Cabaret Cheek, hosted by the headmistress style Matilda, got off to a slow start. Matilda’s tone seemed slightly off as she tried to encourage the less than enthusiastic audience to show more fervour for each act. It seemed to have the opposite effect on said audience and thus the atmosphere of the half filled venue took a dive, unfortunately.

Matilda was accompanied by a single and very polished saxophonist. The show was based primarily on Matilda belting out her arrangements of some popular songs from Radiohead to Adele whilst the Cabaret acts did their thing.

Her voice was beautiful and powerful. It was the perfect marriage of performance and music.

The acts came out like a smorgasbord. “I put a spell on you” was the first of two titillating striptease acts. It was to set the scene for the rest of the show.

The next skit was titled “cocktail waitress dreams” which went into some pretty solid circus skills using aerial silks suspended high above the stage.

The set ended with a very raunchy striptease by the second “Champagne Showgirl”. This was a high energy performance with a baby pool and even a bottle of sparkling wine being doused seductively over her semi naked body; finally, the less than enthusiastic audience were somewhat more excited.

The only male performer was a completely muscled acrobat. He added a tone of sheer skill and dexterity to some of the skits to follow.

The whole show fell a touch flat unfortunately, although the ensemble gave every ounce of their energy. 

Overall it felt disjointed and lacked the sheer spectacle and wow factor that great burlesque can be.

There were plenty of costume changes and some masterfully arranged music. Each performer did their utmost to entertain the heat exhausted audience.