Urgency and intimacy, cabaret-style
A DEEPLY insecure diva. A massive ego. A need to be loved.
This is what the character-driven cabaret, is all about, according to its chanteuse Sarah-Louise Young.The show features 10 songs and a poignantly crafted story around La Poule, a character of which Edith Piaf has a big influence, says Young, who is from Canterbury, England.
“Expect laughter and tears, heartbreaking ballads and comically hilarious original songs,” adds Young who, with pianist Michael Roulston, has been writing together for a decade.
“This is our ninth show together. We love exploring the complex relationship between a performer and the audiences, that strange co-dependency,” says Young, before adding, “We both also come from theatre backgrounds, so it has a narrative arc and a great story to follow.”
The duo has won several awards in Britain, including London’s West End, in the US (New York), Germany (Berlin) and Australia (Adelaide Cabaret Festival) for their shows.
“I studied drama at university before training in musical theatre but I was always interested in the immediacy of cabaret: How close you could get to your audience and how you can adapt the show to incorporate what that particular audience gives you that night,” she says.
“A group of us started a cabaret show in London about 18 years ago, when there was not much of a scene and started creating shows together,” she adds.It was at this time when she met Roulston. After discovering a shared passion for writing, they made their first show together.
“The Edinburgh Fringe has always been an important place to develop and showcase work and that’s where we took our first multi-character piece,
From that, the prestigious Adelaide Cabaret Festival came calling, and opened many doors for us around the world,” she says.
Young adds that she prefers the smaller spaces, “so you can really get to know the audience,” which might explain her return to the Theatre Lounge Cafe in Plaza Damas, Sri Hartamas.
She last performed at the Dama Asia space in 2014 with (a celebration of English songwriting, with a focus on great lyricists like Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim) and
about the life of Julie Andrews. Be it big theatres or small venues, Young says: “I never take for granted a single person who decides to give you their evening in exchange for entertainment.
“We always hope to make people laugh but also hope to move them and make them feel. I’m so excited to return to the Theatre Lounge, where I performed six shows a couple of years ago and had a wonderful time.”
On her biggest lesson learnt on stage, she says: “Much like in life, if you’re too busy in your head or planning for the future, you can miss the beautiful opportunities in the present.
“Sometimes the best moments in a show are when something has gone wrong or an audience member says something unexpected.
“If you are present and flexible, it can turn into the highlight of the night.” The star of Je Regrette, Sarah-Louise Young