Review: CARDIAC ORGAN: A GOTH CABARET at Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble

What kind of entertainment do the undead enjoy when they go out on the town? A cabaret, of course, featuring your standard cabaret classics like Xmal Deutschland’s “Incubus Succubus” and Bauhaus’s “Bela Lugosi's Dead.” But you don’t have to be a monster to experience such a show – until July 8, the living and other demons can enjoy a spooky evening out together thanks to CARDIAC ORGAN: A GOTH CABARET, the latest offering from Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE).

If you were lucky enough to catch PETE’s sea shanty cabaret, Drowned Horse Tavern, in 2015, think of CARDIAC ORGAN as a goth version of that. If not, picture a cabaret episode of “What We Do in the Shadows.” (And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you have some mandatory viewing to catch up on.)

The Goths here are chimeras of sorts – what you might get if you combined Visigoths, vampires and other creatures of the night, and the goth subculture.

Performed by Rebecca Lingafelter, Cristi Miles, and Amber Whitehall, backed by a live band (Mark Valadez, Kora Link, and Ezri Reyes), the cabaret features 80s mostly British goth music, standup, storytelling, and other performances that defy easy classification (it’s PETE after all). Highlights include Lingafelter’s face-changing rendition of “She’s Lost Control,” by Joy Division, a gravity-defying performance by Whitehall, guest vocalist Kora Link singing the Cocteau Twins’ “Sugar Hiccup,” and Cristi Miles, just in general.

There are plenty of laughs, a few surprises, and some very impressive theatre magic, mostly thanks to Peter Ksander, whose sets are always more complex than they seem at first glance.

Directed by Jacob Coleman, CARDIAC ORGAN is excellent fun – not the good, clean type, but the vastly superior creepy, twisted type. Slither up to the bar for a Red Rabbit and enjoy the show.

CARDIAC ORGAN: A GOTH CABARET runs at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art through July 8. More details and tickets here.

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