Review: ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL 2016, RHONDA BURCHMORE AND TREVOR ASHLEY – TWINS Pairs Two Of Australia's Favourites

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Sunday 12th June 2016

Rhonda Burchmore and Trevor Ashley - Twins, brings together two cabaret divas who, as the publicity tells us, are almost impossible to tell apart. You can ascertain the accuracy of that statement for yourself from the photograph. The resemblance is uncanny, if that is the correct word for it. Both are familiar faces to audiences at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and so the full house for this hilarious performance was entirely expected.

Daytime television viewers who are fans of Ellen DeGeneres will, I am sure, be incensed but I, and the rest of the audience found Burchmore, a trained and highly skilled dancer, now wobbling around the stage with choreography by St. Vitus, absolutely hilarious. Ashley, of course, plays Ellen's partner Portia De Rossi.

One of the sequences in this show, which was presented in the opening night Gala, saw Burchmore staggering around blindly in a wig, half black, half white with a fringe that hid her face, and a bow in her hair big enough to gift wrap a jumbo jet. This send up of Sia and her video clip of Chandelier featured Ashley as the interpretive dancer, Maddie Ziegler, with silver fringed wig and flesh toned leotard. Burchmore was already reducing the audience to a laughing mass, but adding his terpsichorean madness would have made a statue laugh.

Abba also came in for a serve of their parody, with the pair appearing as Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, dressed in those iconic mini dresses with the cats printed on them. Even The Little Mermaid comes in for a wickedly comical make over at the hands, or legs, of Burchmore. To cover the longer costume changes, some quite ridiculous videos kept the laughter going.

Musical director, James Simpson, and the band of local musicians, were resplendent in long white shorts, socks, and white shoes, with sequined tank tops. In case you hadn't worked it out yet, this was a high camp performance, with no holds barred, and nothing and nobody is sacred. It was also an adults only performance, with plenty of rather blatant sexual references.

Both Rhonda Burchmore and Trevor Ashley are each great performers in their own right but, together, they are more than double the value. The comedy is only a part of this performance, though, as they are both excellent singers, and their voices blend wonderfully in their duets. They gave the audience precisely what they wanted, with smiling faces everywhere as the theatre emptied into the foyer.

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