Produced by Sweet Beef and Pleasance
Review by Jack Quinn
Welcome, Wilkommen, Bienvenue, one and all to the Cabaret Fragile! Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your…lonely self. Crying Shame is a spectacle of cabaret, camp, clowning, and, most importantly, serving a whole evening’s worth of another c-word *censored*.
Come for the set alone, which completely transforms the King Dome into a circus, home to the most deliciously deviant and seductive clowns about town. However, at the heart of this world of avant-garde entertainment sits a well of loneliness, which the show attempts to heal.
A cast of four leads this cabaret of exploring themes of isolation, the capacity for self-delusion, and the yearning for connection in the world through a series of vignettes of Britney Spears, lip-syncing to Kim Woodburn, Cyndi Lauper anthems, expertly performed mime sequences, and fierce drag.
This show is a love letter to the messy, ugly and beautiful inner children within us all in a world where we may have changed on the outside, but some of us still find ourselves sitting on the friendship stop; perhaps our lonely playground moments are there in our everyday adult lives. Crying Shame, playful and audacious in its energy, ignites the child within, teaching us well so that we can lead the way, healing our inner children who are the future – the hope for a balm from the loneliness and isolation central to the human experience.
A Spectacle of Camp, Cabaret, and Clowning
Crying Shame runs at Just the Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, until August 25th on select dates
Running time – One hour without interval
Photo Credit – Rona Bar & Ofek Avshalom
Review by Jack Quinn (contact@corrblimey.uk)
This gander likes to keep a lower profile than the rest of the flock. No less determined, this particular gander might just be someone who wishes to keep their feathers out of the business…!
