Sunday Cabaret at Cafe Koha

Maya Levy. Photo Credit: Vishi Vishvanath

Sunday Cabaret at Café Koha is a delightful evening out. Hidden between the Wyndam and Noel Coward theatre, it’s a cosy, downstairs space with a friendly crowd – although this leads to visibility issues regarding the cabaret acts. Without a stage, you need to sit where you can and hope for the best. Unfortunately, it’s a much more suitable space for during dinner entertainment than a cabaret show, and these are acts which demand your attention.

This month’s guest was comedy-singer Maya Levy. With an act including a singalong, a rap, and ‘The Unexpected Re-encounter of Pochahontas and John Smith’; Levy is an extremely likeable, crowd friendly act for anybody and everybody. Perhaps, in particular for the social group I will refer to (at my own risk) as singletons; Levy does stray into that familiar zone of female stand ups. The content of her musical puns is in touch with everyday life, which is what makes it funny; however this also makes it feel occasionally repetitive. Her songs never seem to get off their feet and develop; they feel like neglected playdough sculptures a child began to play with but became bored with after a little while. As a result, with their ‘piddly diddly’ accompaniments, Levy’s songs seek the childish silliness we love about singer-comedians like Tim Minchin, but lack the genius of his lyrics. Her act could afford to boast Levy’s advantageous musical training, over its currently simple structure which only lays bare the space for improvement.

Ismena Collective. Photo Credit: Karla Gowlett

Where Levy’s material lent itself to the social atmosphere of Café Koha, their hosts, Ismena Collective, is more the standard of cabaret we expect from a venue in the heart of the West End. Their song choices span the comedic vernacular of Goldrich and Heisler, to soulful renditions of Weill. Perhaps eclectic choices, they are linked by tales of treading the boards, and the programme is well-balanced. These lesser known tunes are instant audience favourites without reverting to done to death musicals. Ismena’s prima donna, Sara Cluderay, didn’t bat an eyelid at what should have been major spatial issues for a predominantly musical theatre trio. With the deft flicking of a feather boa round her shoulder, she made what there was of a stage, her own; finding a lyrical charm in every character.

Equally, Mayda Narvey’s cello, and Katherine Woolley’s piano accompaniments are arranged sophisticatedly, and compliment the intimacy of the venue. Brashy belts and brass would be welcome interpretations of some of these numbers – especially Weill’s perhaps – but Ismena Collective has a style all their own.  They showcase the bright clarity of Cluderay’s voice before any bells and whistles. Sunday Cabaret at Café Koha provides a pleasant alternative to sitting in and watching The Voice on the television, when there’s some excellent voices to be heard at your local café.

The next Sunday Cabaret at Café Koha will be July 1. Join the mailing list to find out when tickets for next month go on sale, at www.ismenacollective.com

The Ismena Collective’s next performance will be Love and Lust Cabaret at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, May 23. Tickets available at www.rvt.org.uk

Maya Levy’s next performance will be at the Open Arts Café, May 24. Tickets available at www.openartscafe.com

A Quick Rant: Fringe Theatre and The Price We Pay For Quality



Picture from: http://wetheatre.co.uk/pitchfork/quotes.htm

I have seen a lot of shows in these first two months of 2012 and without a doubt, the best things I've seen have been fringe productions. Being so enamoured with Theatreland, I'm lucky enough to know where and how to get cut price tickets for the West End shows, e.g. I got £2 tickets to ‘The Madness of King George’ through Masterclass at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, and £15 tickets for ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at the aforementioned theatre. The thing is, with all due respect, I didn't rate these shows very highly at all and yet they sit comfortably on their West End laurels able to cut ticket prices in full knowledge the theatre's label of 'West End' has a pulling power all of its own to fill the hundreds of seats. A West End production to me, now feels something of a safe one.

A prime example of what I'm talking about with Fringe theatre is 'Don't Stray From The Path' which I reviewed a few weeks ago. It wasn't perfect, but was innovative and exciting which more than makes up for that. After a series of West End disappointments, it feels like the time to finally really explore the edgy brilliance that seems only reserved to Off- West End venues – yes: the non-commercial stuff. Alas no! Indeed there’s a wealth of wonderful things to see on the fringes of Theatreland, calling out to my bones like some strange, internal, thespian magnet…yet unfortunately productions of this calibre are obviously costly to put on; and thereby, put me out. There is a wealth of discounts open to me in the West End, particularly the option of dayticketing, but not off-west end which saddens me immensely. As a student, I simply can’t afford to fork out up to £30 to see a fringe show, however much I’d like to.



Picture from: atgtickets.com



Now some off-west end venues like the Royal Court or the Arcola have schemes whereby the tickets are considerably reduced on certain days. I have been dying to see The Pitchfork Disney (just look at all the amazing reviews it’s had in the above poster) but couldn’t make it to the ‘Pay What You Can Tuesdays’. But for The Leisure Society at The Trafalgar Studios, tickets begin at £26.50. When did this inflation happen? Sure, this is just another post about the cuts made to Arts funding I suppose, but considering the quality of a large majority of the off-west end productions I’ve seen, my feelings are that in an ideal world, in order to keep daring, relevant theatre alive, I would prefer to see West End and Off-West End drama swap places. And so by placing productions like these in full view of a widening public eye, we might remember the possibilities of theatre, and fund it through bums on seats (more than just a hundred). When will it be okay to take small shows into big venues? Or better yet, make the small venues which have done so much for theatre, into the big thing.

P.S. If anyone knows of any discounts for ‘The Leisure Society’ – please, please, please let me know!