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Cabbage the Clown: Cinemadrome

 
Isabella Thompson Review by Isabella Thompson 5 Published: 7 Aug 2025 Underbelly, George Square Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-24 Aug 2025

Eliza Nelso ’s Cabbage the Clown is the underdog hero of Cinemadrome: a wistful, wide-eyed romantic stuck in a dead-end job, dreaming big between bin runs and popcorn refills. Nelso’s debut show reminds us what live art is capable of, in all its silly, sparkling, quietly devastating potential.

Eliza Nelso is a visionary

Before the show even begins, Cabbage is one of us, earning immediate rapport with the audience as they scan our tickets and join us in the auditorium. There’s a deep generosity to Nelso’s performance: they let us in, let us distract them, and bring us along on their work shift, as corporate grind and existential crisis rub shoulders with meme-level absurdity. From the moment they lip-sync through a warped montage of cinema announcements, it’s clear we’re in for something special.

Staying true to clown, the structure is satisfyingly loose, with just enough plot that still leaves room for ample play. We’re simply watching Cabbage try to survive the day at Cinemadrome, but in Nelso’s hands, the mundane becomes mythic: bin bags become dance partners; a puppet encounter in a nightclub becomes a tender, wordless romance; a sequence of mind-numbing intercom instructions becomes a brutalist clown ballet about burnout. The show weaves together movement, drag and clowning with impressive clarity, never losing its sense of joy and play.

Visually, Cinemadrome is stunning. Nelso’s clown makeup and costuming are exquisite, combining classical references with a contemporary drag twist that feels fresh and unique, topped with jaw-dropping costume reveals. Screen projections are packed with joyful chaos: a rapid-fire collage of cinematic references, absurdist humour and perfectly timed visual gags reward pop culture fluency without excluding those less online.

Amid the chaos is a tender undertone. We watch as Cabbage tries, fails and tries again, making peace with the fantasy that keeps them going. It’s a love letter to escapism, yes, but also a quiet cry for kindness, and Nelso calibrates every beat with astonishing control. Their physicality is fluid, magnetic and far from performative. Cabbage doesn’t escape into fantasy to avoid reality – they use it to survive it.

In all its whimsy, Cinemadrome is a truly elevated performance. Visually beautiful, wickedly funny and rich with artistry, Cinemadrome is nothing short of a triumph. Eliza Nelso is a visionary. You’ll laugh, you’ll melt, you’ll gasp – and you’ll never look at a bin bag the same way again.

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The Blurb:

Minimum wage cinema employee turned multi award-winning tragic fool Cabbage the Clown's debut hour marries a buffet of genres in polygamous holy matrimony in the name of drag. With over 8 million views online for their genre-busting brand of multimedia drag-clowning, Cabbage presents their hotly-anticipated debut show: One part breathless parody of cinematic history, one part thoughtful dissection of minimum wage careers, one part rolling around on the floor covered in popcorn. So talk through the trailers, get the loudest snacks available, then sit back, relax and enjoy this Bechdel Test-passing, BBFC-unapproved, global premiere.