Love/Hate Cabaret The Perfect Valentine’s Day Date

The art of cabaret performance as a way to share stories from our lives through song, music, dance and storytelling has been around since the heady days of Parisian 1880s. The art form has also been enjoyed in spaces of all shapes and sizes since then, including this coming Valentine’s Day in Wollongong when Love/Hate: A Queer Cabaret plays at the Wollongong Town Hall.

Bringing together a range of artists from the Shoalhaven & Illawarra regions, Love/Hate: A Queer Cabaret will give those of us who are unattached and feeling a bit miffed about the fact a chance to come together with others of our ilk, to commiserate and pitch tales of woe to rapturous applause.

Michael Emmett, who also performs as Connie Bathory and will be featured on the night, is also events co-ordinator at The Rainbow Underground, which works to provide a safe space and creative opportunities for queer creative people in the Illawarra, and is the organisation behind the cabaret.

“The theme was decided because Valentine’s Day is traditionally a day of love, but there’s also the very popular anti-Valentine’s Day tradition for people who are single,” Emmett said. “But queer people often find that love and hate are very interconnected emotions. This is due to some people having a negative position against who you love, so you receive a lot of hate for it.

 “But hate is also generally psychologically defined as fear turned inwards as well. So sometimes your hate is a reflection of things that you are afraid of.”

Fundraising Event

The Rainbow Underground is an Illawarra & South Coast based non-for-profit LGBTQI organisation and this cabaret event will act as a fund raiser for the organisation to help fund further LGBTQI events in the area in 2021.

There will be a range of performance styles to enjoy as the artists present acts from drag performance to burlesque and live singing to pole dancing to striptease – you’ll be sure to find something to titillate your senses but get in quick!

Tickets are on sale now, with some tickets still available. Alhough as part of the required COVID Safe Plan the venue is operating at a reduced seating capacity, along with adherence to other COVID safe practices such as digital check-ins and mandatory face masks.

Valentine’s Day, Feb 14. Wollongong Town Hall, Cnr Crown St &, Kembla St, Wollongong. $35 (with a premium $45 per person option including a Valentine’s gift!). Tickets & Info: www.merrigong.com.au