German cabaret act for Ratoath stage

As Berlin gears up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of its infamous wall this November, Dublin chanteuse Stella Bass brings some of that great city's musical and theatrical past to the Venue Theatre, Ratoath on Friday 6th November at 8pm. 'Smoke & Sound' is an evening of theatrical song and historical anecdotes in an entertaining tribute to the inter-war Berlin cabaret. Berlin in the roaring 20s emerged as Weimar Germany's first truly cosmopolitan centre. With the end of the stringent war effort and the relaxation of censorship - both political and moral - a new permissiveness invaded the city. This new cosmopolitan air was reflected in Berlin's blossoming entertainment industry. Theatres sprang up overnight and cabarets, thriving on the death of censorship, mushroomed. The concept of the cabaret, which started in France and initially referred to any business serving alcohol, developed into scheduled entertainment, ranging in size from a few musicians to full floorshows. They had an intellectual punch, and were portrayed in the films Cabaret and The Blue Angel. However, within a few years of Hitler's rise to power in 1933, this short but glorious cabaret subculture was effectively suppressed by the Nazis. The songs featured in Smoke & Sound, written by Weill, Brecht, Hollaender and Spolianksy, reflect the decadence and unfulfilled hopes of a temporary oasis in German history marked by runaway inflation, and agitations of the Left and Right while the looming Nazi era is inescapable in such Hollaender songs as 'Munchhausen' and 'A Little Yearning'. There are also some very funny numbers, most notably 'The Smart Set' and 'It's All a Swindle' - which point the finger at the foibles of society, snobbery and of course, corrupt politicians. The second part of the show features the music of those artists who started off their careers in the Berlin cabaret scene, and found great success on Broadway and in Hollywood, most notably Weill ('Mack The Knife'), Hollaender ('Falling In Love Again') and Marlene Dietrich ('Lili Marlene'). Smoke & Sound, taken from the German translation of 'Schall und Rauch' was the name of one of the earliest literary cabaret clubs in Berlin, founded in 1901. It's also a play on words meaning 'empty words' or 'smalltalk'. Dublin-born Stella Bass is one of the rising stars of jazz in Ireland. A graduate of UCD, she has been performing for a number of years with her jazz ensemble Sweet & Lowdown (the accompanying band for the show), who have performed for such events as the Ryder Cup, 6 Nations Rugby and Heineken Cup Final.