An Evening Without Kate Bush

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Lilah Shapiro

Saying a show is ‘not for everybody’ has never been higher praise. Sitting amongst the audience along the lightly padded benches in the Le cascadeur tent, waiting for Sarah-Louise Young’s one-woman Kate bush tribute cabaret, A Night Without Kate Bush, I realised we were a self-selective bunch. 

Perhaps this show would have been a different experience for those in the audience not mouthing every word alongside Sarah-Louise, thank God I will never know what that is like! The only review I can offer is one from a fellow Bush fan (or fish person[1]).

Embedding historical and personal details, mime, prop, dance, giant glowing eyeballs, audience participation, three wigs, two hat changes, and one hair reveal – and of course her effortlessly beautiful voice – Sarah-Lousie delivered a balance of faithful tributes and spicy reinventions: like the all-Russian rendering of Babushka, or the RADICAL choice to wear white for Wuthering Heights! (no more spoilers from here on I promise).

Although Sarah-Louise began the show by repeating several times that the real live Kate Bush would not be eventuating in our tent, at points I felt there was no difference. Couples gathered after the show to take photos with ‘Kate’, we sung along to all the choruses, performed ‘woof’ call-and-responses for the Hounds of Love ARRUUWWWFFF! Sarah-Lousie had to merely utter the words Cloud Busting[2], and a woman tucked away in the back-left of the audience let out an audible moan of excitement and appreciation. Kate Bush will probably not come to Australia. So, this was our church, and Sarah-Louise was our leader. The Church of Bush had a decidedly Protestant energy, ‘it doesn’t matter if you don’t know all the words! You just have to love her!’ she exclaims to us. Yes! I thought, so true. 

It is often thought that if you look at an artwork and think ‘I could do that,’ either the art is not very good or you are very unsophisticated and do not understand abstract-expressionism. In the case of cabaret, however, and Kate-bush-tribute cabaret especially, the ‘I could do that’ feeling is the pulsing lifeblood of the show. Although the audience remained seated and Sarah-Lousie did most (but not all!) of the singing dancing frolicking etc… the show had an element of communitas. Watching Sarah-Louise’s impossibly light and magical movements I realised I recognised them from somewhere; that is how I look in my head when I imagine myself dancing to Running Up That Hill. 

An Evening Without Kate Bush reminded me how good the simple ingredients of performance can be when delivered perfectly nothing elaborate but still totally exceptional. 

An Evening With Kate Bush is on in The Garden of Unearthly Delights from 18 Feb - 23 March (Tues - Sat 6.50-8pm / Sun 5.50-7pm).

 
[1] The term for Kate's fans
[2] Kate’s third album for anyone sadly not in the know.