Fringe 2023 Kiki Deathbed Cabaret Christine Bovill Gilded Balloon 21st August Review
Kiki Deathbed Cabaret starring Christine Bovill (Kiki) and Andy Clark (Man Ray) is at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (21-27 Aug) and is a show that everyone should have on their “to go to” Fringe list.
This show features original songs by composer Hilary Brooks and lyricist/playwright Clive King, and together they give Christine Bovill the perfect story to allow her to bring not only Kiki de Montparnasse (born Alice Ernestine Prin) alive on stage for this show in songs and words, but also to bring the essence of that Paris that Kiki loved so well during her lifetime.
Many in the audience will probably already have been at one of Christine Bovill’s lovingly crafted shows to that wonderful period of French songs collectively known as “Chansons Française” and her most recent show earlier this Fringe, “Piaf to Pop” was another success too. Although this show has new songs, still here in “Deathbed Cabaret” that very unique voice of Christine Bovill’s somehow embodies the sounds of all of those classic songs, and her ability to become a character in a song, or as here, become Kiki de Montparnasse for a short time on stage is as always remarkable. Even though this show has new music and lyrics, you can still if you listen hear the echoes of some of those wonderful “Chansons Française” of days gone by floating in the air too.
Here in Deathbed Cabaret we spend the final hour of life with a woman who lived life to its full as a model, artist, cabaret star, muse and so much more and in the process perhaps shone a little bit brighter, if even for a relatively short time, than many of us will ever do. With skilful writing, fine songs and very good lyrics this show allows Christine Bovill to draw us into Kiki’s final thoughts and give us a small insight into a life “well-lived” and her one favourite mistake in her life, American photographer Emmanuel Radnitzky, aka Man Ray.
To say that the relationship between Kiki and Man Ray was unique and turbulent is an understatement and Andy Clark is excellent here, the perfect counterbalance to Christine’s Kiki and in songs like “A Parisian in New York” and “The Cost of Loving” you will laugh and cry alongside Kiki as you watch her reach to the stars and almost touch them only to come back down to earth in a blaze of her former glory.
This script also touches upon some of the many remarkable people that Kiki met in her lifetime, artists who are now considered icons of 20th century art (Leger and Modigliani to name only two). Even now, some 100 years after the event, many people will share Kiki’s words and song views on the Dada movement of her times.
Kiki Deathbed Cabaret is what good theatre/cabaret is all about; a great story, fine songs and lyrics and performers who know exactly how to bring all of these elements together and to life on stage. For anyone out there thinking about taking a show like this to the stage, just go and watch Christine Bovill in this show and you will learn more than many years of attending stage schools will ever teach you.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This show features original songs by composer Hilary Brooks and lyricist/playwright Clive King, and together they give Christine Bovill the perfect story to allow her to bring not only Kiki de Montparnasse (born Alice Ernestine Prin) alive on stage for this show in songs and words, but also to bring the essence of that Paris that Kiki loved so well during her lifetime.
Many in the audience will probably already have been at one of Christine Bovill’s lovingly crafted shows to that wonderful period of French songs collectively known as “Chansons Française” and her most recent show earlier this Fringe, “Piaf to Pop” was another success too. Although this show has new songs, still here in “Deathbed Cabaret” that very unique voice of Christine Bovill’s somehow embodies the sounds of all of those classic songs, and her ability to become a character in a song, or as here, become Kiki de Montparnasse for a short time on stage is as always remarkable. Even though this show has new music and lyrics, you can still if you listen hear the echoes of some of those wonderful “Chansons Française” of days gone by floating in the air too.
Here in Deathbed Cabaret we spend the final hour of life with a woman who lived life to its full as a model, artist, cabaret star, muse and so much more and in the process perhaps shone a little bit brighter, if even for a relatively short time, than many of us will ever do. With skilful writing, fine songs and very good lyrics this show allows Christine Bovill to draw us into Kiki’s final thoughts and give us a small insight into a life “well-lived” and her one favourite mistake in her life, American photographer Emmanuel Radnitzky, aka Man Ray.
To say that the relationship between Kiki and Man Ray was unique and turbulent is an understatement and Andy Clark is excellent here, the perfect counterbalance to Christine’s Kiki and in songs like “A Parisian in New York” and “The Cost of Loving” you will laugh and cry alongside Kiki as you watch her reach to the stars and almost touch them only to come back down to earth in a blaze of her former glory.
This script also touches upon some of the many remarkable people that Kiki met in her lifetime, artists who are now considered icons of 20th century art (Leger and Modigliani to name only two). Even now, some 100 years after the event, many people will share Kiki’s words and song views on the Dada movement of her times.
Kiki Deathbed Cabaret is what good theatre/cabaret is all about; a great story, fine songs and lyrics and performers who know exactly how to bring all of these elements together and to life on stage. For anyone out there thinking about taking a show like this to the stage, just go and watch Christine Bovill in this show and you will learn more than many years of attending stage schools will ever teach you.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com