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An Evening Without Kate Bush

 
Lilah Shapiro Review by Lilah Shapiro 4 Published: 21 Apr 2025 The Garden of Unearthly Delights Show Dates: 18 Feb 2025-22 Mar 2025

Saying a show is ‘not for everybody’ has never been higher praise. Sitting among 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.

A balance of faithful tributes and spicy reinventions

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

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 – Young 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 Young 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 sang along to all the choruses and performed ‘woof’ call-and-responses for the Hounds of Love ARRUUWWWFFF! Young had to merely utter the words Cloudbusting, 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 Young 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 we remained seated and Sarah-Lousie did most (but not all!) of the singing, dancing, frolicking etc… the show had an element of communitas. Watching Young’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.

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The Blurb:

Enter Strange Phenomena, howl with the Hounds Of Love and dance on the moors with Wuthering Heights. 

Kate's not there, but you are. 

This award-winning cult cabaret pays glorious tribute to the music, fans and mythology of one of the most influential voices in pop music. 

From releasing Wuthering Heights, aged just 19, to selling out the Hammersmith Apollo nearly 40 years later, Bush has always surprised and confounded her critics. 

Through it all, her fans have stayed strong. Whether you’ve been a ‘Fish Person’ for decades or recently joined the shoal via Stranger Things, release your inner Bush at this joyful, unique and mind-blowing show.

Made by Sarah-Louise Young & Russell Lucas.

WINNER: Adelaide Fringe, Cabaret Weekly Award 2024

WINNER: Fringe World, Cabaret & Variety Weekly Award 2024

Presented by Hey Dowling