Between The Covers @ Banquet Room, Adelaide Festival Centre 16/06/2024
While author Stephen King considered books as ‘uniquely portable magic,’ Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director Virginia Gay regarded cabaret as ‘beguiling in its simplicity—stories into song. Simple, right? But magic!’
These two forms of magic – books and cabaret – harmonised in Between the Covers to create an enchanted winter afternoon.
Journalist Jennifer Byrne and author Marieke Hardy reunited for a live reimagining of their ABC series, The Book Club. Joined by Gay, the trio indulged in a delightful discussion about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The conversation was accompanied by a soundtrack of the era’s classic songs, performed live by transcendent diva, cabaret artiste and jazz singer Mama Alto.
Written in 1925, The Great Gatsby is set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City. The novel portrays narrator Nick Carraway’s interactions with enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby’s fixation to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
The conversation between Byrne, Hardy and Gay was candid, passionate and comical. Sharing an appreciation of Fitzgerald’s poetic prose and the dreamscape he depicted, exacting realities were also acknowledged. The lack of intrinsically good characters and the eternal linking of sex, violence and misogyny. While recognising that it was an accurate study of the time, the argument of whether art can be separated from the artist was mulled over.
Themes of class, the incongruence of the great American dream and sexism dominated the discussion. Whereas Gay’s controversial question of ‘Why didn’t the films work?’ generated audible dissidence among the audience. Byrne summated the novel’s success best – ‘it’s a complex story told simply.’
Injecting cabaret into the mix, Mama Alto offered stunning renditions of jazz classics throughout. Ain’t We Got Fun, The Man I Love, Tea for Two, and Ain’t Misbehavin’ were delectable indulgences. A highlight was Bye Bye Blackbird, a duet with the incomparable Ms Gay.
Between the Covers expanded the philosophy of what cabaret is. Uniting books and music made for a pretty terrific way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival Review By Anita Kertes