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The Fallen Angels
in
Dirty Rotten Cabaret
Verdict: Comedy sketches, sassy songs
Dublin 05 – Spiegeltent – 14 Sep 05 - 21.00 (22.30)
The Fallen Angels do a cabaret show mixing polished comedy sketches of Irish life with seductive and cheeky songs.
The Angels have been a regular fixture on the Irish entertainment circuit for the past year or two, with successful runs in Dublin and other locations. In the 2004 Dublin Fringe they won the award for the best show in the Spiegeltent.
This year’s Fringe show is a new script, although some old characters such as Nurse Crochet (a hilariously tactless and sarcastic nurse) make a return. The comedy sketches are more polished than they have ever been, with strong believable acting by each character.
The show could be described as a celebration of post-Catholic Ireland, being unapologetically sexy and scornful of tradition. For example, a nun sketch is followed by a Dublin-accented rap version of how the 'Virgin' Mary managed to get pregnant with Jesus.
But the Catholic church is by no means the only target. Others include the Sinn Fein MEP for Dublin, U2’s Bono and Bob Geldof and beauty advisers on daytime TV. While much of the humour is Irish-based, the team appear more than capable of coming up with more universal material as well.
The cabaret songs in between the sketches start off as well-performed but standard cabaret fare. But in the latter part of the show the songs become more clever and innovative, some becoming comedy sketches in themselves.
One particularly memorable song is about a woman who hides in her house because she is half-bird, half-woman. The image of a beautiful woman with a bird’s head is bizarre yet touching and can be seen as a metaphor for the way women are bound by how society judges their appearance.
Credits: Written and performed by The Fallen Angels who are (alpha order): Anna Fox, Anne Lillis, Allison McKay, John Moynes, Robert Murtagh, Kathleen O’Rourke.
END
Colman Higgins 2005
reviewed 14 September 05 / Spiegeltent, Dublin
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2013
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