Not Quite Cabaret 2014

Not Quite Cabaret has returned on a Friday night to the Exchange Hotel Balmain. It is a great way to end a busy week, with a glass or two, good food and a belly full of laughs. T

he Exchange Hotel in Balmain is full of character, though on Fridays you will see a few unusual characters too. Tucked away in a candle lit room, you can enjoy a meal while watching Not Quite Cabaret. As the title says, it is not cabaret but the room is set with tables and chairs, there is a small stage where you will enjoy six different short sketches. All the sketches in this season are very funny and very well written. Those of you who have been before, this is some of the best of the best.

TV Gold, Sushi Wushi Woo, Darth Vader, Crush, Renegade and World War 2. Unlike previous years there is only one interval, but after the interview is a double whammy of World War 2, these sketches have been an audience favourite for many seasons. They revolve around two airman who are certainly not the brightest in fact one of them has little knowledge that he is even in a war and has inadvertently bombed Britain by mistake.

There are four actors for the whole night, so yes, they play multiple characters. To make a night like this work you do need a strong cast who can quickly adapt in and out of roles. Jasper Garner Gore, Brinly Meyer, Fabrizio Omodei and Lara Lightfoot gave a first class performance all directed by Gary Boulter. Deborah Bradshaw the producer of Not Quite Cabaret has a very hands on approach and greets and seats all the audience members and warms everyone up with a filthy dirty joke.

Not Quite Cabaret is a fun night out, for more information - www.notquitecabaret.com

Not Quite Cabaret - Review

Birdmonster, Push Yourself, RAF, Darth, Crush and A Little Blue what have they all got in common?
They are all short plays/sketches that can been seen on Thursdays nights in Balmain in Not Quite Cabaret. This is Season Two of three. Season One which I also reviewed was fantastic and a sell out season. Season Two I can say is just as good if not better, if that is possible.
Each of the sketches are very funny and light hearted as Deborah Bradshaw said at the start there is 'nothing too heavy so you don't have to worry'. Deborah's focus is to make sure everybody has a relaxing enjoyable evening with friends, and it works.  The Exchange Hotel has a air of colloquial warmth, helped by the fire and furnishings. The room where Not Quite Cabaret takes place is intimate, lit by candles and was a great place to be on a chilly winters night.
The seven sketches (there were two RAF sketches) were all played by Deborah Bradshaw, Belinda Crawley, Brendon Taylor and Leigh Scully. They were all great and very versatile,  playing characters from Darth Vader to a personal trainer and a whale to the French resistance, you get the idea! The seven sketches were all very different but all contained a huge amount of humour and classic lines like "powdered egg is just so gay" there were many more but taken out of context would make little sense.
The first sketch Birdmonster was one of the cleverest and would have been one of the more difficult ones to perform. It was about three parents who meet daily at the park with their children. They have the usual gossip session interspersed with conversations with the children. It is full of innuendo and will have you laughing within a minute of it starting.
Darth was another standout this season. I am sure Darth was loosely based on Basil Fawtly. It was very well written and again you couldn't help but laugh, otherwise he could kill you with just one thought! "would you like peas with that?"
Just thinking about the night has me smiling, it was great comic therapy and I can't wait to see what they will do for Season Three in October/ November.
Not Quite Cabaret plays every Thursday at the Exchange Hotel until 26 July, www.notquitecabaret.com