REVIEW: GARDEN PARTY at Canal Café Theatre 13 - 17 May 2026
‘edgy entertainment’ ★★★ ½
Presented by Kulturscio’k, a contemporary theatre company based in Paris, their new show is inspired by Truman Capote’s iconic 1966 ball. It aims to highlight the decadence and hypocrisy of certain outrageously wealthy personages, and Capote’s subversive nature in a ‘true crime’ immersive cabaret.
Canal Café Theatre is the perfect bijoux venue for this intimate event. The overblown characters, camp and exotic, are also a little fragile, with Paul Spera playing the perfect queer host. There are echoes of the musical Cabaret in his perverse and enigmatic delivery. He is definitely good-to-look at, and indeed, Garden Party is a feast for the eyes. As the stories unfold, those of betrayal and murder, there is a slight chill in the air, but it’s all distinctly delivered as wicked entertainment, titillation, thrills for the sake of outrage.
The show begins with an extravagantly warm welcome from the cast. Audiences are shown to their tables where they are invited to use the masks and other wearables on offer. In the clearly defined audience facing immersive opening section of the show, audiences are invited to join in by telling everyone their darkest secret. This felt rather awkward right at the beginning, and no one was forthcoming although afterwards I did wonder whether my confession of having eaten the children’s chocolate Easter Eggs … before Easter, would have been suitable. Probably not, as the show then homes in on a ‘deliciously seductive’ selection of murders acted out by them with great relish, leaning into a fetishism of true crime.
The second section of interaction with the audience worked beautifully with a couple of people joining in with supercool dancing. This was very elegantly performed. In the more voyeuristic scenes, when audiences become the observers, everyone can witness the stories and songs; one about accidentally shooting a rich husband and another about an alcoholic mother, all added to the piquancy of the evening’s entertainment. A particularly neat lighting effect, gave a moment of suspense, but best of all, (for me), was the live music by Marco Cappelli and Phil StGeorge and sound design by Didier Leglise.
It’s a show which probably either needs better ways of encouraging audiences to participate or a much longer running time, to allow audiences to warm up. Having been left thinking about what I would like to confess became a major concern for me, mulling over what I should have said. Perhaps a plant in the audience to kick things off might mean that the audiences would understand what was required of them and join in more readily with a lie – why not. Join in with the tone of the show and have some fun.
This interactive section almost worked, but the main body definitely hit its target and kudos to the company for bringing a cabaret which feels daring and edgy.
GARDEN PARTY at Canal Café Theatre 13 - 17 May 2026
Kulturscio’k Live Art Collective
Tickets: https://canalcafetheatre.com/our-shows/garden-party/
Cast and creatives
Performers:
Fergus Head, Paul Spera, Alessia Siniscalchi
Director:
Alessia Siniscalchi
Writers:
Alessia Siniscalchi and Paul Spera
Music:
Marco Cappelli and Phil StGeorge
Light design
Benjamin Sillon
Live sound
Didier Leglise
Stage, technical manager and singing
Lucy Planet
Photo credit
Colin Hattersley
