Nocturne – The Black Cat Cabaret

Returning to the London Wonderground after last year’s award-winning production, the Spiegeltent on the South Bank provides a suitably decadent space for the Black Cat Cabaret’s own brand of cabaret noir. This year’s offering is Nocturne, an eclectic mix of circus, dance and comedy threaded together by host Lili La Scala, whose cod-operatic arias both entertain and inform the simple narrative.

The story opens with a commuter, performed by Brett Pfister, plucked from the doldrums of inner-city travel to explore the far more exciting, supernatural world of his own psyche. Taking its inspiration from classic sources from Freud to Mozart, Nocturne uses the commuter’s journey to introduce a succession of familiar acts, culminating in his own spectacular aerial hoop routine.

Despite The Black Cat’s undoubted provenance, Nocturnes proves a surprisingly thin piece of cabaret lacking both the spectacle and humour of previous productions. La Scala is a fascinating and accomplished vocalist but lacks authority as a host capable of leading this show. Katrina Lilwall flies perilously above the stage on chains in one of the circus highlights of the evening while Amy G raises the roof and thankfully engages with her audience as the hilarious, drunken roller-mum.

The trio of dancers, Cabaret Rouge, perform relatively uninspired sets that seem more like fillers rather than features, and Pfister’s dexterous hoop-routine finale is so badly lit it can hardly be seen.  With a show running at 90 minutes, an interval seems spurious and only serves to highlight the slightness of material.