ER at the Fringe: Meow Meow – Feline Intimate

Wielding the cabaret language of music and comedy with formidable aplomb, international phenomenon Meow Meow is hands down the genre’s hottest ticket right now. Feline Intimate, her current touring show, fully honours the tradition of vaudevillian decadence and audience-abusing antics in her repertoire.

Much has been made in the press about the post-modernity of the Australian performer’s act. In truth, she’s as post-modern as parody. The show's underlying concept, a destitute diva trying to pull off a glamorous concert despite interruptions from a string of technical and financial setbacks, is a frequent premise to cabaret acts, and in itself neither new nor revolutionary. It is the clever excess of Meow Meow’s act that sets it apart from an ocean of gowned, piano-backed comediennes.

Much of the show’s spectacle results from Meow Meow’s (literal) manipulation of her audience. At her command, viewers assume all kinds of awkward positions and double up as microphone stands or piano seats. In a too-cheap-to-afford-lighting gag, another viewer ends up holding a lonely spotlight at the singer. And then the smoke machine. And her clothes. In lieu of a line of chorus girls, the chanteuse enlists half a dozen people to make Barbie dolls high-kick to the beat, and when she crowdsurfs towards a suspension cable hanging above the audience, the willingness of paying ticketholders to hoist her handsome frame is nothing short of an arena rock moment. Indiscretions and inappropriate contact with the punters is inevitable and promptly seized upon by the bantering wonder. The night I went, there was even the occasional fleeting nipple on display. How decadent.

Still, for all its fireworks, Feline Intimate is essentially a concert. Meow Meow’s voice is as impressive as her antics, running the gamut from delicate, wistful crooning to thunderous manic screaming, and not just to bark orders at her impromptu retinue. The repertoire, relying on chanson and Brechtian standards as well as reworked rock numbers like Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” and Dresden Dolls’ “Missed Me”, resound with impressive emotional depth in her powerful voice. Ms. Meow’s backing trio, a piano-cello-drums combo, prove remarkably versatile and just as accomplished in their treatment of such varied material.

No Meow Meow review is complete without a grandiose summation of her performances’ revolutionary achievement, so here’s mine: Meow Meow is a modern-day Cab Calloway. Be ready to enjoy cabaret as boisterously funny and musically fine-tuned as the world hasn’t seen since Prohibition.

Meow Meow – Feline Intimate. Conceived and Performed by Meow Meow. Assembly @ Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh. 5-8, 10-15, 17-22, 24-29 August, 20:00. £18.50 (£16.50 concessions). www.meowmeowrevolution.com