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| Alan Cumming. Artistic Director of the 2021 Adelaide Cabaret Festival |
ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL
Artistic Director. Alan Cumming June 11 –
26 2021
Previewed by Peter Wilkins
Life is a cabaret as the old song goes and nowhere is cabaret more
alive than at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival from June11-26 on the banks of the Torrens
and at the Adelaide Festival Centre. There are many reasons that one should
flock to Adelaide to soak up the talent of Australia’s finest cabaret artists
and the special treat of a few international artists that will be presenting their
work live after last year’s valiant attempt to keep the festival alive online
throughout the corona pandemic.
It is also significant that this
year’s Cabaret Festival marks the 21st birthday and coming of age of
Adelaide’s favourite winter event and
who better to lead it than an international cabaret king, the indomitable
and irrepressible Alan Cumming? Cumming will be the festival’s first
international Artistic Director, but he is no stranger to Adelaide. It was in
1988 that he and his drama school friend toured their cabaret show Victor and Barry. He has continued a
love affair with Adelaide and other Australian cities and in 2019 then Artistic
Director Julia Zemiro invited Cumming to Adelaide to perform his hit solo show,
Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs to
sell out audiences at another favourite festival venue, the recently
refurbished Her Majesty’s Theatre. This year Cumming will present another
concert show, Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age on the Festival Theatre stage
while introducing his New York Club
Cumming to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s late night variety venue, the
famous Spiegeltent.
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| Alan Cumming in Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age |
Cumming will also be no stranger to Australian audiences. His versatility and dynamic energy have delighted film, TV and stage enthusiasts in the popular movie, Circle of Friends, the long-running legal series The Good Wife and as the decadent and mischievous Emcee in Sam Mendes’s production of Cabaret for which Cumming received a coveted Tony Award. He thrilled Adelaide audiences at the 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival and he has lined-up some of Australia’s best and finest cabaret artists to join with a smattering of international guests to delight audiences at the first live festival since Covid had such a devastating impact on performing artists around the world. Cumming is just the Artistic Director to bring back the joy that is live cabaret.
When considering what kind of a festival he wanted to create, Cumming realized that “Cabaret is a much deeper spectrum than I had thought. It is not just girls wearing feather boas. There is so much more to it and I think you can think of cabaret as a smorgasbord of different things – different genres, different emotions, and disciplines. Then I think you can begin to see the range of what is possible. That was something I wanted to bring to the festival - to have shows and acts that are a little bit outside of what people might expect. Traditionally one thinks of cabaret in a very narrow way.
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| Brent Ray Fraser Photo by Dark Cell |
And there is something for everyone to be joyful about. Apart from the international acts, most of the festival shines a light back on the enormous font of talent in Australia. Cumming was unable to scout in the usual way for acts around the world at the Edinburgh Festival in his native Scotland for example or at other cabaret festivals throughout the world. So he was compelled to look at Australian talent to bring to his festival, a task that he embraced with relish. “So many of my early cabaret experiences are connected to Australia and Australian people so I kind of went back to that.” And Cumming sees great similarities between his homeland and Australia. “We are different, we are exciting and we are our own sort of intrinsic, unique value and I think that’s what I think about Australia. So many of my earlier formative memories are of the spirit of Australian performers. There are so many performers I’ve been inspired by.
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| Willsy and Downes in Adelaide Tonight |
There is a touch of nostalgia in Cumming’s voice. “I’m very much about looking back. I always think it’s good to look back on the past, so I can see where we are and show what’s happening in the present too.” When I look back at the programme that is heavily weighted with Australian performers and performances I can see what Cumming is saying. Cumming has offered audiences a rich and diverse banquet of Australian cabaret experiences – something for everyone from Deadly Hearts, celebrating Australian indigenous music, Songs of Don which will rock the Festival Theatre to celebrate the work of legendary Cold Chisel songwriter, Don Walker. Hear Me Roar –Unplugged, a celebration of strong female voices sung by Tania Doko, Emma Pask and Prinnie Stevens. Previous Artistic Director Julia Zemiro will team with Brian Nankervis to present Rockwiz Saluteto Eurovision. L’Hotel will offer an immersive look at cabaret, circus and burlesque in the delicious French tradition. Adelaide’s bold and brilliant all-female pop group Sisters of Invention will present You Ready For This and All The Queen’s Men will present LGBTIQ + Elders Dance Club. Truly something for everyone!
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| Julia Zemiro |
A touch of nostalgia is the
memory of Jay Walton’s popular TV chat show A
Touch of Elegance. In a set recreating the Channel 10 studio set, one time
TV host Ann Wills will join with the ebullient Bob Downes (Mark Trevorrow) to
present Adelaide Tonight, one of the
variety acts that will frame Cumming’s cabaret festival. The festival will also
feature a nostalgic 50th anniversary reunion of the Young Talent
Time team. Old favourites will return to add to the nostalgia and remind us of
the journey from the past to the present and where they and we are at now. Familiar faces in an unfamiliar world.
Nostalgia and memory merge in a cavalcade of names that will make the 2021
Cabaret Festival one to always remember. They include Tim Minchin, Robyn
Archer, former co-Artistic Director Eddie Perfect, and at the red velvet Variety Gala opening on
June 11 Hans, your host, Alan Cumming – Meow Meow – Paul Capsis
So much to choose from over three
weekends. Cumming reiterates the advice of earlier Artistic Directors. “Every day of the festival is framed by
variety. There are different acts every night. Try and push yourself a bit. Go
and see something you don’t necessarily think about going to. Try to think of
variety as your taste as well.”
“I am so excited to finally share
this festival line-up with you all” Cumming writes in the media release. “As
ever I have gone with my gut – a quality I think we Scots and Australians share.
This festival is a temple to my love and nostalgia for Australia – the people,
the spirit, the adventure, the fusion of high and low that I have learned and stolen
from and hold dear in my heart. I hope you Australians enjoy this Scot’s
Cabaret love letter to you.”
It is a love affair that
Australian audiences are sure to share over three wonderful weekends at Alan
Cumming’s 2021 Adelaide Cabaret festival.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Adelaide Festival Centre
June 11- 26 2021
Bookings:
Adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au
or BASS on 131426
