As cabaret goes mainstream, it faces challenges as well as opportunities. Time Out London's cabaret editor explored the issues in a talk at this year's Edinburgh Fringe
Who’d have thought one of the best times to be had at the Fringe would involve throwing sanitary pads at an octogenarian? At 80, Lynn Ruth Miller is an old-school entertainer, originally from Ohio, who weaves between colourful anecdotes, groan-inducing gags, bawdy singalongs and shrewd observations without ever showing the joins. The wonderful aspect of Miller’s set is that she utterly embraces her age, mining the experience of getting older for material on everything from sex and drugs to failing bodies and seizing the day, without the slightest shred of sentimentality or solemnity – and in terms of demanding and rewarding an audience's conversational engagement, she could write the book. Frankly, you’d do well to keep up. It’s hard to imagine anyone leaving without a grin on their face and a spring in their step – and when it comes to sanitary pads, Miller can dish it out just as well as she takes it.
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