Adelaide Cabaret Festival. ArtSpace. 20 Jun 2013.
For her debut performance in Adelaide’s Cabaret Festival, Michelle Nightingale presents a tragic tale built around the disempowerment of Australian single mothers, in the first half of the 20th Century, who were forced to give up their babies for adoption if they were under 21 years old.
Nightingale notes in her programme that more than 150,000 babies were adopted out during this time, and that in most cases it was against the wishes of the young mothers. Her show combines verbatim quotes from women affected at the time as well as a catalogue of songs from 60s and 70s icon, Bruce Springsteen.
The show is very moving and completely enthrals the audience as Nightingale engagingly draws us into the world of one young woman who was subjected to the atrocities. “This is not my story”, she says, “But it is a story that has to be told.”.
Nightingale, together with Kris Stewart and Esther Ottaway, has put together a slowly evolving story which begins rather cryptically before blooming into a tale of despair and woe for a young woman and her family. The story sees Nightingale’s character from teenage angst and exploration right through marriage and family to an age where reflection and regret are communicated by age.
Along the way the songs of Bruce Springsteen are weaved into the simple plot to highlight mood, emotion and expression. Numbers such as “Born To Run”, “Rosalita”, “Human Touch” and “I’m On Fire” give Nightingale the opportunity to demonstrate both her considerable vocal and acting range.
Whilst I found the show to be quite enlightening and interesting to watch, it was a sombre topic. Relief came after Nightingale took her bow and was able to break character, smile and play off the audience. Musical Director and accompanist, Matthew Carey, lead a wonderful band with Cathy Finnis on cello, Kevan Hendry on viola and David Burvill-Holmes on the flute and saxophone.
This was an enjoyable night of cabaret performance, both thought provoking and entertaining.
Paul Rodda
When: 20 to 22 Jun
Where: ArtSpace
Bookings: bass.net.au
