Serenade from the Sewer
The Tiger Lillies. Martyn Jacques. Adrian Stout, Budi Butenop. Her Majesty’s Theatre. Adelaide Festival. March 5-6
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Britain’s operatic punk cabaret The
Tiger Lillies makes a welcome and long-awaited return to Adelaide with
their unique show Serenades from the Sewer. With grotesque faces as
though painted on by Otto Dix and strolling onto the stage like escapees from
Berlin prewar cabaret, lead singer/songwriter Martyn Jacques and fellow
anarchists Adrian Stout and Budi Butenop launch straight into Cold Night in
Soho . Jacques recalls his life above a strip joint in Soho where junkie
girl of the night Tiger Lily lay dead in the gutter. It is the world of
prostitutes and pimps, of junkies high on heroin, criminals and conmen. There is no chat, no explanation. The lyrics
speak for themselves. The haunting sound of Jacques’ accordion, the throb of
Stout’s double bass and the punctuating beat of Butenop’s drumming conjure the
images of the outcasts of society, the relics of violence and despair, the
flotsam and jetsum of society’s discards. Theirs is the music and song of the
Balkan gypsies, deep in their defiant despondency or the resigned voices of the
Left Bank anarchists. Kurt Weil meets Jacques Brel in a serenade to the sewers
where survival is the best that one can hope for.
From the drug addiction of Heroin
to the gloomy nihilism of Disease The Tiger Lillies lace their
show with bitter irony – You’re just the same as me. You’re just a disease. Jacques
coaxes his audience on. It’s all so stupid. “Stupid stupid stupid” chant the
audience. The inevitability of death thunders on in an astounding drum solo by
Butenop with percussion and whistle. It is hypnotic, inescapable and a dark
foreboding on the inevitability of death. This is the eerie world of The
Tiger Lillies, uncompromising in its prophetic mockery. Stout accompanies,
coaxing the inevitable destiny with the eerie sounds of the theremin and the wail
of the musical saw. It is the sound of the street musicians railing against the
cruelty of life’s unjust circumstance. It is Death’s harbinger. The grimacing ghoulish
faces of the trio coax the audience “Are you happy?” “Happy” they repeat as Butenop
waves the words.
Two encores to a cheering crowd
end their show. Jacques on piano utters the final words, F**k Putin, and The
Tiger Lillies leave the stage. No words are needed. Their lyrics leave a
lasting admonition. Their cabaret leaves a bitter taste of recrimination,
subversive and anarchic. And yet I felt the irony of the elegant surroundings
of Her Majesty’s Theatre. Their roots are in the streets of Soho and the haunts
of Mac the Knife. Last night their songs
took root in the minds and hearts of their audience. Serenade from the Sewer is The Tiger
Lillies’ unforgettable last laugh at life’s cruel irony.