Engorge-ous: Reuben Kaye Is Standing To Attention & Ready For The Opera House

Reuben Kaye is marching into the Sydney Opera House with Engorged — a show so tumescent, ballsy, and bulgingly inappropriate that even the Concert Hall might blush. 

Returning as part of Sydney Festival’s 50th anniversary programme, Kaye is bringing 18 classical musicians, a clutch of new songs, and the kind of razor-sharp cabaret chaos that feels equal parts rebellion, glitter and confession.

“I think the imposter syndrome of having 18 amazing classical musicians on the Concert Hall Stage has pushed me to make sure that this show lives up to its name,” Kaye laughs. 

The scale may be monumental — orchestral, cinematic, outrageously extra — but Kaye says the heart of Engorged is surprisingly intimate.

“The music is so important in this show. The moments where I talk to the audience are very unplanned and very one-on-one,” they explain. “So it counteracts the grandness with this immediate intimacy. 

“Because of that, I think you’re getting a very unfiltered — I mean, as if I ever have a filter — but if I ever were to take that filter off, you’re getting it in this show.”

The band doesn’t get a script, they roll with Kaye’s delightful chaos — which means the audience also watches the musicians slowly realise what they’ve gotten themselves into. “If I can make the band crack up, that’s magic — that’s real cabaret,” Kaye cackles.

There are four new original songs, plus a gloriously queer setlist that leaps from Studio 54-era Amanda Lear to Whitney Houston to Aerosmith’s Dude Looks Like a Lady. It’s camp, chaotic and deeply self-aware — drag, but with more grandeur and existentialism.

For Kaye, cabaret is contemporary rebellion, with more sequins.

“I think cabaret is the original punk,” they explain. “And drag, in its purest form, is rebellion; revolution in action. And comedy… I think laughter is your first involuntary survival instinct. It’s the seed of revolution.”

Reuben Kaye is a part of Sydney Festival’s milestone 50th anniversary

That defiant spirit hums right through Sydney Festival’s milestone year — one that leans into nonconformism, queerness, and work that isn’t afraid to provoke. Festival director Kris Nelson says the event has dutifully shocked, schooled and sculpted Sydney’s cultural life for generations.

“This festival has actually shaped the city. I hope they feel a sense of pride… that for 50 years, their city has supported a festival that has asked them to dare, think, connect.”

Kaye feels that legacy deeply. They joke that they couldn’t possibly fully understand the significance of so many decades of impact — “You see, I am only 21 years old!” but alongside their trademark cheekiness, their reverence is obvious.

“To feel like I’m following in those footsteps means more to me than I could ever say. It touches me in a very deep way, and I hope it infuses my work.”

And while Kaye has long spoken about queer rage as an engine, they say the balance is shifting.

“I used to think of queer joy as the reward and queer rage as the engine. More and more the balance shifts, and I go, ‘No — the queer joy IS the motivator’. The queer joy is for us to share with each other; the queer rage should be for the rest of the world.”

But in Engorged, that joy is shared with anyone brave enough to come along for the ride. 

Kaye laughs: “I let you in on some of my queer rage — but even better, I’m letting you have a taste of queer joy.”