyed “a steady diet of KFC”, and impressed us with his crowd pleasing rendition of Hopelessly Devoted to You.

From the moment Dieter greeted us with popcorn as we filed in, we knew we were in for a treat and we were not disappointed. We quickly wanted to participate in this enjoyably sexy jaunt that climaxed with us out of our seats, jubilantly dancing in the aisles to Dieter’s finale, "Let's Drink Like it’s the End of the World".   

A truly enjoyable and entertaining evening that left an after-glow of satisfaction and a desire for more.

Hermione Gehle