Cabaret Return For Ireland's Slinky Minx
Sun Herald
Sunday January 27, 2008
Camille O'Sullivan has added David Bowie to her repertoire for her sultry, seductive show, writes Andrew Taylor.
WHEN she was a child growing up in the Irish city of Cork, Camille O'Sullivan harboured dreams of emulating the cabaret stars of prewar Germany.After a year studying in Berlin and hearing first-hand the bittersweet laments of singers such as Ute Lemper, she slid further down the "slippery slope" of performing in dimly lit, smoke-filled bars.But too nervous to face an audience, O'Sullivan opted instead for a career in architecture until a near-fatal car crash led her back to the stage.She says the accident, which left her with a broken pelvis and unable to use her hands or legs, was a "really big eye-opener". "I didn't look injured but there were quite a lot of hidden breakages," she says. "I felt pretty kind of mad after the accident and I think it allowed me to make that rash decision to become a singer."Throwing caution, as well as a secure job, to the wind to perform cabaret in a country renowned for folk singers and balladeers did not seem like a wise idea at first, O'Sullivan admits.Performing just seven gigs in her first year, O'Sullivan had to wean her countryfolk off a diet of Danny Boy and U2. "I had to spoonfeed them slowly," she says. "They'd never had anybody walk on stage and climb across them. They liked it but I always felt I could lose them at any minute."Since making her Australian debut in The Famous Spiegeltent, the 34-year-old singer has captivated audiences with an eclectic choice of songs that range from the cabaret standards of Kurt Weill and Jacques Brel to covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and Tom Waits. Last year, O'Sullivan won awards at the Edinburgh Fringe and Dublin Fringe festivals and has been variously described as "a minx with ... a voice to hypnotise a viper" and "a cross between Sally Bowles, Patti Smith and P.J. Harvey"."I think I've got multiple personalities," she says. " But doesn't everyone? You just have to find the key to unlock them."Cabaret journeys from the heights of joy to the depths of despair and O'Sullivan's latest show, Camille: The Dark Angel, follows the trajectory set by her previous Sydney show, La Fille du Cirque. O'Sullivan, whose creative talents extend to the screen and stage, wears the regulation fishnet stockings and va-va-voom dresses, but she treats each song as an intense emotional experience lightened by a seductive laugh and familiar Irish humour.However, this time she promises to include tunes by Radiohead and David Bowie."I'm coming back to all the people I loved when I was young," she says. "When I was growing up, I had a total crush on Bowie. He was the most glam rock of all."But not a songwriter you normally see on a cabaret singer's song list."These guys are modern storytellers just like Weill and Brel," O'Sullivan says. "It doesn't seem wrong to use their music because they held up a mirror to society."Embarking on a new tour is "liberating and scary and great fun", she adds. "You don't hit the right notes every night."In any case, O'Sullivan says, if singing doesn't work out she always has architecture to fall back on: "I've had offers to go back as long as I wear what I wear on stage."Camille: The Dark Angel plays at The Studio, Sydney Opera House from February 6 to 16. $20-$48. Phone (02) 9250 7777 or see www.sydneyoperahouse.com.
© 2008 Sun Herald