Last night Bar des Arts cocktail bar, opposite the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, played host to a lively and fully entertaining show called Cabaret Twist. The production was put on by local favourites Guildford Fringe Theatre Company and Pitgems Creative Theatre Company and featured five young, up-and-coming talents on a highly successful evening.
Cabaret as you would expect works best in a café or restaurant environment and Bar des Arts managed to provide an exceptional location for a show that has played once before in Guildford as part of the Guildford Fringe Festival earlier in July this year. The combination of ambient lighting, tasty apperitivo’s and sumptuous cocktails certainly made the crowded bar feel comfortable in an intimate, but elegant environment. The Bar is known in Guildford for its cultural roots and performances such as yesterdays will only heighten its profile as great venue as well as cement Guildford Fringe Theatre Company as leaders for unconventional, fringe performances in the locale.
The show commenced not with an introduction or even a master of ceremonies making an announcement that the show would begin shortly, but with all five performers appearing from different parts of the bar before meeting by the piano on the small stage. The show featured Emma Trow, founder of Pitgems on the piano, Chris Myers on guitar and Simon Hewitson singing (both 22 year old ACM graduates) and Itali Conti graduates Danniella Schindler and Eloise Smith.
All of the performers wore simple costumes with minimal props and had painted faces not too dissimilar to mimes. However, high-budget and bright lights is not the nature of these production companies, high quality and entertainment is. The five caricatures played out a weaving and intertwining story of love, loss and lust through a score of 34 well known songs from past and present. These were sung as solos, duets or harmonies from the very capable voices of Danniella Shindler, Eloise Smith and Simon Hewitson, who were all excellent on the night.
At first Eloise and Daniella’s characters were the best of friends as highlighted by the song ‘Friendship’ and the audience were made aware of their emotions by singing ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ and by a quick dress change. The Romeo of the story, Simon Hewitson then went on to serenade the audience and girls with his good range and subtle tenner voice by singing ‘Just Haven’t Met You Yet’. Unfortunately both of the female characters end up falling for young Simon and it all ends in tears when he eventually choses one of them.
The story then took a dramatic twist when Simon then turned to his male counterpart Chris Myers and sung ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ in a very sensual and scandalous manner. The second half of the show started with Eloise’s character being pregnant and the two girls reconciling their friendship through their mutual despair of their situation. ‘My Girl’ and ‘Small Bump’ were both sung in relation to Simon wanting to take care of his new found child, but ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and ‘Emotions’ were sung well by the ladies to show their anger and strength.
There was a lovely moment when all three vocalists combined to sing ‘My Guy’ as each character looked to the one they loved and pined for. The set was finished by the classics ‘Mr Bojangles’ and ‘I’ll Be There’ as the characters seemed to settle their differences, but the story is certainly open to interpretation! Each song was met in the crowd by a lengthy applause and at the end, an improbable encore was demanded which highlighted how much enjoyment the show had created.
The performers managed to navigate a tricky and intricate environment as they moved around the bar to keep the show interactive, often popping up in different corners to provide a backing vocal. The audience themselves were incredibly respectful as well as they kept deadly silent throughout each number, with only the sounds of the cocktail shaker and cutlery on china occasionally being heard above the music. The bar staff did a great job shepherding in the late comers away from the stage and somehow managing to do all the noisy parts of mixing cocktails in between songs instead of interrupting the performance. Overall, a thoroughly entertaining evening of entertainment with exceptional performances from all of the cast that had most people smiling, laughing and singing along to their favourite songs quietly under their breath.
Nick Wyshna, Managing Director of Guildford Fringe Theatre had this to say after the show, “As ever the cabaret twist team didn’t disappoint. It’s the 2nd time I’ve invited them to Guildford Fringe and it won’t be the last, they are a pleasure to work with and a joy to watch. Do check out Pitgems Theatre Company to see what else they are up to.”
James Martin
