This festive season is the perfect excuse to catch cabaret royalty at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

mix of song, dance and circus skills, performed with enthusiasm

Emily Hutt’s tell-all cabaret on the 1930’s limelight icon Mae West follows almost pedantically the chronology of her life events, to the detriment of a sought-after dramatic climax. West – embodied by the talented Bella Bevan – takes centre stage with the accompaniment of pianist Kieran Stallard, and alternates tales from her past with some of her most recognisable songs. A promising opening scene involves some of the biting one-liners that made the artist famous, smattered with sexual innuendos and ...

As you enter the small 60-seater basement space of the Pleasance Theatre you see a cast of five: three musicians playing Eastern European folk music on a cello, a guitar and an accordion, with two young men unaccountably wearing dresses, swaying in time to the music. Enter Madame Fanny (Kate Stokes), who’s also credited as the lead writer. She explains that it’s some time in the late 18th Century, and that she’s about to relate tales of her travelling exploits. ...

Drag theatre is an increasingly broad church and here it is used to serious political effect at Omnibus Theatre’s 96 Festival of queer theatre, which celebrates the iconic 1996 Pride party on nearby Clapham Common.  The drag, for fans, delivers. Lip syncing, pop covers, gay culture references (including a welcome nod to Kenneth Williams), fan dances and wounded glamour are all present and correct.  Everything looks divine too. Sam Wilde and Elizabeth Harper’s set design, in a reconfigured Omnibus auditorium, is ...

The Bloomsbury Group was known for its wit and sparkle, both of which are sadly missing here.

Pro’s: It’s so much more than cabaret and acrobats as each performer gives their character personality that draws the audience in even more. Con’s: As always at the Underbelly, the views can often be obscured without any banked seating. The beauty of live performance is that anything can happen. It be the same script every time, but there is always a difference here, an error there, or an accident can occur. When the show in question is Black Cat: Bohemia, a ...

An evening of supposed "erotic storytelling", Menagerie frustrates due to an overly full venue.

Sheer breathtaking variety of wonderment that cannot fail to put a smile on your face.

An explosion of energy, glitz, dance and drama which provides an interesting exploration into LGBT history and social inequality.