Saturday night at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Irish-French performer Camille O Sullivan descended the staircase in a sparkly 'Red Riding Hood' cloak to sound bites from darker fairy stories. Through the narrative songs of Jacque Brel, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan,Tom Waits and others, she took her audience on an emotional journey to her surreal world decked out in rosy lights and inhabited by a glowing rabbit lampstand, a discarded horse head, hanging ball gowns, a wind up bird in a cage, Tom Waits in a suitcase, and a dusty book of spells. And her band,'The Singing Bird' of course.
The Daily Telegraph wrote,'When she sings it's as though her breath is soaked in paraffin;one spark,and the whole room would ignite.'
I'd been lucky enough to see her show, 'Changeling' at the Edinburgh Festival last year where it was a sell out. Her Cardiff gig came towards the end of a long tour that clearly had affected her voice, giving it more rawness than I'd remembered. She jumped around the stage like a rabbit, a tiger, a pussy cat, meiowing to her audience while removing layers of her black lacy outfit once hidden beneath her red cloak. And she sang! Songs with stories that intrigued, puzzled, moved,challenged,amused, saddened, and entertained. 'Art songs' exploring the seedier side of life, desolation in love, politics,sexuality, life's degenerates, a celebration of madness and vulerability.
Her show is on tour til June1, For further information about this amazing performer and wonderful singer see www.camilleosullivan.com.
