To Cabaret!

By Laura Griffiths

‘Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome’ – not the words of a multilingual journalist but the words of The Emcee in Cabaret.

Since November 2021, the Playhouse Theatre near London’s Embankment has been transformed into The Kit Kat Club. Immersive and all-encompassing from the very first step down to the Club itself, visitors walk through a dimly lit corridor and met with a free drink of Schnapps on arrival. Before even reaching your seat, performers dance and act for their guests.

The theatre itself was in the round, meaning that from wherever you were sitting in the Kit Kat club, you could see every part of the Cabaret.

Given the state of global events at present, going to see a musical where the rise of fascism is happening outside the Kit Kat Club felt quite pertinent. However, the Kit Kat Club still allowed the audience to focus away from the outside world and enjoy the show.

With the cast changing over the course of this week as part of the show’s extended run until October 2022, it felt right to reflect back on what was an incredible show, with truly talented theatre stars.

Having only heard Eddie Redmayne sing as Marius in the Les Misérables, I was unsure as to how he would take to such a seismic role. However, having heard that he had not missed a single show in the current run by one of the theatre staff, I felt excited about his commitment to the role.

Likewise, when I heard that Jessie Buckley was going to be performing as Sally Bowles and It’s a Sin’s Omari Douglas as Cliff, I knew that I was going to be in for a brilliant Monday evening – at the very least, the leads have either been nominated for Oscars and Olivier awards or indeed, won them.

While Sally Bowles is a formidably dark and troubled character, desperate in her pursuit to be loved and adored, Buckley played the role in a gritty yet emotionally vulnerable manner that made you want to hug and reassure her that everything would be okay. I first learnt of Jessie Buckley’s talent in the show I’d Do Anything, a televised musical competition seeking the next woman to play the iconic role of Nancy in Oliver!. Although she never won the show, her talent and musicality shone through to Sally Bowles, another troubled, vulnerable woman in theatreland.

The way Buckley and Douglas connected in their complicated partnership, while both seeking their own forms of happiness was equally compelling in every interaction they had. The way in which this was carried out when Cliff stood up against the ever-increasing prevalence of fascism encroaching Berlin was also incredibly powerful.

However, for me it was Eddie Redmayne who stole the show. Bizarre and unconventional as the host of the Kit Kat club, Emcee invited you into his world of Cabaret in an enticing, yet mildly sinister way.

Always preparing you for the unexpected, his performance involved him climbing around the set, flirting with both the audience and the cast of the show, particularly in the song Two Ladies, and with a gorilla in If you could see her. However, the accents and characterisation of such an iconic role was second to none, and Redmayne made Emcee entirely his own. The very fact he has not missed a show in the entire run was testament to his dedication to the role. Charmingly peculiar, yet wonderful with every movement.

When I returned home that evening, I spoke to my family until the small wee hours of the night about the show and how utterly incredible it was. I don’t know if it was because of how much I‘d missed proper live theatre over the last few years due to covid-induced postponements, or the fact that the performances were the most captivating I had seen in such a long time, but the rush I had experienced from seeing Cabaret was something else. It genuinely offered up the ability to leave your troubles outside the theatre doors and I recommend that you buy, beg or borrow your way to a ticket.