Pint of Wine Theatre Company put on a 3 night cabaret line up, Hot Mess, with different acts each night, drawn together by M.D Jordan Clarke.

On the Thursday night that I attended, Paulus (one of the judges of All Together Now) hosted. Performing was Martine Johannesen-Berg, Hannah Chutzpah, Will Arundel and ‘Mess’ which was made up of Imy Hasley and Michael Rasmussen.

The theme of the evening was unclear. Themes such as musical theatre, new writing, science and magic were all mentioned throughout the night but none of these themes cam through particularly strongly. This didn’t however spoil my enjoyment of the evening and in fact it probably would have been better if a certain theme wasn’t mentioned – I just would have assumed that anything goes!

Paulus as the host was great. He had a good amount of banter with the audience and his look was memorable and quirky. He also had his own set in act 2 which was fun and yet moving. Rooted in musical theatre styles he performed some of his own material which left me eager to see more.

Kicking off the night was Martine Johannesen-Berg. She was witty and engaging but most importantly a stunning voice, performing 3 musical theatre numbers….all with bundles of personality. Hannah Chutzpah came after Martine. She performed her own writing in the form of spoken word. I must confess that performing spoken word really isn’t my thing so this part of the evening didn’t appeal to me. It also seemed a bit at odds with the rest of the performers.

Finishing off Act 1 was Will Arundel. He normally performs with Emergency Covers who put their own spin on classic musical theatre numbers. We were treated to his own take on Joseph as well as a Julie Andrews inspired improvisation. Being a musical theatre lover this set really grabbed my attention and the first thing I did when I got home was to stalk the Emergency Covers on Twitter and YouTube.

In addition to Paulus in Act 2 were Imy Hasley and Michael Rasmussen who performed 3 numbers from their new musical ‘Mess.’ Their numbers didn’t grab me, possibly due to the fact that they were out of context of the show. It therefore felt like a slightly weaker ending to the night overall.

It was a real mixture of an evening with some real highs, with other acts that didn’t appeal to me personally. The whole night was worth it alone for Paulus and discovering Will Arundel and Emergency Covers alone!

Hot Mess is on until the 7th June at CLF Art Cafe and each night is different. To find out more about Hot Mess visit their website.

If you like the review of Hot Mess you might also like my review of Side Show and Queen of the Mist both by Pint of Wine.