For the first time ever, the Glen Street Theatre is presenting Cabaret In The Glen, a festival overflowing with entertainment, theatre, music, art and conversation across the Sydney Northern Beaches and North Shore.
Held across five jam-packed days and nights and on two special stages, Cabaret In The Glen will be bursting at the seams with something for absolutely everyone to enjoy.
Artistic Director Catherine Alcorn says that the festival has been in the works for a while but it’s all going to be worth it. “It's been a long time coming, the initial idea was presented to me by the former Director of the theatre back in 2014, after she came to see one of my performances,” Catherine says. “We've been working on this programme and the festival since 2014.”
Being the first proper cabaret festival in Sydney, attendees are going to experience a festival like no other and that’s exactly what Catherine says they wanted to achieve. “The whole idea behind the festival is to do something that no one's ever done before,” she says. “Glen Street has a very high subscriber group so we wanted to present them with something they've never seen before but also we're noticing there's a lot of new young families moving back into the area so we also want to entice them to come along and back into the theatre.”
'Between The Cracks'Although a ‘cabaret’ festival probably doesn’t sound like the most children-welcoming event, Catherine insists that they have catered for all ages, having two kids shows in the programme. “What I've really tried to do is to do a programme that will suit everyone,” she says. “We're bringing a lot of shows that are on the side of fringe, that were hits at the Sydney Festival earlier this year.”
“We're also programming late night shows as well, so we're trying to give really diverse options to the subscribers and people who we're trying to entice into the theatre for the first time.”
With a line-up and programme that is already impressive and exciting, all of the talents are from no where else but Australia. “What I'm really proud of with this programme is that all of the artists are from our own backyard. They're all Australian and they're all world class,” Catherine says. “Essentially it feels like we're bringing the world stage to Glen Street. I can put my money were my mouth is with the pedigree of each performance and artist.”
Catherine says that the response to the festival has been beyond her expectations. “Everyone is blown away. The response has been incredible. The artists we have are the type that people cross the bridge for,” she says.
'Mother's Ruin'Along with Cabaret In the Glen being the first festival of its kind in Sydney, there’s going to be something that has never been seen before premiering at the event. “We have had the opportunity to commission a brand new show which is ‘Girls On Tap’, presented by Sally Hare,” Catherine says.
Being the event's first time, Catherine and others working behind the festival are hoping it will become an addition to the Sydney Northern Beaches entertainment calendar. “I'd really like to see this become an annual event for the Northern Beaches. It's something that doesn't exist here.”
