“Do I shock you?” Sally asks Cliff. “Are you trying to shock me?” he counters. And the answer – both for Sally and for this fabulous, original, risque production of Cabaret is: yes. Why else would Michael Hurst be running around with a two-foot dildo sticking out of his Y-fronts?

Auckland Theatre Company has pulled out all the stops, created some apt new burlesque numbers and recruited several talented and rather attractive young people to wear pasties and spread their waxed legs. Yet the angry political charge is as thrilling as the raunchy eroticism. [More]

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A drum roll, a cymbal and we’re there, but this ain’t no Cabaret you’ve seen before. 

The Auckland Theatre Company has chosen to close their 2010 season with a show guaranteed to pull in the musical theatre crowd, but those flocking to see this classic beware: this is no traditional prosc arch presentation. Set in the bygone magnificence of Salon Perdu Spiegeltent, this production pays homage, breaks new ground, sets standards, re-invents the genre and literally shreds the musical to its bare essentials. 

We could almost feel the buzz experienced by the very first, ‘first night’ audience when Cabaret premiered back in 1966 and one can almost imagine this is the kind of production writers Kander and Ebb originally dreamed of when they first envisaged their show: it is just so… Cabaret!

An ensemble cast of twelve, meagre brush-stroke props and the venue itself set the scene as we dive into the sexy, debauched world of the Kit Kat Club. Emcee Michael Hurst introduces us to the mad, bad and dangerous to know gang around him, taking us on a journey that we know will shock us in more ways than one. 

Bared flesh and spanking is only the start, and before the night is out we’ve witnessed topless dancers, vicious passion, simulated sex and a phallic addition to the Emcee that must add at least a foot or two to the great man himself. 

There are simply no holds barred and one wonders at the brain from where it all stemmed, but Hurst, this time as Director, has let his imagination and his cast run rampart resulting in a mesmerising, cult-ish swamp of decadence that delights with each shocking act. 

Even the grotesque ‘If You Could See Her’number seemed to find its own place in the bizarre scheme of things, though I found the humour of the number severely lost in interpretation and it will be interesting to see how an audience takes to this kind of parody – those around me noticeably stiffened and forced a smile. If this is the intention, then it works. 

The cast portray an eclectic deviant brew of pretenders, trying to uphold outdated morals and wearing masks of pretence that their world is not changing when each number and scene depicted proves the opposite. The days of gay abandonment are near an end and this cast give us a last hoorah before that end comes storm-trooping in. Chilling. 

This production thrives in showing us that the party in Berlin, though raging as hard and as fast as ever, was over long before anyone bothered to tell the party-goers themselves: each fooling themselves to the bitter end. 

Thank God there is someone out there brave enough to take a knife to Sally Bowles, and cut out Liza Minnelli for once. Amanda Billing is an exciting stage sensation for my money, already breathing new life and blood into what has become a somewhat stale character. Her rendition of ‘Cabaret’ is the one to beat from now on – sung with heartfelt sarcasm, and a sense of futile dreams shattered in every word. 

She is the embodiment of fooling oneself into believing the world will be right, laugh your troubles away and the only evil is that which you snort up your nose; but behind every gesture and nuance is the threat of what is to come and for once I found myself caring for this Sally and what will become of her. You don’t really want her to go ‘back home’ with wet blanket Cliff but at least get the hell out of there. Billing bares her soul right there in front of us and it pays off.

Tyran Parke as Cliff is serious, straight, seeing the action first through his rose tinted glasses then as the glasses and gloves come off, refuses to lose his identity and that of the woman he loves. In the end, though, he runs back home to the safety of Mother and we are left with a sense that Parke has portrayed a Cliff that has let Sally down, deserted her to the Nazi threat and thereby let himself and his ideals down. 

Dressed in permanent tweed and very much a wallflower compared to all that happens around him, Parke gives us the romance of a man in love then the tragedy of that same man still in love. This Cliff has no right to be in Berlin and even less right to lecture others. 

Elderly lovers Paul Barrett as Herr Schultz and Lynda Mulligan, Fraulein Schneider, make us reflect the other side of the coin: two sides of the same country that have no choice in who or how they were born but who suffer because of it. For them running back home is no option as home is where the danger lies, and played in the round, that danger is literally all around. The determined innocence of Barrett’s Schultz, smiling and holding his fiancée’s hand as the cast sing a hymn to Hitler around this Jewish fruit seller, is tragic and heartbreaking. 

Colleen Davies as Fraulein Kost is a walking, glorious sex-mad advert for running home to the safety of mother, whilst Mike Edwards’ Ernst is evil in itself – the blonde, blue-eyed boy that stalks the evening with an oppression that threatens more than his impressive biceps. 

A multi-talented company of five complete the troupe, supporting each other in many creative ways. In turns providing set, scene and props, they are a well-oiled machine and director Hurst should be proud of what they have given him back in return for his vision. It’s all for one up there and the team comes through.

The tribal and energetic choreography by Shona McCullagh is vibrant and powerful, each cabaret routine a story in itself: a major factor in the overall success of the show. Grant Winterburn’s band is not intrusive yet underlying with its haunting renditions. 

When a show can play theatre in the round and make the direction look so effortless, using the arena as if written for it, then full credit to director and cast for allowing the audience to enjoy every moment. Not once did we feel as if we were on the other side from the action. Light use of the revolve made great impact. 

From the light-hearted, but random, cabaret pieces that begin each Act – excellently executed by Mike Edwards and Ebon Grayman at the start of Act 2 – to the horrific beating of Cliff, this show is a sight for all eyes. A must, if only to say you saw this production when it’s spoken about in years to come. 
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