Review: GILLIAN COSGRIFF: THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A GAME – ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL 2026 at Banquet Room, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Benjamin Maio Mackay, Thursday 4th June 2026.

Gillian Cosgriff has established herself as one of the smartest, funniest and most likeable voices in Australian cabaret. Returning for its second year as a late-night Adelaide Cabaret Festival offering, There Is Nothing Like A Game is a charming, silly, but ultimately nice way to spend 75 minutes.

Assisted by the ever-engaging Joel Allan, Cosgriff hosts a series of interactive games that invite audience members and special guests alike into the chaos. The games are primarily music-based and consistently amusing. There's television theme-song bingo, a charades-style challenge, a race to identify flags of songwriters scattered around the room, and even the timeless spectacle of people attempting to eat doughnuts dangling from strings.

The audience participation element is both the show's greatest strength and occasional weakness. When it works, it creates an infectious sense of camaraderie throughout the room. When it doesn't, the pace can sag slightly, particularly when participants are either reluctant or, in one memorable instance, considerably more enthusiastic thanks to several festival beverages. That unpredictability is part of the appeal, but it also means no two performances will ever be quite the same.

The guests on the evening I attended were Vidya Makan, Millicent Sarre, and Frankie McNair. All three are exceptionally talented performers and each was given an opportunity to showcase their abilities before being thrown into the games. My biggest criticism concerns McNair, who performed the exact same routine she had presented at the Variety Gala only an hour earlier. Given the overlap in audiences, it felt a little short-sighted not to have something different prepared for the late-night crowd.

What becomes increasingly apparent throughout the evening is just how talented is Cosgriff herself. Her comic instincts are razor-sharp and her singing voice remains powerful. At times, the format almost undersells her strengths. Rather than featuring three guest performers, the show may actually benefit from reducing that number to two and allowing Cosgriff a little more room to shine. The audience is clearly happy to participate, and her own material is more than strong enough to carry additional stage time.

There is also something refreshingly unpretentious about the whole enterprise. In a festival filled with heavy and on occasion pretentious shows, There Is Nothing Like A Game isn't trying to change your life. Its ambitions are far more straightforward: gather a room full of strangers, create some laughs and send everyone home happier than when they arrived.

Is it deep, meaningful or particularly intelligent? Not especially, but it is warm, original and consistently entertaining. You can tell Cosgriff and Allan genuinely want the audience to have a good time, and that enthusiasm proves infectious. If you're already out enjoying the Cabaret Festival and can grab a rush ticket, it's an easy recommendation. I wouldn't necessarily plan my entire evening around it, but as a late-night Festival companion, it hits the mark nicely.

Photography, Claudio Raschella.