Queensland Cabaret Festival is back for 2023, inviting theatre-goers to leave their comfort zone and step into a cabaret-inspired world of live music, storytelling, and inspiration.
The festival presents an intimate sphere of the brilliant, bright, beautiful and bewildering from the original metaverse – cabaret. Multiple venues, multiple stories, multiple talents – there's plenty to bear witness to at Cabfest in 2023.
It's all happening at this year's event, whether you're craving a quiet, considered night at the theatre, a raucous, fun time you hope will never end. . . Or something in between.
The cabaret festival has technically existed for 23 years, first introduced in 2000 as Brisbane Cabaret Festival before expanding to Queensland Cabaret Festival from 2014. Each year, the event has presented the best in 21st century cabaret and featured star-studded line-ups.
Festival Director Alison St Ledger tells us more about just what can be expected in 2023 at Queensland Cabaret Festival.
What’s in store for cabaret lovers in 2023?
I'm so proud of this year's line-up. There's a huge amount of Brisbane-based acts who've been bottling up their creative energy through the past two very uncertain years in the live performance space. So there's a truly palpable sense of excitement and eagerness to get out and perform. Artists like Ruth Gardner, Kristy Apps, Sarah Stockholm and Silver Sircus have developed new shows specifically for the Cabfest. Brisbane legends, Leah Cotterell and Daryl Murphy are appearing in the festival for the first time in quite a while and others like Mzaza and Jonathon Welch are making their festival debut. There's also some unfinished business (like Queenie van de Zandt's new show) that were slated for the 2022 programme that got waylaid by floods, pestilence and rolling lockdowns, so I'm absolutely delighted to be able to finally press the button and unleash them on Brisbane audiences.
The festival is quite immersive, taking place across multiple venues. Why do you think this works so well?
I believe that the environment or atmosphere is key to the cabaret experience. I agree with what David Byrne says about it – "the same music placed in a different context can not only change the way the listener perceives that music, but it can also cause the music itself to take on an entirely new meaning" – so I try very hard to match the artist/show with the venue as each place offers its own unique atmosphere that creates a special exchange between performer and audience. The exchange is the quintessential element of cabaret and what the Cabfest is all about.
'Choose Your Own Adventure'
When putting the programme together, what sorts of things were you looking for when it came to themes/topics?
After over 20 years of doing the festival in all its vast and varied iterations, the one thing I've learned is that these kinds of things happen organically and that you can't deliberately impose a theme or topic onto the programming process. If you cast out your line far and wide enough and keep yourself open to anything, the inspiration comes to you and then, somewhat magically, a theme or a confluence emerges that brings it all together and makes sense when the parts become a whole.
Why do you think these themes/topics are important to address?
What's important to me when I programme is individuality being expressed. Every single person has a unique take on life, the universe and everything and I want to offer a platform for individuality and uniqueness to be shared through music and storytelling.
What’s your favourite part about directing a festival like this one?
My favourite part is when the houselights go down, the spotlights come up, there’s a real sense of anticipation in the audience, the show begins, and I get a thrill out of the sense of having helped to bring it all about.
And why do you think cabaret is so effective as an art form?
I really like the egalitarian nature of cabaret. It has an immediacy and an intimacy that is unique to the cabaret space. And, of course, the fact that all forms of music can be incorporated into cabaret – it’s not constrained in that way. We haven’t done a death metal cabaret yet but you never know!
'Sex & Other Philosophies'
How would you sell the genre of cabaret to someone wondering whether they should give it a go?
As an audience member you always leave the room feeling changed in some way. You haven’t been just a passive observer, you’ve shared an experience, you’ve been inside somebody’s story and have become part of that story. In fact, this year Queenie van de Zandt’s show is called 'Choose Your Own Adventure' where the audience will be able to actually influence how the show unfolds live on stage, in real time!
Anything you’re particularly champing at the bit to check out when the festival takes over Brisbane?
Well, it’s actually taken more than four years for the stars to align to include both Queenie and the brilliant French-Sephardic band Mzaza in the line-up, so to say I’m champing at the bit is a bit of an understatement. I seriously can’t wait!
Describe Queensland Cabaret Festival 2023 in four words.
Adventurous, Uplifting, Out-there, Inspiring.
Queensland Cabaret Festival is on from 24 March-16 April.
