This noble attempt to create a cabaret for climate change isn’t quite the sum of its parts. Firstly, Janie Dee is marvellous: a wonderful singer and an exquisite reciter of verse. She carries an air of magisterial, old-school thespian-diva energy that has the potential to sprinkle gold dust on any show. Her musicians and dancers are equally talented, and there is a real quality to the performances of sparkling musical classics and torch songs. But the framing of this cabaret as a protest/reminder/lecture (I wasn’t quite sure what in the end) feels off-kilter almost from the start. 

Dee explains she was moved to create the show after seeing her daughters march against the climate crisis. Into a recital of Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’ she inserts sobering statistics about nightingales declining and sewage dumps, before stating breezily ‘but let’s go back to the song’. She gives mellifluous rhapsody to the subject of mycelium and claims to not be able to pass a tree without hugging it; all of which feels both preachy and unconvincing. 

There is one moment where theme and structure click, when Dee explains she is not wearing make-up (despite serving A-list glamour in a red dress) because the only type she could find had plastic packaging. She then dons a part-recycled costume to sing her next number. More of this kind of attention to dramaturgy, and smoother integration of the show’s message with its presentation, could make this cabaret very special. 

Janie Dee’s Beautiful World Cabaret, Pleasance Dome, until 26 August, 2.20pm.