While it is important to remember that one of the characteristics of cabaret is that it was in a continuous state of changing and that nothing was ever stated once and for all, it should also be remembered that there were a few characteristic that set cabaret apart from all other similar forms of entertainment. Part of these characteristics resided in the very place where the cabaret was housed.

What mainly distinguished cabaret from all other types of theatrical entertainment was intimacy. All the aspects of the show were heavily influenced by the close contact between the performers and the audience and the intimate connection that close contact created.
Cabarets were normally small, informal places, where people could enjoy the show but also drink and eat, smoke and chat. The show consisted of many short numbers, usually 5 to 10 minutes long, different in nature and genre, though most inclined to satire and parody of everyday life. The show revolved around what people were mainly concerned about: sex, fashion, religion and especially politics.
These numbers were usually presented by professional singers and actors, though it wasn’t infrequent that writers and composers performed their own work. After all, cabaret had started as a way for artists to meet and exchanged opinions and advice. Numbers were linked together by a conférencier, a type of emcee who interacted with the audience and introduced the performer. But the conférencier’s action was in itself a performance and very often it included the most up-to-date comments on everyday life and events.

Although cabarets always had a small stage, it was very common for the performers to act in among the tables, coming eye-to-eye with the audience and often bringing the spectators into their acts. The audience’s reaction became then very important, to the point that numbers failed or succeeded and often adjusted to the audience’s reaction. A show could become more literary or dramatic depending on what the audience showed to appreciate more. Topic might be dropped out and registers be adapted to what the audience reacted more favourably to.
The cabaret show was a living entity that always listened to the world outside and sought to mirror and comment it.

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RESOURCES

Musicals 101 – A History of Cabaret by John Kenrick

Peter Jelavich, Berlin Cabaret. Harvard University Press, Harvard, 1993

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