‘Babushka: Doll' is the exciting, sass filled comedy cabaret that mixes musical talent with the beloved childhood BFF, the doll.
The show is a fresh take on cabaret style with Alicia Cush, Bethan Ellsmore and Judy Hainsworth performing at the Redland Performing Arts Centre.
'Doll' revolves around three different, cheeky and wildly talented diva dolls that look to explore almost every aspect of being a woman through incredible musical mash ups, dynamic scenes and witty comedy. Bethan explains the initial driving force behind creating the innovative show. "We wanted to create a signature piece together; something that was uber fantastic that had real guts. We teamed with fantastic set and costume designers to bring to life our idea of looking at the relationship of the doll as the childhood BFF," she says. "Using dolls also allowed us to explore what it’s like to be woman, objectification, and a bunch of other lady things. We are all musically driven and have a base in classical singing which has really helped us to make the show what it is. It allows us to have almost no limitations and just have fun with it."
Through extreme dissection of songs, the show has successfully mixed songs together from every genre, including mixing a nursery rhyme with a Missy Elliott rap. Alicia, the musical director as well as performer, has creatively arranged the songs in a new, fresh way with not one being a cover. This aspect is challenging, although both girls agree on what the most challenging aspect of the show is, as Alicia says: “Trying to fit every idea in the show was very challenging. We had to trim down the songs and issues we present, while still keeping our style. When you use the theme of dolls there is just so many issues you can explore."
“We can explore both feminist issues and non-feminist issues, the dolls are just such a source of inspiration and a real tool, that it was hard to fit everything we wanted in!” Bethan says. “We had a few things we really liked but we just had to leave them out."The girls have performed a similar show at many festivals including Adelaide Fringe. The show is always successful with the girls loving the crowd interaction and reaction as Alicia explains: “It’s the instant feedback and the intimate crowds that we love. We have worked really hard, and to gain that attention and respect is amazing!" Bethan agrees: “There is just a fantastic energy, and it becomes a magical performance. When you're surrounding by amazing performers you get so inspired and you can just inject that energy into your own show."
‘Babushka: Doll’ is not only an enjoyable and fantastic night out for the audience... The girls also have a great time, Alicia says: “I enjoy how silly we get to be, we always enjoy ourselves and really let ourselves get into the characters and just have fun with it." Bethan echoes this: "The performance has such high energy, we are always knackered at the end but it's so much fun to perform together."
“It’s a crazy, fun entertaining grown up play date! We can't wait to get together and perform it!"
