Florence Fable’s Career Fair cabaret review: Burlesque, burnout and the modern job hunt
A clever cabaret concept turns the anxiety of the careers fair into a cheeky mix of burlesque, comedy and workplace satire
This is such a smart idea for a cabaret show. Florence Fable has done everything right: paid attention at school, gone to uni, got a good job. Everything. But it’s a tough old world for graphic designers and AI and Canva have come for her livelihood. So what’s next? Off to the careers fair she goes, where a variety of burlesque turns and super-helpful infomercials try to help her sharpen that LinkedIn profile and find her next role.
This cabaret/burlesque/play pulls together lots of different threads into a cohesive idea and feels both fresh and relevant. Whether it’s the torture of the morning commute, the futility of doing everything right but still finding yourself in the wrong, the importance of connections in landing a job, or the pay gap, Fable does not miss her targets. She’s helped by the sheer quality of the burlesque acts who join the fun: Gigi Cartier, Penelope Splendour, Fafi D'Alour and Gia Saphique all give their inimitable cheeky takes on typical careers.
Fable is a likeable performer in her own right too, and we’re rooting for her from her opening ‘9 To 5’ set piece. There’s still work to be done, though: the career fair set-up is never explained in the narrative and the balance is a little off. It feels like a cabaret idea contained within a burlesque night, rather than a cabaret night with burlesque interludes. Fix that and this genuinely innovative idea might mean Fable doesn’t need to trouble the careers fair IRL for some time to come.
Florence Fable’s Career Fair concluded at Main Stage at Arthur Arthouse on March 8.