The next London Cabaret Awards ceremony will take place on 9 March 2015.
Now in its fourth year, the London Cabaret Awards has released the latest longlist of nominees.
We’ve already discussed what we’ve found in some way good or in some way bad about the 2015 longlist. This isn’t the time or place to discuss the cons and cons of the process under which the judges are chosen and operate (something done at length elsewhere) but some of this year’s nominations are truly mystifying.
Here are some of their more baffling choices:
Hoxton Hall, nominated for Best Venue. Hoxton Hall has been closed since January 2014 and appears to have hosted only one cabaret show in the qualifying period. Given how memorable that revue must have been, we’re surprised it didn’t get a Best Production nomination unlike…
Sublime Boudoir, nominated for Best Ongoing Production. This one-off show has only appeared once in London and that was in May 2013. Not only did it happen months outside the qualifying period (31 Oct 2013-1 Nov 2014) but it is not an ongoing London production unlike…
Cabaret Des Distractions, nominated for Best Speciality/Variety Act. How does a variety show which lasts for two whole hours qualify as a speciality/variety act? It’s almost as if the judges didn’t quite know what they were looking at. Talking of which…
Coco Dubois, nominated for Best Burlesque. These days, she is generally known as an accomplished compere and singer rather than a burlesque performer. If the panel were unsure of what she does, there are some clues burrowed away on her website and her Facebook and her Twitter accounts. Maybe the judges were studiously perusing the cocktail menu when they could have been checking out…
The Double R Club, nominated for nothing. One of the darkest shows in cabaret won the Best Ongoing Production in 2012 and they won it again in 2013. Its compere Benjamin Louche has a shiny trophy that says “London Cabaret Award Best Host 2014”. It was one of the critically acclaimed hits of this summer. No show deserves an award on reputation alone but it appears that not one of the judges deigned to head east and check out the current state of this trophy-laden production. As co-producer Rose Thorne put it: “How can a show that won best ongoing production twice and which produced last year’s best host not even warrant the courtesy of a visit as part of the long-listing process?”
The next London Cabaret Awards ceremony will take place on 9 March 2015.
Ha! I love this.
It’s rather baffling. I think we are all (including the judges) just completely hammered and nobody knows what is going on.
Ironically, I’ve just put together a one-off Xmas burlesque act but let me note that this came after the nomination and is totally unrelated. Maybe the judges are Psycic?!
Anyhow, merry Christmas, pass the bubbly wine, I’m going for gold!
*hiccup*
Coco Dubois xxz
Ah well, Merry Christmas Coco. Cheers! x
Worse, there’s only once Burlesque act on the list truly worth a nomination. London has so many far more worthy Burlesque acts than the rest on the list – Chrys Columbine, Betsy Rose, Kitty Bang Bang, Banbury Cross, Laurie Hagen and Immodesty Blaize just to name a few.
What ever the judges were on when they made their selections, I want some!!
Oh, and then there’s the utterly mesmerising Vicky Butterfly! The list goes on.