Homme Fatale

Sven Ratzke, the Dutch-German cabaret performer, personifies everything that true cabaret is about. He is sexy, flirty, audience focused and uniquely entertaining. In fact, he reminds me that I have seen a number of other cabaret performers do great shows, but Ratzke’s show is true to the cabaret genre and he is a quintessential cabaret style performer.

Ratzke's style and talent are unique. He marries rock, cabaret and high camp 1920’s style vaudeville as he croons, chats and alternately powerfully belts or gently sells wistful, mournful melodies that illustrate his story. His “dancing” is not classically choreographed as he gyrates, bends, leaps and appears to have embraced the concept of “dance like no-one is watching.” This does not distract from the show. It is simply about him being a male, rather than femme fatale.

Clad in an Edwardian style Thierry Mugler custom made, layered costume, Ratzke bursts onto the stage initially wearing a Phantom of The Opera style mask, which, along with several parts of the costume, he sheds or re-dons to create the mood for his songs as his tale unfolds. Commanding the subtly lit stage, he struts in shiny platform shoes and had, on the final night of the Cabaret Festival, the audience, who appeared to be “seasoned Sven converts” eating from his highly expressive hands.

Homme Fatal means Fatal Man, and his opening number ‘Elegant Man’, is aptly about an elegant man, a fragile man. His story starts as he shuts his eyes, sitting in a lavender infused bath, and he takes us through incarnations of his life from a seedy, but benevolent brothel in Paris, to New York and other major capital cities.

For each place there is a story and song, possibly a fantasy of experiences that embraces people from the past and present, even dabbling in explaining the misdeeds of the Ancient Greek Gods and the birth of God’s non favourite angel child, Lucifer. Having reminisced about visiting legendary film-maker Fellini outside of Rome, he then takes us to a New York nightclub where guests like Humphrey Bogart and Sid Vicious are in the front row. His tale comes full circle and ends when he opens his eyes and is re-born. His quest for the 75 minutes of the show is to explore finding real love. He finally murmurs, “I made you up inside my head.”

Ratzke clearly loves his audiences and has woven in appreciative patter about Adelaide which he referred to as a city of “sexuality and possibilities.”As with Dame Edna shows, do not be late. A hapless late arrival, was, of course selected for attention and mention during the show, but never cruelly or without humour. He often turns the humour on himself, playfully manipulating words, accents and cultural references.

Known for his former Bowie Festival shows and look, Ratzke includes songs from well-known musicians including Rufus Wainwright, Dez Mona, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. This is impressive as each song clearly aids the telling of the story as he moves around in time and place. His song about love, being like a cigarette is poignant; sung as he muses on being a woman for a day, eyes shut, caressing the air, wistful and reflective. He espouses the strength of and envies women and celebrates them in his encore, ‘Goodnight to the Ladies’. It is a crowd pleaser for all.

Ratzke is a humble performer. He painstakingly introduces and thanks each of his three very talented accompanying musicians, (and at one stage offered each of them as a cultural give away to ladies in the audience) and publicly thanked the technical crew, not merely gesturing to them. He is passionate about the uniqueness of the Adelaide Festival as an opportunity for performers, cabaret as a performance style and audiences.

Ratzke certainly is a proud and worthy ambassador of this festival.

Jude Hines

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