Brighton-based cabaret star Billie Gold produces a 24-carat performance that storms through her turbulent life in her one-person Brighton Fringe show Praise Kink.
On a stage moodily lit by bright red lights, she belts out the song Beggin’ and we know we’re in for a storming hour of truth, honesty, raunchiness and fun. Billie doesn’t disappoint.
It’s kind of the story of how a potential Barbie girl grew up and found her true self, a cabaret career and the love of another woman.
But along the way we get an insight into Billie’s true past – as stripper, consensual dominatrix and the prisoner in an unhappy relationship with a boyfriend who totally controlled her existence.
It’s a story that’s hard to listen to but Billie peppers the narrative with jokes, innuendo and raunchy songs that lift us out of any possible gloom.
Tom Lehrer’s Masochism Tango was a no-brainer choice and she leans on its wickedly explicit lyrics with obvious joy.
But for me the stand-out two songs are Dreamgirl Evil, which she delivers with ferocious energy and self-assertion. And she ends the show with I Would Do Anything For Love, which here becomes an anthem of personal triumph.
If you get a chance to catch the show whenever its next outing is, then go – it’s pure cabaret gold.
Praise Kink was at the Ironworks studios.
