Under a red light and a black backdrop, the white piano is played and the pianist greets the audience with Guten Abend before Micaela Leon slinks on stage dressed in black satin slacks, basque and white tuxedo, setting the tone for a unique cabaret evening.
This is more than just entertainment. Micaela Leon draws eight legendary German women of the 1918-1933 era, described as "beautiful like angels but not quite as clean", out of the shadows. She tells their stories and their influence through songs, sung in German and English, made famous by these women. Between songs, she narrates something of the history and culture of the time. With no more props than a top hat, a shawl, a fur coat and a black tuxedo she represents these eight different women who were brave, daring, scandalous and ahead of their time and in a several cases, sexually ambivalent.
Although two of the women, Marlene Dietrich and Rosa Luxembourg are still well known, the others (Gabriele Tergit, a Jewish journalist haunted by early trial of Hitler and Ruth Landshoff, a friend of American dancer Josephine Baker) are possibly less familiar, so this feminist revelation is an important one. The part cabaret part didactic style of this talented, attractive singer/actor would have been more accommodated by a cabaret arrangement of seats in the house.
Times:
August 5-7, 11, 18, 24-26:@ 21.35 (55mins) (£9.50/£8.50)
August 8-10, 14-16, 21-23, 28-31 (55mins) (£11.50/£10.50)
August 12-13, 19-20, 26-27 (55mins)(£10.50/£9.50)