This year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival alone has three 1930s-themed works in its program: 30 Something, The Shànghai MiMi Band andBernie Dietmar’s Weimar Punk. It’s a trend long seen across programs nationally, and one that Robyn Archer, a mainstay of Australia’s cabaret scene for decades, has witnessed firsthand.
‘Almost any period you’re in, there’ll be a [Brecht] poem or a song that reflects directly on what we’re experiencing. He always digs underneath hypocrisy and surprises you. There’s an unusual clarity and daring about the way he refuses to gloss over things, even when he’s saying something that would be unpopular on his own side.’
