Sad times draw laughs

With 10 years of touring as a cabaret performer under her belt, Anya Anastasia has come to Bunbury to deliver a refreshing performance about authenticity and failure.

Her show, Cabaret Star for Hire, is an hour-long original, one-woman production showing at Bunbury Fringe on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Anastasia described the show as full of comedy and craziness that combined “beautiful handcrafted songs and compositions and also physical comedy and visual theatrics”.

“There’s a lot of stuff as a performer you don’t talk about on stage or in your public profile and I just wanted the chance to do a show that talks about all of my failures and shortcomings and all of the things I found frustrating that you don’t necessarily talk about because of showbiz,” she said.

Anastasia said she wrote about her sad moments and it ended up as one of her funniest shows.

“People don’t necessarily know what cabaret is or whether they’ll like it or not.

“I just thought, to hell with the labels, I’m just going to write my story and my journey and struggle with it.

“Funnily enough it’s ended up in this universally accessibly, hilarious journey.”

Anastasia travelled to Bunbury from Adelaide and said it would be the end of an international tour after performing in New York City, Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, Melbourne and Adelaide.

“I’m keen for it to end with a bang,” she said.