Sveta Dobranoch and The Brown Bears - From Russia with Lust: reviewed on the web
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 10:47PM
Via RHUM
From Russia With Lust is the comedy festival debut of Sveta Dobranoch. Dobranoch is a foul tempered, loud and petulant Russian cabaret diva - a wonderful creation from burlesque-opera performer Simone Page Jones.
For this show, in which she tells her tearful back-story between ironic super-wrought covers of pop songs, Dobranoch is helped by the Brown Bears: folk-comedy group the Suitcase Royal in furry hats. Dobranoch is amazing; a diminutive, tempestuous force of nature, a thing of pure soviet kitch and high-velocity promiscuity. RHUM attended on media night, and through the course of the one-hour show she managed to grope, proposition, dry-hump, smear lipstick on, throw underwear at or otherwise sexually harass every representative of the media or festival in attendance.
It also has heart. There is a lot to like about Dobranoch, whose melodramatic journey through life and love has a kind of universal thread running through it. We’ve all been there, when it seemed like the only way you could properly express your heartbreak is through hyperbole. There’s something to relate to in Dobranoch, even as she stomps up and down the aisles in towering stilettos, or climbs up and mounts your date.
This is the only show I’ve seen this festival that got a standing ovation, and the only one where the crowd pelted the performers with roses afterwards. Funny, rousing and even a little bit touching. A must-see.
Click here to read the entire review by Liam Pieper.
Click here for the show and booking info.
Other cabaret reviews from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival:
Carl-Einar Hackner: Big in Sweden
I Heart Frankston: the Musical
The Bedroom Philosopher: Songs from the 86 Tram
Sing Us a Song, You’re the Piano, Anne
Geraldine Quinn: Shut Up and Sing
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