She stole the scene in her ‘villainous’ role in hit comedy Colin from Accounts, but Virginia Gay reveals why directing Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s 25th anniversary is her favourite gig yet.

“Sex, wit, mischief, sass, and a little whiff of chaos” – that’s how Gay sums up Adelaide Cabaret Festival as she steps into the spotlight as artistic director for its sparkling silver anniversary.

Fresh from making audiences worldwide laugh as Rumi in the hit comedy Colin from Accounts, Gay brings her infectious energy back to Adelaide to transform winter into a celebration of cabaret’s unique magic from June 5-21.

It’s her second year in a row at the helm, and she’s loving it.

“This job has changed my life, and I’m eternally grateful for it,” Gay said. 

“I didn’t think anything could be more exciting than standing in a spotlight performing. Turns out, what I really love is standing in front of a whiteboard with a team of very sleep-deprived people, solving urgent problems to deliver an incredible evening to an audience.”

After two years steering the ship, she’s confident she knows exactly how to wow the crowds.

“I know what these audiences want, because I have been these audiences,” she says.

Virginia Gay. Photo: The Post

What exactly is cabaret?

“Cabaret, for me, in the purest or simplest terms, is stories into song,” Gay says. “It is irreverent and mischievous, but it also has a fiery heart, a sense of the way that it would fight injustice.

“Cabaret is a warm hug wrapped in a sequined blanket,” she says, capturing the essence of why people are drawn to the art form even in the coldest winter months.

It’s also an art form that creates a unique relationship between the audience and performers.

“It reminds you that we are all in this room together, making an experience together. A performer cannot exist without an audience, and an audience has no reason to exist without a performer. It’s symbiotic, and it’s sexy and fun and wild.”

This year’s program showcases cabaret’s versatility through unique events like Between the Covers, a singing book club that beautifully showcases cabaret’s intimate storytelling, and La Clique, where performers use their bodies to make cabaret in a way that’s “irreverent, mischievous, exposing but also incandescent”.

Virginia Gay as Rumi in Colin from Accounts. Photo: The Post

Her best work

Gay’s scene-stealing role in Colin from Accounts – playing Rumi, the new girlfriend of Ashley’s (Harriet Dyer) best friend Megan (Emma Harvie) – is the latest highlight in a stellar career spanning acting, singing, writing, and directing.

“That [Colin from Accounts] dinner party scene – play a little loop at my funeral,” she jokes. “I think it might actually be the best work in my career.” 

“Honestly, [add] clips from Calamity Jane, maybe somebody reading a bit of Cyrano, and then singing one cabaret song – that’s my whole life!”

Despite being long-time friends with the show’s creators, Dyer and husband Patrick Brammal, Virginia admits she went “mega fangirl” on set.

“I had to text Patrick afterwards to say ‘Mate, I’m sorry I went so insane on your set. It just happens to be that you’ve created one of my favourite things in the entire world, and I’m a mega fan – before I’m an actor or your friend, it would appear!’.”

Now embracing what she jokingly calls her “villain era”, Gay says, “I’m with Rumi – no more good girls, no more nice guys. Bring on the complex characters and a bit of chaos!”

Celebrating cabaret magic

The 25th anniversary of Adelaide Cabaret Festival holds special meaning for Gay, who has enjoyed it as a fan, performer, and now artistic director.

“If you’d told me five years ago I’d be artistic director, I’d have said ‘No way, me? In the same job as the likes of David Campbell, Kate Ceberano, Alan Cumming? Never’,” she says.

The milestone year pays tribute to cabaret legends like Carlotta, who performed at the first Adelaide Cabaret Festival and returns as a true cabaret icon – “as fabulous as ever, hilarious, brilliant, game-changing” – and David Campbell, whom Virginia calls “categorically one of the greatest voices Australia has ever produced”.

This article first appeared in The Post. Read the original article here.