Something strange is happening in the iconic Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Something unexpected, joyful and gleefully subversive. As MC Ruby Wednesday puts it while batting their luxuriant lashes, “we’ve got Weimar, we’ve got punk, we bring it together, we’ve got Riff Raff!” It is, of course, another edition of the magnificent Riff Raff Kabarett, which bring together the finest in burlesque, music and class consciousness together in aid of Cabaret Vs Cancer.
Ruby Wednesday, Riff Raff Kabarett @ Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 2024-03-12
Hersh Dagmarr’s cut glass tones open the night. He sings with perfect enunciation like a radio announcer from a bygone age, a fur stole hung lazily over one shoulder and sequin tassels pinned to his blazer. In his second set he claims to have lived in Weimar a century ago, which may be a slight exaggeration, but his choice of 1920s gay liberation anthem ‘The Lavender Song’ for his set is ferocious and perfectly supports his story. He’s the ‘tiny touch of artistic political rebellion’ that Wednesday promised at the start, all fey defiance in a corduroy suit. Mistress Sigma follows with an American Psycho-inspired burlesque. She struts onstage to Bateman’s opening monologue from the movie and wraps her face in cellophane, gasping as the gaudy lipstick drawn onto the sheet transfers to her face, and gyrates to Neo-liberal talking points remixed to a house beat. “It wouldn’t be Riff Raff if you weren’t questioning your concept of reality,” quips Wednesday
Mistress Sigma, Riff Raff Kabarett @ Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 2024-03-12
Miss Cocoa Amore dominates the burlesque side of the evening. Her first routine in a bejewelled red ensemble exudes bold power in every flick of her hips, eliciting excited squeals from the crowd. Drag king assistant Laz Lightning mops the front row’s brows with Amore’s casually discarded leopard print gloves. When she returns for her second performance, she looks like a model whose elderly billionaire husband just died in mysterious circumstances after changing his will in her favour and thrills with suggestive moves soundtracked to Edwyn Collins’ Never Known A Girl Like You Before, changing dramatically to AC/DC’s Back in Black.. Between her sets, Hersh Dagmarr returns to reimagine Britney Spears’ Oops!…I Did It Again in his anachronistic quivering voice then switches to singing a stunning update of Edith Piaf’s Padam, padam… in his native French.
Miss Coco Amore, Riff Raff Kabarett @ Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 2024-03-12
One of the joys of Riff Raff is the wholesome class solidarity. As Wednesday explains, “we’re all working class and just trying to, y’know, survive,” and bringing a little casual Marxism into the humour reminds you that cabaret is more than just lightweight entertainment. Middle Class Confessionals, in which we’re encouraged to divulge our most middle class habits while being open about our mental health, cuts between serious and hilarious with each line. Pulling on the thin tightrope between the emotions is Riff Raff’s biggest strength and they absolutely know how to use it for maximum effect. ‘Trans Drag Powerhouse’ Cyro channels their fragility in a translucent babydoll dress, lip-syncing their way through a tortured breakup song into a static-powered tantrum crescendo, before Wednesday finishes the night with an impassioned striptease to System of A Down’s B.Y.O.B. As a closer, it sums up the Riff Raff Kabarett to a tee: provocative, unexpected and artistically disruptive in the most exciting way. With only two months to go until their next evening of delights on 21st May at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, you’d best not get too comfortable.
A review of RiffRaff Kabarett at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern on 12th March 2024. Words by Kate Allvey, photography by Pauline Di Silvestro
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