Review by Steve Bennett

Despite superficial indications to the contrary, the deliciously named Dalton Trumbo’s Reluctant Cabaret fail to carry their ingenious premise to any sort of interesting depth.

The ingredients are all present for an original act that could effectively amalgamate character comedy, cabaret and theatre.  However, the hour too often uses stand-alone set pieces of varying quality when the team could have been developing the set-up in a genuinely interesting way.

The Reluctant Cabaret comprises four ridiculous individuals, each with their own character quirks and motivations.  There’s the commanding Dalton Trumbo, who sings and dominates the others with an iron fist; manservant bassist Jennifer, vitriolic keyboardist Lady Hugo and the slightly bemused Po-Chi.  Each figure is potentially interesting in their own respect, as well as having an idiosyncratic relationship with Trumbo. 

However, once the characteristics have been established, the show shies away from developing them.  Towards the end, there are hints of some childhood trauma experienced by Trumbo, but it seems contrived.  Moments such as this display admirable aspirations, but, they cannot achieve them convincingly. 

Yet, on a more basic level, the Reluctant Cabaret are amusing and reasonably entertaining for an hour.  They are all competent musicians, with Trumbo being an adept if slightly uninspired comic lyricist. Moments such as a tongue-twisting face-off between Trumbo and Jennifer are technically impressive and succeed to impressing their sizable audience, but the set pieces are otherwise forgettable.

Still, the sense of ambition and quirky drive means there are still many fantastic places this act could go.

Review date: 1 Jan 2005
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett