Cabaret & variety: Torte e Mort: Songs Of Cake And Death
Young Australian performer Anya Anastasia channels Marie Antoinette, as well as Death and the Devil, for this promising but compromised set focused on self-indulgence and self-doubt.
Star rating: **
Assembly George Square Theatre (Venue 8)
Original songs cover the French queen’s blasé privilege, sudden downfall and peculiar afterlife, as well as consumerist waste, self-loathing and mortality.
It’s an ambitious sweep that benefits from strong research and imaginative visuals, from period costume to blacklight choreography, shadow play to music-box mime. But technical delivery often falters, from prop mishaps to awkwardly concluded songs – shortcomings that sit uncomfortably with an overall tone of high-status entitlement.
Until 29 August. Today 6pm.