Life is a Cabaret Old Chum

I was part of the mob scene myself last night. A group of us went to an event staged by the Pitty Patt Club at The Social – just over the back from where my apartment is. It was a mad, decadent burlesque cabaret billed as 'The Circus of the Dancing Bear' where many of the audience were dressed up as extravagantly as the acts. There was Bearlesque - a male group of hairy overweight gay bears who performed a series of outrageous stripteases; there was Netty Page – a glamorous bearded lady who tantalised us with an erotic ballet accompanied by the music of Marlene Dietrich; The Eager Beavers – an astoundingly good rockabilly/psychobilly band that belted out raucous stylish music of the 1950s & 1960s.

There was much more – fabulous cabaret-style music played by Lord Ivor Hardshafte (Gramaphonic Jukebox Master); sideshows like the Laughing Clowns and Circus Freaks; a cake stall; even a mini-mart. The whole event was choreographed by a Joel Gray look-alike as the deliciously androgynous Master of Ceremonies, and we all had huge fun. It was as camp as a field of tents, as kitsch as a Fabergé egg, but we loved it. It was like being in the crazy decadent whirl of pre-war Berlin where everyone could forget the horrors of life and where men dressed as women, and women dressed as men dressing as women (I was reminded of Julie Andrews in 'Victor Victoria'). Nothing was real, everything was fantasy, and we all wore false beards to prove it ('No Beard – No Entry').

It was a far better way to spend an evening than just sitting in a bar or a conventional club. Yes, we drank and yes, the rabble noisily spilled out onto the fire escape and down into the yard to smoke and cavort with the mob, but it was an evening of humour and variety and of course, everyone loved everyone else.

When I reflected at one point that I could count several friends amongst the performers, and many more amongst the audience, I realised that at last – having travelled through several incarnations of disguise throughout my sorry life – at last, I have come home. Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome!