he mysteriously disappeared towards the end of the evening
The duo from The Establishment opened the event gracefully with the summit of their act being, of course, Brexit - asking the question whether it will be a ‘soft or a hard exit?’ and the double meaning was well received by the audience. At one point they addressed one of the audience members as ‘The Queen’ and asked the audience to stand up in a gesture of comic respect.
The host, Mike, arrived and humorously presented the rest of the performers. His presentation was light and sometimes funny, yet it lacked energy and he mysteriously disappeared towards the end of the evening, leaving the role to the performers from the duo Zach & Viggo.
All 7 acts were light entertainment except the last one: The Cabaret from the Shadows was poetic and vulgar at the same time, lovely visuals though not appropriate for kids - the same for most of the acts although this was not mentioned in the programme.
While all the performers were professional and fairly good, this event could have been more in line with the festival spirit with a wider variety of genres in the acts presented. The order of the acts could also have been arranged to create a better vibe and energy towards the end, nevertheless this one hour launch event was light, entertaining and occasionally dark.