Le Faux-French Cabaret brings a cheeky love letter to cabaret to Adelaide Fringe and Perth Fringe World

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Le Faux-French Cabaret marks the newest gem from Sydney’s Talk & Tease. After captivating audiences at the Sydney’s Honeycomb Club, it will make its dazzling debuts at both Adelaide Fringe and Perth Fringe World this and next month. Scarlett, the creative force behind Talk & Tease, has crafted this mini-musical with impeccable vocals, witty storytelling, and cheeky burlesque: a true love letter to cabaret.

Featuring French star Ben Noir of France’s Got Talent fame and an all-star cast (with Perth natives returning home for Fringe World), the show playfully celebrates Australian performers’ love of French cabaret tropes. Scarlett describes it as a wholesome, romantic parody that’s as heartfelt as it is a lovingly cheeky take on faux-French cabaret. Read our interview with Scarlett below.

Bonjour Scarlett, you’re head of Talk & Tease, which is bringing its show Le Faux-French Cabaret to Adelaide for the first time. How long has Talk & Tease existed and when did you first debut the show at your home the Honeycomb Club in Sydney?

I created Talk & Tease in 2016 and since then it has regularly entertained Sydney audiences. I am also the creator of the Honeycomb Club also so the two are intertwined and Talk & Tease has been on the Honeycomb Club stage since its inception.

Tell us about your show Le Faux-French Cabaret.

This is a mini-musical that followers four characters with a simple storyline. It’s wholesome and romantic but it also has a little bit of a dark sense of humour about it. It’s sweet but not too sweet. It has a foundation in great songs sung very well and beautiful dance technique without being overly formal or stuffy. It is true to the cabaret genre with plenty of real-time responsiveness to the audience and highly intimate unpretentious performances.

Given it will be the first time a Talk & Tease production has come to Adelaide, is there anything you’re particularly curious to discover about Fringe audiences here – their humour, their appetite for risqué material, their willingness to play along?

I’m not curious about any of those things at all. I know all of those points are well covered in Adelaide. I wouldn’t doubt Adelaide crowds for a second in those areas of humour, appetite for the risque and willingness to play long! Since we are also a French themes show performing in a French themed cabaret bar, it will naturally be fantastic.

You’re also headed to Perth Fringe World

Yes, and three of the cast members are Perth natives that have forged a performer career in Sydney. Ben Noir and Lola Raine are both Perth- born and musically trained. May Syms has immediate family in Perth. It’s very exciting for them to be returning to Perth to perform for the first time in their home city with this show.

French household name Ben Noir from France’s Got Talent is one of the show’s stars. How did Ben become involved with Le Faux-French Cabaret, and what does he bring that anchors the show in something authentically “French”, even when you’re sending it up?

Ben Noir is an insanely talented and versatile performer. I have worked with him for several years now through Talk & Tease. He originally contacted me about five years ago, or more, and submitted his showreel to me for consideration. Instantly, I knew he was a perfect fit for the work I do, but when I tried to accept his application he had changed his mind and had other projects! I did not give up and contacted him periodically over the next couple of years, until eventually he agreed to be in one of my shows!

Ben is fluent in French and has strong family ties to the French speaking part of Switzerland and other European heritage. He has performed in many places in Paris from the streets as the literal new-kid on the block to legendary cabaret venues. I think French culture is in his DNA but also just in his soul. It’s his sincere love and understanding of French culture as a non-native that allows us to lovingly create this parody of a French cabaret.

The show calls itself “Le Faux-French Cabaret” and a “franco-phony escape”. What does “faux-French” mean to you in practice – are you gently teasing clichés about France, or creating your own fantasy version of Frenchness?

That’s a great question. There is some gentle poking fun of French clichés . However the satire is actually more directed towards the cliched tradition in the genre of cabaret to mimic French culture and motifs. French theatres, images and aesthetics have also become synonymous with the genre itself. This is especially true in Australia. If anything, I think we are making fun mostly of the wannabe “authentic French” cabaret nights here in Australia. So really we are having a laugh at ourselves, which is always the best comedy. There’s also some treatment in the show of how Australians idolise cabaret in France, as they should, and this genuine appreciation and aspiration of performers is woven into the show to create some nice contrast with the more self-directed humorous critique.

Is there one French cliché you secretly adore and one you’re absolutely skewering in this show?

We adore all the French cliches! They are all wonderful and that’s why Australian cabarets keep repeating them and desperately trying to recreate them in any flimsy way. Like I mentioned earlier, the main skewering is of ourselves and Australian performers’ desperate obsessions with trying to mimic French cabarets. We are making fun of the cliché of recreating French clichés.

With that said, we will be enjoying poking some fun at the French romantic lover-boy archetype.

The blurb promises something “sweet and slightly risqué”. How did you find the line between cheeky innuendo and genuine tenderness, so the show feels seductive but still warm and welcoming?

I love this question because this is something I believe I do really well as a creator. For me, it all starts with the intention of the show. I want to bring people together, I want them to leave more in love with each other and themselves. Second, I think a show will always reflect the creator’s deepest attitude towards sex and sensuality. Luckily mine are very pure and quite untainted by society’s toxic, oppressed attitudes towards sex, so that comes through in the show!

You describe the audience as “whimsical cynics” and “cynical dreamers”. Who do you picture when you’re creating for that crowd, and what do you think they’re secretly craving from a night like this?

I think the show is a sort-of love story but in a way that modern audiences can relate to. It’s not sickly sweet. It’s not perfect. I think we all need a little more romance in our lives right now.

Singer Lola Raine

The blurb highlights formidable vocals, impeccable dance and “a little ooh la-la burlesque”. How would you describe the chemistry and mix of skills within this “all-star, drop-dead-talented cast”?

It really is a knock-out cast with a great balance of skills, styles and experience. May and Lucy are incredible trained dancers. Lucy and Lola are commanding actresses. Lola and Ben are phenomenal vocalists. Ben and May are very funny and just shine on stage. It’s all very complimentary and a perfect blend in my mind. You’ll see. 😉

Do individual cast members have alter-egos or recurring characters in the show, or is it more of a flowing revue of numbers and vignettes?

It’s a mini-musical with a simple storyline so definitely not a variety show or a revue.

Cabaret often uses humour to talk about sex, love and power. Are there particular themes or running jokes in Le Faux-French Cabaret that you feel really capture the show’s personality?

Yes I think these are definitely themes in the show! As well as the general plight of the performer and passion for the stage.

The blurb jokes about “showing you their big baguette”. How do you use innuendo and word-play to make people laugh without anyone feeling alienated or uncomfortable?

Well, we can’t always guarantee who will or won’t feel uncomfortable. The audience’s reaction is mostly up to them. However, I could also say it’s all in the delivery. The intention behind a joke or an action, and its presentation changes how it lands for the audience.

You’ve been making weekly ticketed shows for almost a decade in Kings Cross. What lessons from that long-running, very local scene did you carry into creating a touring piece for Perth Fringe World and Adelaide Fringe audiences?

I will be able to tell you for sure after I’ve done it!

As a producer and performer who has built a reputation in vaudeville, what did you want Le Faux-French Cabaret to say about your style – is it a calling card, a love letter to cabaret, or something that deliberately breaks your own rules?

You could say it is a love letter to cabaret. That feels really right, so lets go with that one. Thank you for those words.

How do you decide what’s “laughing with” French culture versus “laughing at” it, especially when performing outside Sydney, in a different city and crowd?

This is always a question for any comedic performer. As I mentioned, if we are laughing at instead of with anyone it’s most likely the Australian (and arguably global) tendency to lean on copying the French when it comes to cabaret – and often very badly. In fact I have joked before that cabaret is the one place where cultural appropriation isn’t offensive–it’s expected!

Have you had any French audience members? What have been their reactions to the show?

Many French people have seen Ben Noir perform and they love it, especially when he brings to life and honour the classic great French songs like Edith Piaf. What’s not to love?!

When people stumble out of Le Faux-French Cabaret into the Adelaide night, slightly tipsy and hopefully very happy, what do you most want them saying to each other about what they just experienced?

“Je t’aime mon chéri…that was bloody fantastique.”

Why should audiences come to see Le Faux French Cabaret at Adelaide Fringe?

Ben Noir is very handsome and looks good with his kit off.

Anything else you would like to add?

Come and see our show and follow us on instagram, please @talkandteaseshow