Cabaret comes to Taranaki
With upholstered chaise lounges, low lighting, and extravagant mirrors, the Theatre Royal bar at New Plymouth’s TSB Showplace has been transformed into an intimate cabaret club.
Returning tonight, the Right Royal Cabaret Fest brings a variety of frivolity and hilarity to Taranaki.
‘‘The shows are fun and easy, there’s nothing too challenging and the goal is for everyone to leave with a smile on their face,’’ Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (TAFT) marketing and communications manager Cleo Wood said.
‘‘The idea was to have stuff that had a broad appeal,’’ TAFT chief executive Suzanne Porter added.
The festival initially launched in 2012 and TAFT saw an opportunity to resurrect it this year to alternate with the Taranaki Arts Festival.
‘‘Compared to the arts festival this is quite small and niche,’’ Porter said. ‘‘The bones were there from the first time we did it.’’
‘‘There’s a lot of really good cabaret coming out of Australia so it’s easy for us to spot it and it’s not too expensive to bring in and New Zealand has the start of some really good cabaret artists coming through.’’
The festival features acts such as Ben Hurley’s stand-upcomedy-punk-musical 22 Rants, Sheba William’s tribute to Nina Simone, and drag show YUMMY.
‘‘My pick is definitely YUMMY, it’s very quirky, it’s not a drag show as you know it, there’s a lot of theatre and circus in it,’’ Porter said.
Tickets range from $45 for a theatre seat to $55 for a table seat.