Close, but no cigar [by Sharu Delilkan & Tim Booth]
As we file into our respective seats we notice one half of the duo (known as the EastEnd Cabaret) standing at the top of the seating block. So it’s no surprise that we are thrust into full audience participation mode as soon as the lights go down. However I very quickly realise that they are targetting men, which made me feel relatively at ease. To be honest watching the spouses’ and/or partners’ of the chosen victims of humiliation was equally as fascinating and entertaining as watching Pervert the show.
Once they decide to go into actual performance mode, sans audience, we are treated to a multitude of original numbers which have suitably silly lyrics, in keeping with the theme that is the Comedy Festival. The main singer a.k.a. Bernadette Byrne (Jennifer Byrne) is seductively saucy in her delivery while her partner in crime Victor Victoria (Victoria Falconer-Pritchard) in her ‘hermaphrodite-like persona’ is ridiculous to say the least.
Her keyboard ‘playing’ on stage was great but the screen surrounding her ‘instrument’ make me wonder at times whether she was playing anything at all. However we were treated to her playing the theremin (musical saw/singing saw) when she decided stand in the audience in the row directly behind us – an unexpected up-close and personal treat without any humiliating repercussions! The sound of the instrument was reminiscent of music from an old episode of Doctor Who (or Tales of the Unexpected), which added to the edginess of the show.
Overall the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves but it was almost as if they kept all the better stuff for the second part of the show. A great deal of the first half was used up humiliating audience members rather than getting the show going, making it ‘drag’ a little.
EastEnd Cabaret has been described as “a dynamic duo comprising Bernadette Byrne, a European chanteuse of unknown origin, and Victor Victoria, a faux-bilateral “hermaphrodite” reminiscent of the sideshow “freaks” such as Josephine Joseph“. They are apparently “acclaimed for their risqué original songs, character comedy, raucous live shows and innovative audience participation”. Further research revealed that this devilish duo used to incorporate more well-known numbers into their routine. While I’m all for supporting original creations/music I think if they peppered a few familiar pieces amongst their originals they might have sustained the audiences’ attention a tad more.
The catchphrases that they used, which I won’t repeat to avoid spoilers, were extremely clever and had all of us in stitches. I found myself repeating them to friends after the show – which is always a good sign.
Pervert the show is loosely based around Byrne’s attempt to seduce certain ‘hot hunks’ from the crowd, and her jilted lover Victoria’s efforts to sabotage her efforts or divert her attention though silly songs and ribald banter. Yes it’s a good concept in theory but unfortunately they didn’t quite manage to sustain the audiences attention and it definitely wasn’t ‘perverted’ enough to warrant its title.
I found that I was not in the minority when I came out to talk to friends after the show. The overall consensus was they were good but just not good enough to suspend disbelief and to keep us in stitches throughout the hour-long set.
EastEnd Cabaret – Perverts, part of the NZ International Comedy Festival 2015 plays at Q Loft until 16 May. Details see Q
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