BRIGHTON FRINGE: Maria Ansdell: Closure Cabaret – The Actors

Performer / Writer / Producer – Maria Ansdell

Creative Producer – Tom Germain-Pendry

Directors – Renée Louise Bottern, Emma Webb

Tech – Grace Boag-Matthews

Roll-up, roll-up to Closure Cabaret, an on-stage world where ex-boyfriends become cabaret stars.

There’s a tribute to all the tropes we all know and wish we hadn’t loved. The pseudo-intellectual with a floppy fringe. The bad-boy with baggy trousers. The one who talks about going to Japan all the time in lieu of a personality. Ouch. They’re here to perform for your entertainment, all channelled through the most entertaining host.

Razmatastique is a professional Franglais fool with a talent for taking on the traits of former lovers, live on stage. They give off an engaging and endearing energy that sets a strong sense of mood. There’s rhapsodies on love lost, pasta orgies, custom haiku and so, so much more. The creativity is abundant to see.

This reviewer loves a one-woman show, and Closure Cabaret is no exception. Maria Ansdell is quite an extraordinary character comedian, managing to portray every role, from a playground-storming pirate, to nobody’s favourite ‘soft boi’, in fully-fleshed-out fashion. One moment she’s rapping, boxers pulled high while her trousers swing low. The next, she’s in a striped t-shirt, miming the exact recipe of Razmatastique’s heartbreak. These characters feel too real for words. Amidst it all, there’s a real mastery to Ansdell’s command of the space. The audience is unjustly un petit low in number, but you wouldn’t know it. She responds to audience interaction with on-point precision that more experienced comics must envy.

This show is near-perfect, but the middle section loses Razmatastique’s personal story a little amidst the artistry of the avoidant men. The end of the show is beautiful and sends a powerful message to those currently flying solo, or mourning a love that was never meant to be. Can the middle section hook the audience up to this message a little earlier? Perhaps. Something for Ansdell to ponder as she takes the show to other Fringe festivals across the country before her big Edinburgh run.

Closure Cabaret is an enchanting yet relatable escape for both the heartbroken and the healed. Ansdell is a rare talent and an exceptional crafter of characters. With this being her first hour-long solo show, we can’t wait to see what is next.