In CONFESSIONS OF A DRAMA QUEEN, cabaret singer and eros performer Songbird Siren shares her story, her journey, with the audience. She does so by way of an escalating series of confessions, interspersed with some erotic/striptease/doing the splits sequences, and some very well performed renditions of ballads; some well known, others more obscure, all fitting in with the narrative line, and Songbird showcasing good ‘pipes’.
The show was well received by the mostly youthful audience who were cheering her own. I did sense that a few of the people in the older age bristling a bit during the show. Understandable, considering the erotic parts of the performance were very ‘in your face’. Being a straight middle aged guy I was attentive
The ‘short story’ to Songbird’s journey thus far in life, was that she was brought in a conservative, religious environment, and studied at a performing arts school. This training gave her a love of the arts, and her goal since has to been to be a performer. Songbird shares with us that her chosen path has been a fraught one.
She reports how she has been through countless, very competitive auditions, and hasn’t cracked in a big show. So here she is putting on her own show as part of this year’s Hayes theatre’s winter cabaret season.
Money makes the world go round, and she shares with us, often quite comically, the many different jobs that she has done to keep bread on the table. This is, of-course, sadly, a familiar story for actors. There are so many actors, and only so many parts.
Music director Zara Stanton tinkled away on the ivories in the background. A big feature of the show was the great, exotic outfits that she wore. During the time she needed to undertake her elaborate costume changes, she organised for three fellow performers, Carla Field, Alexis Hutchinson and Jared Jekyll to hold the stage. Jekyll was the stand-out giving a finely tuned comic performance as a very shy, morose, nerdy guy who laughingly tried to replicate some of Songbird’s best moves.
Songbird shared with us her own personal credo; the need to be yourself, to live how you want to live, and for the choices not to be determined by others.
The show was an intriguing mix of the burlesque with the personal.
A Songbird Siren production, in association with the Hayes theatre, CONFESSIONS OF A DRAMA QUEEN, well directed by Joanna Weinberg, played the Hayes Theatre, Potts Point on the 18th and the 19th June 2025.
Songbird is bringing back the show to Sydney later in the year for the Sydney Fringe Festival.
