“We’re given a lot of freedom in the show,” he explains, although the ideas and concepts for the acts come from their boss Marc Newman who runs the family show business his parents set up decades ago. It’s in the blood, so to speak. As part of the show Diamond gets to sing Diamonds are Forever, which is a suggestion Reeve made.
“I always wanted to be part of it,” explains the Gold Coast native. “My mum took me along to Dracula’s when I was about 14. I never thought I’d be performing in Melbourne, though.”
Bloodbath is a classy mixture of vaudeville, tease, burlesque, song, dance, circus and comedy, a stylish show something like a smaller version of Empire referencing The Rocky Horror Picture Show and True Blood; a show which nicely balances rudeness with sophistication. There’s a variety of acts including black light puppetry (one of the funniest moments involves a surprise snake), breathing Roman statues, also very funny, space age stilt walking and enough good music to keep everyone happy.
Reeve’s favourite costume is the bubble bath outfit. “Excuse me, I’m going to be a shower curtain,” he says with a laugh. Who inspires him when he’s not on stage himself? “Marilyn Manson, he’s who I go to for inspiration for my opening song, Mama, and Robbie Williams,” he answers.
Have there been any really hairy moments on stage? “Something goes wrong every night,” he says. “But we all work together.” Nothing too outrageous from audiences either. “People usually do behave themselves.”
Reeve is evolving as a singer and has recently changed his singing style from classical to contemporary. He says he enjoys everything about what he does, something which is echoed by every other member of the outrageously talented cast Beat speaks to, including Philippa Hulcome. The singer/ dancer landed here from the UK and a lucky break gave her the opportunity to audition and she landed the role of Aorta. Her favourite moment is getting to sing Tori Amos’s Cornflake Girl to a striptease with a real difference.
“It’s a great song, a nice costume and then there’s the surprise at the end.” The act she’s talking about involves a strip to the bare bones, literally.
What does Hulcome like to watch when she’s not performing? “Going to the ballet,” she answers. “I’ve loved it, from being a little girl and watching the Nutcracker Suite to now, I still adore it. The dancers are beautiful and they’re doing something I could never do. And there’s the atmosphere; the audience behaves in a certain traditional way, I do enjoy that.”
Both performers have great faith in the conceptual and theatrical nous of Newman. “He knows what he’s doing,” says Reeve. “He knows what he wants but we do have artistic license.” Shows evolve throughout their season. “He knows what works,” adds Hulcome. “He’s always working on it, he’ll see something on TV, hear a sentence of dialogue; he never stops.”
Another thing the two artists agree on is the supportive ensemble atmosphere they enjoy at work. “Sometimes working in theatre can be tense,” says Hulcome. “It can be a little bit autocratic. But there’s no competition between us because we each have our own speciality. There’s no clashing; we all have our different strengths.” Hulcome reckons the only challenge for her has been learning lines. “I’m a dancer and a singer; it’s taken me a bit longer to learn dialogue.” Nice work if you can get it.
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
