With Bernadette Berne on vocals and Victor Victoria, her 'own personal freak of nature' (a creature quite literally straddling the line between man and woman) on piano and accordion, EastEnd Cabaret offers an evening of puppetry, song and satire designed to get us hot under the collar. They burst onto the stage with a slowed-down, ramped-up version of 'Let's talk about sex' and it's clear from the start they mean business.The audience remains captivated throughout, not least because of the intriguing dynamic between the two performers. With more than a hint of the lesbian dominatrix about her, Bernadette's outrageous flirtations with the crowd are lent an extra degree of originality and interest by the furious jealousy of Victor, whose comic interruptions make for the funniest moments in the show. Stories and jokes are worked seamlessly into a routine which revolves around musical interpretations executed with style.The thread of eroticism - sometimes confessional, sometimes informative, often hilarious - holds the show together, and stops it from feeling disjointed like so many other cabaret acts. Numbers such as 'Dangerw*nk' and a version of 'Your sex is on fire', which gives a whole new meaning to the song, cannot fail to please and are performed with admirable gusto.There is a limit to the audience's patience with neverending filth, however, and EastEnd Cabaret certainly takes it pretty far. Some gags misfire and there are sections – such as the Communist Guide To Sex – which stride boldly over the line of taste, never looking back. But on the whole, the show is well-thought through, raunchy and undeniably entertaining.A must for lovers of bawdy humour, Bernadette and Victor will open your eyes to hitherto unimagined avenues of sexual delight, leaving you begging for more.
