Allow me to introduce you to Adam Porter – theatre performer turned yoga master. Originally from Brisbane, he moved to Melbourne to follow his passion at APO Arts Academy, where he studied in 2011. Since graduating he has produced and starred in Homemade Fusion, devised a revue and still manages to practice yoga six times a week. “A few months ago, I wondered why no one had written a show about it (yoga) yet… It’s hilarious!” says Adam. This is true, and is evident from Namaste: The Cabaret, a yoga inspired cabaret that has just finished its season at the Butterfly Club. It was very clear from his performance that this was a subject very close to his heart, so I’ve decided to write this review somewhat unconventionally. To quote Adam again, at the end of his piece he said “If you liked it, tell your friends. If you didn’t like it, tell me.” Honouring this, I’m formatting this article as a two part open letter. Part one, to… everyone. Part two, to Adam directly. (Although, do read both parts anyway, it’ll be interesting… probably)
To the theatre go-ers of Melbourne,
Namaste: the Cabaret is a very well constructed show; Adam Porter definitely has a talent for writing and performing. Firstly, he has a great energy about him. His performance was unforgiving, unashamed and effervescent. He has a very natural ability to connect with an audience; he’s not afraid to make eye contact and has a friendly face that draws you in and captivates you. As he performed he made you feel you weren’t at a show at all, merely a room full of his best friends he’s decided to sing to. He is great at making you feel comfortable.
The show is very well constructed. Adam had clearly done extensive research on the subject and gave its structure a lot of thought. He had divided it into definite sections and segued between them seamlessly. Nothing felt forced or jolted. It had a great flow, which it should given the subject matter alone. His song choices were very creative and varied. My favourite would have to be his rendition of “Please Don’t Stop the Music” by Rhianna that he had changed to “Please Don’t Stop the Breathing”. It began as a yoga chant, and then slowly transitioned into an up tempo piece. I loved this choice of song because it was unexpected and well executed, and made for a great first musical number. Other notable songs were “It’s Oh So Quiet”, where Adam vented about noise in the yoga room and “Welcome to My Apartment”, where he introduced his apartment and “Cocktober” allowed him to purchase all the things in it. The lyrics are very cleverly changed, and were chosen wisely for the subject matter. I’d find myself recognising the song, and then absolutely beaming when it took an unexpected smart turn. This is what I love about cabaret, and I’m pleased to say Namaste delivered in that respect.
His message that he hammered home particularly at the end of the piece was very touching. It was very obvious here how passionate he is about the practice of yoga and how it has affected his life. His passion actually made me want to take up yoga myself, which is fabulous. Although he may not have been communicating world peace or some social injustice, he still can inspire his audience to act on something which makes for great art. It was lovely to see, and it made me happy seeing someone who has found such joy in their life.
If you missed Adam’s show, then shame on you it was fabulous! However, all is not lost. It is a project in the making and he has said there are plans for it to be worked on and performed again in the future. So if you get another chance, do go and see it. If anything, you’ll go home and start practicing your downward dog.
To Adam aka. Yogitakasananana,
It’s so weird how I feel like I know you now after seeing your show. Therefore it felt unnatural criticising without addressing you directly. I don’t know. Anyway, take my opinions as you will, but I thought I could help. Alright, here goes.
At times I found your cabaret a bit inconsistent, nothing major, but enough for it to occasionally disconnect me. Firstly, the fact that you made reference to admiring an attractive man behind you then later you grind up against a girl whilst she was in warrior pose. Not sure how you could solve this. Maybe pick out the straightest guy you can find out of the crowd – this awkwardness could be funny. Or change your reference in the downward dog to a girl to begin with, then change to male when your character transforms to female? Not sure, have a play with it. Another detail that got to me a little bit was the fact that in “Welcome To My Apartment” you sang mostly about your voice over for “Cocktober”, then sang “I can’t wait until Sucktember”, or something along those lines. “Cocktober” would come after “Sucktember”! Yes it was a small moment, but it stuck in my mind for the rest of my evening. I wondered whether you had made a mistake and that the song was supposed to be about “Sucktember” but you said “Cocktober”. I can’t say for sure because I only saw one performance. In any case, it was an irritating moment. I have some suggestions – “Knobvember” “Dickcember” and “Fuckuary.” Given, not everyone may be as mental about these things as I am. But I guarantee that it would have crossed people’s minds, and you don’t want the audience to be focused on simple things like that when you’re trying to tell a story. It’s just an unnecessary distraction that is fairly easily eliminated.
Now, next on my list, is audience participation. To be frank, there was way too much of it. Towards the start, I thought it was fun and quirky and enjoyed pretending to breathe, and watching people acting uncomfortable and half-ass some yoga moves. But it didn’t take long for me to start feeling scared, or desiring to be left alone to watch your show. And I’m a performer in another life. So then imagine what people outside of this industry would have felt at this point, probably a lot worse. Advice I’ll give to you it is to pick your moments carefully, make sure you know what you want from the audience when you make them participate. Meaning, that they should add something to the piece; if there’s less than a 90% that it will end in a laugh, it probably shouldn’t be there. Like the Warrior Pose section is great. Maybe making the audience close their eyes and place their hands at heart’s centre every five minutes, is not so. Just go through it with a fine tooth comb, and makes sure you know where you’re going with each interaction.
Above you can see that I praised you on your clarity in your story throughout the show, which is very true and I’m not retracting that here. However, I will say, there were two specific moments where I was confused a little. One was where you performed with yoga mat puppets. Admittedly, this was mainly because the track you used was a bit distorted; I couldn’t actually hear the specific words, and therefore completely missed the point. I’d suggest singing it live with a backing track, particularly in an intimate venue like the Butterfly Club. The amplification doesn’t make it clearer; it would be better heard acoustically. The other moment was the second warrior pose, where you sang “Pony” and danced rather provocatively. It’s as simple as I didn’t know what was happening, I didn’t know why. I’m happy for my eyes to be violated, but ideally it’s nice when I understand the circumstance. I suspect that maybe it was just because it’s funny to thrust an audience member when they don’t expect it? If that’s the case, that’s fine. But maybe make a flippant comment, demonstrating how it has no purpose. Just so we’re not worried that you’re prone to random sexual outbursts.
Anyway, that’s me being super picky with you, just because I know it’s still in development and I think it’s an amazing show that could be phenomenal. And also just wanted to give you another perspective on it. I hope you appreciate it!
So there we are. I really have no more to say.
Namaste: The Cabaret, it’s great, so go see it! Be prepared to want to go to yoga (if for nothing else than the ‘yoga poos’)
Namaste: The Cabaret has finished its run at the Butterfly Club but stay tuned at www.facebook.com/Namastethecabaret to hear about possible future performances!
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