An Evening Without Kate Bush – Review

She’s not there – but you are. By there I mean the Birmingham Rep theatre, and by she, I mean the inimitable Kate Bush, my heroine. But, and here is the crux, she might not be there, but the batshit brilliant Sarah-Louise Young is, and this is probably the nearest you will get to being in the company of the great Kate Bush today. Sarah-Louise’s one woman show, ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush‘ is one of the most uniquely entertaining shows you can watch in theatre today. It is funny, it is poignant, and as Kate, and herself presenting Kate, Sarah-Louise Young is just mesmerising.

This is a show that gives you all the hits, something Kate herself didn’t do just here last sets of shows (I know, I was lucky enough to see her at the Hammersmith Odeon and she was incredible, but there was no Wow!, no ‘The Man with the child in his eyes’ and no ‘Wuthering Heights’)/ Tonight, the hits are all here, and they all sound incredible, Sarah-Louise has some vocal range. But this show is not just about the songs, it is about the fans, what is means to be a fan, whether that be a funny Russian language version of Babushka, a school assembly version of ‘James and the cold gun’, or a glorious version of Cloudbursting with two audience members providing the backing vocals.

This has been described as a ‘cult cabaret show’ and I am inclined to agree, but it is so much more than that. A Kate vocals only version of Don’t Give Up ( the duet with Peter Gabriel) uses the Peter Gabriel verses as a way to read online accounts of Kate’s fans conversing together during the lockdown, and is very poignant. particularly with a couple from the audience doing a slow dance in the shadows on the stage.

With a brilliant version of ‘Running up that hill’ (Stranger Things have happened), and a crowd lead ‘Wuthering Heights’, the night is bought to a thunderous close. This is high quality entertainment that will linger in your mind long after you leave the theatre, whether you are a Kate fan or not.

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