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Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

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If The Light House is an uplifting tale of survival, Sarah Richardson’s Sun Bear gives a contrasting take on this. Sarah plays Katy. We’re introduced to Katy as she runs through a list of pet office peeves with her endlessly perky coworkers, particularly about coworkers stealing her pens. It’s a hilarious opening monologue that would have you wishing you had her as a coworker to help relieve you from the boredom of petty office politics.  But something is not quite right in the perfect petty office, where people work together well. And that is her. And despite her protesting that she is fine, the pet peeves and the outbursts are becoming more frequent. As the piece progresses, maybe the problem lies in a past relationship, where Katy had to be home by a particular hour, not stay out late with office colleagues and not be drunk enough not to answer his calls. Perhaps the perky office colleagues are trying to help, and perhaps Katy is trying to reach out for help. It has simple staging

Music meaning and laughs: Tiffany Graves in the house

Closing out the season of Cabaret at Lauderdale House on Highgate Hill, Tiffany Graves delivered a memorably funny and high spirited show last Sunday. Lauderdale House is a former private home that has been transformed into an arts and education centre and has been running Sunday afternoon events for some time.

Graves delivered a wonderfully comedic and powerful collection of songs that she felt reflected her career, her friends and her relationships, which was at times hilarious enough to forget about the miserable weather outside.
It was a particular treat to see her renditions of comics songs including My Simple Christmas Wish (rich, famous and powerful) and If You've Got It, Flaunt It from The Producers. She knows how to get the most out of the songs she chose - musically and comically.  She even made a point of highlighting that she was wearing the same dress as the brochure (depicted above). It is a shame that there are not more opportunities to see Ms Graves perform or sing in London (I was lucky to see her perform in Sweet Charity a few years ago when she was understudy) and there appears to be no recordings available of her performances... For now.

It was a particularly cold and chilly day in London and Highgate Hill looked like a winter wonderland. An inch of snow dusted the grounds of the Lauderdale House making everything seem so lovely that you almost forgot the bitter arctic winds blowing.

The series of cabaret concerts here are very generously presented. Hosted by Broadway and West End actress Valerie Cutko (who could be fun enough to have her own show), she also sings a few numbers. Then there is a support act  and then the main act. Young Howard Jenkins's performance in the first half of the afternoon was entertaining enough although he was on better ground with his parody of being an usher at The Phantom of the Opera and his song Thick Skin than some of his other choices. It probably isn't a good idea to close your set with Once Before I Go from The Boy From Oz ... It feels to me too much like a song that is best sung by an old gay man about to die.

While you may enjoy a long afternoon of cabaret,  perhaps a tighter format with the support acts limited to a few numbers would help those who don't live near Highgate get home at a sensible time. It might also help to keep the cafe downstairs open at least until interval. Locals won't be so bothered by this of course...

The cabaret season has finished for now but there are a range of other concerts planned over the summer that are worth a look. There is also an appeal for funds for much needed works to the building, parts of which date back to 1582. Check their website for what is coming up and look for the return of the Cabaret in October.

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