#apologies for the sheer amount of costume analysis blame the last 16 or so years of living with my sister

[bottomoftheriverbed]

Cabaret in the west end review/observations @steeple-sinderby-wanderers

Full disclaimer: my previous exposure to cabaret is limited and I also had no idea who the cast were (self esteem and the guy from scissor sisters) I have read Goodbye to Berlin though and am very interested in the period.

If you are in the stalls, particularly if you are at a table, it is quite an immersive performance, the ensemble are literally up in your face at times. I did not sign up for that, it just happened to be where the wheelchair seats were and it's not necessarily my favourite way of doing theatre, I find it takes me out rather than brings me in, but it is a necessary part of the show particularly for 'if you could see her'

The atmosphere is incredible, though part of that may have been where I was sitting (I don't know whether all of the pre show is available to people in the galleries) but it did do a lot to build up the setting. The cast is fantastic.

The costumes are extremely stripped back (as in they're literally underwear for the majority of the cast). Though it does change in the second half to evoke lederhosen and drindls in reflection of the changing atmosphere of Berlin (I suspect it and the bavarian sounding 'tomorrow belongs to me' is because the stereotypical german is (somewhat ironically) bavarian but I think it can be interpreted in regards to the Nazi's attempt to appeal to and create a german folk culture that isn't nearly as uniform as it is)

Emcee was brilliant. Like I said I had no idea who he was, nor the actress playing sally and I think I preferred it that way. Obviously he's at the centre most of the times he's on stage but you still struggle to take your eyes of him. They went very hard on the idea of Emcee as the spirit of Berlin. His costumes get more and more Nazi like as the play goes on ending in a brown suit and very 'normal' looking.

speaking of, Ernst is extremely affable even after it's revealed he's a Nazi which really hammers the purpose of his character home.

Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz almost stole the show. They were magnificent, their romance was so sweet and tender and very much felt like the heart of the show. It's reluctant break up is gut wrenching and is even more so by the fact that it's so obviously inevitable due to Fraulein Schneider's firmly established pragmatism.

Sally was very brash and confident, she had a sturdiness to her. She kind of had a private school horse girl vibe if you get what I mean, kinda Clare balding like in her mannerisms. I don't think she was played nearly as naive as she can be played. Many of her actions came off far more as a single minded almost desperation to just keep going and surviving and living how she wants to. She's not really succeeding and there's a real vulnerability to her but hey fake it till you make it.

I think this makes Sally's decision to stay in Berlin a little less selfish and naive. In their confrontation before her abortion, Clifford is almost violent towards her and combined with the androgyny of the cast and costumes, including Sally's costume for 'Cabaret' (a brown trousers and blazer over her lingerie) makes Clifford come across as, to Sally, just another controlling, oppressive force. Sally is clinging onto the ruins of Weimar Berlin because it is the only place she can be free and independent. Of course there is still a lot of selfishness and naivity in that but it's framed slightly differently if that makes sense. Her ignorance is exceedingly deliberate, just as much as Herr Schultz's or Frau Schneider's pragmatism.

Clifford also seems naive, if not politically per say then personally, particularly because his and Sally's relationship is actually presented as almost asexual. They never even kiss but Clifford does kiss one of the Cabaret boys with whom he has much more chemistry and it perhaps suggests that this life with Sally Clifford wants is as much a manifestation of his internalised homophobia as anything else. I find the more I think about it the more this makes me a little uncomfortable, for all this is an apparently queer production it still reduces bisexuality to an erotic spectacle without actually engaging with it while playing into the idea that all bisexual men are actually gay

Clifford himself remains very much an outsider. His costume for example remains very masculine and quite formal to the point where it's something of a visual indicator of his outsider status even as it conflicts with his actions and what we're told he's doing.

Overall it was amazing and I highly recommend it (in the galleries as good as it is 200 quid (not even the most expensive seat) for one seat is a bit much)

#apologies for the sheer amount of costume analysis blame the last 16 or so years of living with my sister #cabaret #cabaret 2021