KATYA: THE MINX FROM MINSK Comes to the 2018 Melbourne Cabaret Festival

Katya Ulyana Anastasiya Svet is part Bond fan-girl part Eastern European woman of mystery, with an unapologetic affinity for guns, arguing and vodka. She is smart, sassy and knows how to put a gun together, which makes us excited - and a little bit scared.

A child of the fall of communism, Katya's sense of Western culture is a limited to Bond films, and what she has stored up is (therefore) a little dated. Heavily influenced by her late father's obsession with the 007 franchise, Katya drinks highly of her dearly departed washing-machine-mechanic father while she navigates that which she has observed about living and dying.

Katya's grasp of how to handle guns, men and liquor is unorthodox at best (though she considers herself a lapsed-Orthodox) because, in addition to her obsession with the Ian Fleming franchise, Katya has never left her hometown of Minsk, Belarus; the drunkest country in the world. Belarus is a place where time stands still in a lot of ways, and the Soviet Union is still present - bribes are used in negotiation, statues of Lenin remain and you can still be issued the death penalty.

But don't dare suggest she is sheltered by any means (or that Belarus is a part of Russia).

KATYA: THE MINX FROM MINSK is far from wide-eyed, though she can appear that way, she's as blunt as the rusty corkscrew her mother kept under the bed (in case her father mentioned the name "Natalya" ever again). Katya is a femme fatale on the brink of discovering her true self as she asks questions about James Bond, his girls, life and death.

With a soundtrack that features Bond themes from Sheryl Crow, Garbage and Chris Cornell, as well at least one Shirley Bassey hit, KATYA: THE MINX FROM MINSK is a spy cabaret brought to you by the creative duo behind 2015's ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG - Greenroom-nominated Shanon Whitelock and soul-rock songstress Jessica Papst, with a 4-piece band of Melbourne's best.

Pack your martinis, girls and guns for a night out with KATYA: THE MINX FROM MINSK, as part of the 2018 Melbourne Cabaret Festival at Chapel Off Chapel for two shows only, 20 and 21 June.

Bookings: ?www.chapeloffchapel.com.au