An Evening Without Kate Bush by Sarah-Louise Young & Russell Lucas – Soho Theatre, London

Sarah-Louise Young is a performer with a distinctive line in one woman shows that combine theatre, comedy and song in subtle and rather innovative ways. The Silent Treatment, her show at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival about her life as a performer was moving, ingenious and entertaining. Her show about Kate Bush wears its accomplishments very lightly, but is unmistakably a very clever show. Performed cabaret style in a late night slot downstairs at the Soho Theatre, where the comedians are usually found, the evening is all about shared enjoyment with the audience.

Sarah-Louise is a big fan of Kate Bush as unsurprisingly, is almost the entire audience, but she is no humourless fan. She performs a perfect fan’s selection of Kate Bush songs, ranging from the obvious (‘Running Up That Hill’) to the obscure (‘James and The Cold Gun’) and the unflashy but essential (‘The Man With the Child in His Eyes’). She is very happy to wield a giant cape-cum-fan for a very amusing dance parodying the ‘Never for Ever’ era, breaking down the classic Bush dance moves. She sings ‘Babooshka’ in Russian as an affronted grandmother, and ‘This Woman’s Work’ in a mop repurposed as a surprisingly effective wig. There is also a very silly impression of Lindsay Kemp. Two couples from the audience are cheerfully integrated into the show, providing backing vocals for ‘Don’t Give Up’ with the ‘boring Peter Gabriel bits’ removed. Young, a seems to particularly enjoy the audience interaction and improvisation that goes with it. However, she takes Kate Bush entirely seriously too, and makes it entirely clear just how exceptional a song-writer and performer she is, easier to parody than to understand. She also weaves in material that, although lightly presented, hits home including a rather shocking account of being shamed by her convent school nuns for performing a Kate Bush song at a school assembly.

Young is a delightful singer, but she doesn’t overdo it. She completely convinces an excited audience by performing the songs in her own way, avoiding Kate Bush impressions, but with teasing glimpses of how she could sing like Bush if she chose. Her range and style makes the music a pleasure, but the show’s climax comes with the song she doesn’t sing. She spends the show building up to ‘Wuthering Heights’ but, when the moment comes, turns the microphone to the audience who sing the entire thing, joyfully and almost entirely accurately. It is a moment of communal connection that has everyone leaving with a smile on their face, and tribute to the simple but highly effective theatricality that Young seems to have at her fingertips.