Lili loves a Showman

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chap, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Fringe, edinburgh fringe festival, Fringe, gag reflex, Mat Ricardo, pleasance, show, Showman, suit, walker slater

This month every year, I decamp my household to the Edinburgh Fringe for a month of shows and socialising and this evening I slipped away from baby food and nappies and saw my first Fringe show, the incomparable Mr Mat Ricardo.

Produced by the rather fabulous Gag Reflex, Mat is the very embodiment of a gentleman juggler and he is, without a doubt, the best dressed chap at the Fringe. Wearing the most sick-makingly delicious tailor-made suit from Walker Slater here in (surprisingly) sunny Edinburgh, Mat looked every inch the gent, complete with rather natty pocket square. But enough of his sartorial prowess, on to his show.
I enjoyed it thoroughly, his level of skill is so high and he is completely passionate about his art. With a shot of history thrown in for good measure, the show is a whirlwind journey through some of the highest skill juggling stunts that you will see around today.
So do take the chance to see him, if you can, you won’t regret it. It is a rare treat to see so many incredible stunts in one show and all neatly tied together with Mat’s signature style.

Love Lili
x

Mat Ricardo: Showman is on from 31st to the 25th August at 18.50 in the Jack Dome, Pleasance Dome.

Lili’s in the Pink on the Green

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Bendy Bendini, cabaret, circus, contortion, festival, Joe Black, Kotiri Tent, outdoors, Sam Wills, songs, tent, Tony Roberts, Village Green

This weekend, in the sweltering heat of our glorious four day summer (so far, I’m crossing my fingers for more,) I took my beautiful miniature circus tent, The Kotiri Tent, out for a jaunt to a local festival.

Run by a company called Metal, Village Green Festival has been running for four years and is going from strength to strength each year. A fantastic combination of music, art, dance and community and all for free, it is a huge asset to the community here in South East Essex. Since we lost the Southend Airshow, (a daft decision by a stunningly short-sighted council), Village Green is a chance for the local community to get together and celebrate the local arts scene, which is thriving if this marvellous little festival is anything to go by.
It’s always lovely to get our dinky little top out and once we remember how to erect her (we always forget to write instructions and much like an Ikea wardrobe, there are always nuts and bolts left at the end!), she’s a real peach with a warm and welcoming atmosphere for 20 people. Especially warm, when the thermometer goes way up the way it did on Saturday, hitting 30 in the sun.

On the bill we had the nefarious Joe Black, contortion man Bendy Bendini, our spruiker Sam Wills and me, the tent mistress presiding over all and singing songs. We also had street performance maestro, Tony Roberts, who did some killer circle shows to very appreciative, and enormous, crowds.

The audiences were just fantastic. Friendly, open minded, broad spectrum’d and as the afternoon progress, beautifully lubricated by the beer and pimms. We even had a visit from Bismarck, who was riding in my son’s Silver Cross pram.

By the time we had each spruiked, barked and cajoled audiences into buying tickets and done four shows each, we were all exhausted, hoarse and more than a little sticky. Someone of my northern hemisphere skin type doesn’t cope well in the sun, I’m fine between 20 and 23 degrees on a cloudy day!! In fact, in weather like this, I prefer to operate under the cover of darkness!
After we’d finished, we wandered back to chez moi for a well deserved pimms and a BBQ and a chance to debrief, not literally though as we sadly lack a pool! Today, Joe and Bendini made at least 11th page news!

The Village Green Festival was a complete joy and we are already talking about how to top it next year, I’m thinking maybe a full size circus tent. I do hope it is still free for the community next year, although they do need donations to keep running it this way. So if you enjoyed Village Green 2013, show your appreciation. You can text ‘VGFR33 £3’ to 70070 to donate £3, imagine if all of the 30,000 people who came through the gates did that, it would make next year’s festival the one to be at. It’s in your hands, my darlings, it’s your festival, support it.

Lili’s not Cabaret Enough?

Tags

artistic scene, burlesque, cabaret, cabaret festival, ecdysiast, entertainment, festival, musical theatre, performers, songs, variety

This has been a controversial week in the world of London cabaret with the announcement last week of the inaugural London Cabaret Festival. It should have been a day of celebration for Cabarati London, nay world, wide. One of the greatest cities in the world raising a huge mainstream flag for a cause which is a passion for many of us? A godsend, a missive and a portend of the acceptance of cabaret into the wider artistic scene. Mais quelle horreur, ‘twas not to be.
The twitter feed appeared, the PR people rustled their press releases and some little web person somewhere clicked their mouse and the announcement was made. The line-up appearing on their website. Immediately, a sense of confusion reigned, this was not cabaret as we know and love it. This was a selection of big names in musical theatre, singing songs. A facet of cabaret, yes, but not a gin-addled host, juggler, hula hoopist or feathered ecdysiast in sight. Not even a variety show? Confusion turned to indignance turning then to anger. Not because Cabarati hate musical theatre, indeed, I am a passionate fan (and I know I share this with Mr Chris Cox, Miss Mia Merode and many others, though not Dusty Limits who has never even seen Les Mis but I digress) but because in a city where cabaret has fought derision from the mainstream, (remember the Cabariot and the following song ‘Too Cabaret’) for being too ‘end-of the pier’, too sparkly and too cruise ship, it has banded together, risen above and carved a successful niche over the last decade appearing in some of the Capital’s highest profile venues. At the same time, cabaret continues in small rooms atop pubs, basements below restaurants and a thriving community supports and protects its own, as Coco Dubois commented, ‘the people who ARE cabaret, who give their lives to it, who live it, who create the industry on a daily basis, haven’t been invited to the party’
By ignoring every single performer on the London scene, the London Festival of Cabaret (notice the awkward arrangement of those words, mes amis and maybe type a rearrangement into google!) does itself, and cabaret, a huge disservice. I can understand (sort of) the desire of the Festival to have a ‘song book’ festival, surely by any other name it would still smell as sweet? The London Festival of Musical Theatre? The London Festival of Cabaret Song? The organisers say that the festival has ‘an emphasis on celebrating the music, lyrics and interpreters of popular American and European song’ and yet the London Cabaret Scene boasts some of the best song interpreters in the world, for example Dusty Limits, Le Gateau Chocolat and dare I say, me! All have been overlooked in favour of a programme of stars from stage and TV. Last time I checked, Alexander Armstrong wasn’t a cabaret performer but a TV personality who can hold a tune.
I think a great festival is a glorious melange of big names and lesser known gems rather than a roll call of big names designed to create big revenue. London needs a cabaret festival that celebrates every fabulous facet of the glittering scene, a festival where audiences have the chance to discover new work, as well as enjoy shows by artists they know and love. Mind-reader, Alex McAleer, said ‘When I hear the words ‘London Cabaret’ I think of some of the best acts in the world. None of which are represented in this alleged festival celebrating the thriving scene!’
The Festival has received negative feedback from so many of the performers on the cabaret scene but has, so far, refused to engage with its critics although as Amelie Soleil said, ‘Their twitter feed has rebuked with “it’s an inaugural event.” However, surely an inaugural event should be as diverse as possible to generate & nurture audiences to allow for specialisation in subsequent years. It’s a castration of the scene’.  Well respected cabaret performer, Mat Ricardo commented, ‘It’s insulting and ill-thought through, and their refusal to engage with the wealth of negative feedback they’re getting on social media is indicative of their “couldn’t care less” attitude to the genuine cabaret scene in London’.
Feelings are running rather high amongst the Cabarati, with one well-known tap-dancer being blocked by the London Festival of Cabaret for airing her passionate views. I chatted to one of London’s most respected hosts and Double R Club king, Mr Benjamin Louche earlier today, ‘Anything that bills itself as The London Festival Of Cabaret yet refuses to engage with, or make use of, the staggering plethora of the city’s long standing cabaret scene is willfully marginalizing itself, as well as its understanding of the genre; and is insulting those who have worked, and continue to work, so hard to keep the industry going. With its stupefying lack of variety, TLFOC is the very antithesis of true cabaret. It’s like an event billing itself as The London Festival Of Circus and only putting clowns on the bill. Shameful and idiotic.’
So from being ‘Too Cabaret’, it now appears we are ‘Not Cabaret Enough’ and in the words of hugely successful cabaret queen, Frisky of Frisky & Mannish, nobody saw that coming.