I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Twisted Cabaret, a variety show focusing on the dark side of cabaret, at Bush Hall. Wasn’t cabaret dark enough already? Well, no, it turns out there was plenty I hadn’t seen before.

So I sat down to two and a half hours of the weird and wonderful. From a light bulb-crunching burlesque dancer to a fire-eating fishman.

I winced as Vivid Angel hammered nails into her nose, chuckled at Spencer Maybe‘s boy burlesque (Dracula doing a striptease), was wowed by headliner Empress Stah‘s aerial acrobatics and silently prayed not to be chosen to go on stage for Ophelia Bitz‘s rather fruity song!

Host Dusty Limits was on fine form as always (though I noticed even he watched some of the acts through his hands!) The lovely old Bush Hall with its chandeliers and Victorian fittings was the perfect venue for this show (apart from when the roof started to leak but it was pouring outside).

Twisted Cabaret was a good start to the spooky month of October – it would be even better if they put this on over Halloween weekend.

Twisted Cabaret was on for two nights at the Bush Hall but you can find lots more cabaret and burlesque listings on our main site.