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Edinburgh Fringe 2010

Cabaret Whore Encore

Sarah Louise Young/Laughing Horse

Genre: Burlesque, Cabaret

Venue: Three Sisters, 139 Cowgate

Festival:


Low Down

Four radically different women share their love of cabaret, men, wine, love and just about everything else in a well-constructed hour of lyrical comedy.

Review

Sarah Louise Young has a rare gift for characterising the sort of women that just live for an audience. Following a sell-out success in 2009, she has returned to the Fringe, forsaking the bright lights of the major venues for the dimmer lit Free Fringe where, as she says, the first thing that they hand you is a bucket – to collect contributions from the audience I might add.

This year she is exhibiting a quartet of radically different characters that allow her to display her considerable talents in terms of vocal dexterity, accent and delivery. We started with an American cabaret diva d’une certain age who was clearly someway past her sing-by date. This was cleverly pitched as Young aged her voice to her character, no mean feat given she had to maintain sufficient volume to fill a packed auditorium. We then moved to the opposite end of the spectrum with a young lady of indeterminate East European origins, feline like in her purple cat suit and more than seductive enough for the males in the front row of the audience.
 
A further complete contrast followed as we met Carol-Ann, an Australian evangelist with a penchant for gospel cabaret before the line up concluded with La Poule Plombee, a psychotic French femme fatale, complete with clinical depression and a kitchen knife.
 
Young has created original, appropriate and sharp-witted lyrics for each of her excellently developed characters, effectively allowing her to tell the story behind her creations in song and the comedic patter between numbers. She is a natural impersonator and has put considerable thought into producing backing tracks that support the voice and personality of each character.   There is no danger of awkward pauses as she changes characters either as some innovative voiceovers give her just about enough time to switch costumes in the wings.
 
This is a show has a lot to recommend it : the range and depth of the characters Young has developed, her obvious talent as a cabaret vocalist, the musical and lyrical content and the thought that has been put into costumes, lighting and sound. An amusing and entertaining hour – and it’s free!
 
 

Published

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Sarah Louise Young