Lucas Rush in Cabaret at the Arts Centre Theatre, Aberdeen. Picture: Darren Bell
Cabaret continues at the Arts Centre Theatre, Aberdeen until 6 February.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
When Sally meets Cliff in this toxic tale of the birthing of the thousand year Reich it’s obvious from the very start that the audience are in for a rough ride. The theatre space is transformed into a seedy 1930s Berlin nightclub and to gain entry, ticket holders have to get by an aggressively authoritarian Stormtrooper guarding the entrance.
Once safely inside the sanctuary of the intimate Kit Kat Club theatregoers can look forward to the prospect of an evening of sleazily decadent entertainment, while on the streets outside the Nazi grip on Germany tightens as the Weimar Republic slowly withers.
The main action takes place within the club where Lucas Rush as Emcee gaily struts his stuff in a delightfully menacing manner. Rush and the Kit Kat Company welcome club-goers with a powerful rendition of ‘Willkommen’ (“Leave your troubles outside… We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful”).
Act I features a dozen classics, each powerfully delivered including ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Me’, ‘Married’, and of course ‘Money’. Act II delivers equally strong numbers with the Emcee and Club Girls’ opening ‘Kickline’ signalling a sea-change in fortunes for the people of Europe. Indeed while Act I stresses the veiled acceptance of debauchery and easy tolerance of diversity in pre-fascist Germany, the remainder of the action is icily shocking. Alex Wadham’s portrayal of Ernst Ludwig’s transition from easy amiability to dictatorial ferocity is truly frightening.
Traditionally, it is assumed that the central focus of Cabaret, based on the play by John van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood, is on the doomed love affair between English cabaret performer Sally Bowles, played here by Carolyn Maitland, and young American novelist Cliff Bradshaw (Jonathan Vickers). Cliff has come to Berlin to finish his novel but soon finds other distractions.
In this stage version, the sub-plot romance between James Paterson’s Herr Schultz and Sarah Shelton’s Fraulein Schneider is a much more central theme. Within a production timed to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, the focus on this relationship, between a Jewish fruit shop owner and his landlady, is particularly poignant, and both artists give strong performances, the highlight undoubtedly being the duet ‘It Couldn’t Please Me More (A Pineapple)’.
The singing of Kander and Ebb’s fine score cannot be faulted in Derek Anderson’s staging, the integration of audience and players within the Kit Kat Club works on a high level indeed, and the choreography can be stunning.
In broad terms the production succeeds and is well worth seeing. The entertainment value is there big-time and the immersive audience experience highlights the value of interactive theatre.
Duncan Harley
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