Dusty tests the Limits

“It is about decadence,” Dusty Limits announces. “And I am pro.” Apart from the familiarity of a cabaret show that references Wilde and German dark eroticism, A Picture of Dusty Limits is surprisingly profound and original. There are the broken hearted love songs - sometimes given an ironic twist - the monologues of theatrical egotism, the sporadic use of shocking eroticism. Yet behind this lurks a political conscience: tarnished perhaps, and cynical, but suddenly flaring into show-stopping moments of satire and disillusionment.

The revival of cabaret on the back of burlesque, according to Dusty, is no surprise. He identifies our culture as decadent (sourcing Wikipedia in a delightfully incongruous aside). And isn’t cabaret the perfect expression of decadence and fatalism? He claims, quoting Wilde, that his only religion is beauty, that God is absent and that ideology has failed him. This serious intent is, nevertheless, handled with spry humour and the tight structure of songs and comedy allows him to develop his theme steadily.

The first act is big on laughter, concluding with a drunken love song and a sharp snap at global power politics. The second act flits between melancholy and humour, introduced by a subdued fan dance from Beatrix and allowing Dusty to take shots at religion and the mythology of civilisation, while still clinging to the wistful tatters of romanticism.

In other hands, this could be a direly earnest production, but Dusty’s easy charm and direct connection to the audience allows him to coat the bitterness with sugar. One of the Cabaret Festival’s intentions was to show how cabaret is a varied, vibrant genre: mission accomplished by the second day.