Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 5 - An Epiphany

Australian Cabaret Summer School Class of 2012

By Jenny Wynter

Excitement. Nerves. Dress Rehearsals.

The atmosphere on our last day of class at the Australian Cabaret Summer School is much like how a good cabaret should be: electric.

Lindsay Prodea at run through

There is a real buzz in the room as we split into groups to make adjustments to our writing, and to run through our shows in front of our mentors and each other. After resolving to just commit to my running order yesterday, I have a sudden change of heart mere moments before I am to jump up to go through my own piece. This is in no small part inspired by my fellow performers. It is something about the shape of my fellow classmate Lindsay Prodea’s show that sparks an idea to rearrange my songs right then and there. I really have been astonished by how much we, as performers, draw from each other. Not in a plagiaristic sense, but it seems to me that creativity begets creativity. Ideas beget ideas. And hopefully tomorrow night, we will beget an audience!

I would normally apologise for that last joke, however, in light of all I have learned this week regarding creative confidence, I simply cannot. NO APOLOGIES HERE!

Megan Doherty and Matthew Carey during dress rehearsal at the Promethean with

After a morning of run-throughs and our official class photo, we haul our metaphorical top hats over to the Promethean for our dress rehearsal. The afternoon is notably sequin-free; it’s a dress rehearsal in name only, which opens up the delicious reveal of seeing each other all dolled up only on the night! I cannot wait to see my classmates tomorrow in what will be a surprise visual feast of fishnets, boas and corsets - It’s like the wedding my hubby would never let me have.

Let me say this: the two Cabaret Summer School Showcase performances are going to be an utter treat. If you are in Adelaide, you really must come. No, REALLY. As one classmate put it today, “you would pay $30 for a meal at a restaurant that a fantastic chef worked hard at for fifteen minutes. For the same price, you can come and enjoy something that fifteen people have been working hard on for an entire week.”

There are stories of love addiction, shoe addiction and Brazilian addiction! There are tales of failed ballet dreams, successful pharmaceutical careers and obsession with bicycle riders. What has been put together in one week by fifteen then-strangers just blows me away. Come and be blown away too! 

Matthew Carey and Rosie Maeder at run through

A defining moment happens in a chat with the Godfather of Cabaret, Frank Ford, who drops in to watch our run-through. He tells me how much he is enjoying everybody’s true stories. Right then and there, that sum up the crux of what I have learned this week. That in cabaret, it is not about the beautiful singing. Nor is it about how well you hit the notes; it isn’t the musical prowess that gets people in. Not that those things aren’t important - of course they are. But what really engages an audience is the authentic sharing of oneself. Just like in life. 

It has really hit me this week (both on-stage and off, in-class and in the in-the-break discussions) how strongly our stories glue us together as human beings.

We need stories.

It’s how we relate to each other. It’s how we connect. And you simply must engage your audience before anything else can happen.

Then you can impress the glittery pants off them with your lungs, vocal chords and your bling. 

 Jenny Wynter is a comedian and cabaret performer, whose award winning one-woman show An Unexpected Variety Show is appearing as part of the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival and the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

She is one of the 15 participants in the 2012 Australian Cabaret Summer School, which was held at Walford. Jenny blogged her experience on Cabaret Confessional throughout the week.

Jenny Wynter’s Australian Cabaret Summer School blog series:

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Meet and Greet & Day 1

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 2 and All That Jazz

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 3 - A Breakthrough  

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 4 - Insecurities

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 5 - An Epiphany

Australian Cabaret Summer School: The Final Frontier

For more information on Australian Cabaret Summer School click here.  

For Cabaret Summer School Showcase info and tickets, click here.

Jenny Wynter’s official website: www.comicmummy.com

Jenny is touring her award-winning An Unexpected Variety Show to the 2012 Adelaide Fringe and the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Click here to book tickets to the 2012 Adelaide Fringe.

Click here to book tickets to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

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