Paying glorious homage to the music of one of the most influential voices in British music, Sarah-Louise Young (Fascinating Aïda, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical) brings her critically acclaimed show An Evening Without Kate Bush to Oxford Playhouse this Autumn. 

Co-created by the celebrated Russell Lucas, this chaotic cabaret features some of Bush’s classic hits like Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting and The Man With The Child In His Eyes. The show also throws in some unexpected B-sides and bootlegs alongside unique takes on songs like This Woman’s Work and Babooshka. 

Over a career spanning five decades, Kate Bush has always attracted loyal
and devoted followers. An Evening Without Kate Bush explores their stories though her music this show comes after its sold-out critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe premiere, London seasons, and UK and Australian tours. 

Ahead of her appearance at Oxford Playhouse on Thursday 12 September, we caught up with Sarah-Louise Young to find out more about the spellbinding cabaret show…

What attracted you to Kate Bush as the possible subject for the show?  Were you a fan of her music before you created it?

I’ve always loved Kate Bush’s music and as a child of the 70s and 80s remember that first appearance on Top of The Pops and all those amazing videos and songs which followed.  Plus, my brother fancied her a bit, so her music was always floating through the house. 

Kate Bush is a true icon: her music is unique, spanning nearly five decades, winning countless awards and selling millions of records, but the woman herself is something of an enigma.

Not performing live for over 30 years between her 1979 Tour of Life and 2014 Before The Dawn, she spoke to us through her music. 

In her physical absence, her fans created their own community: ’The Fish People’. They are at the heart of An Evening Without Kate Bush. 

We wanted to celebrate them through her music. That was the starting point of making the show. 

Do you try and impersonate her in the show? 

I never set out to impersonate her (I mean who could?) But it’s amazing how many people tell me I sound like her though. A few fans thought I was miming at the start of the show! 

How hard is it to sing in her unique vocal range?

It’s definitely a vocally athletic workout! She sang them all live back in 1979 apart from Hammer Horror (which we do in the two-act touring version of An Evening Without Kate Bush) so there’s no excuse not to do the same. What you hear on the albums is months of intricate layering of harmonies and different instruments, so it’s a rawer sound on stage of course. 

I perform all the songs in their original keys, and I think part of it is that she chose such specific phrasing and wrote such intricate melodies, hearing them instantly hot wires you back to the original. 

With the movement, I spent one day working with the amazing Tom Jackson Greaves, who is a director and choreographer. We watched a lot of her videos and noted down some of her choices. We explored those in our session; again, never trying to ‘be’ her, but more tap into her spirit. Quite by accident, the nicknames we came up with for her moves (The Pulse, The Champagne Whipcrack, for example) found their way into the show. That’s often how it happens with devised work – you become a sponge for every impulse and they jostle around your head during the making process until they either find a home or float off into the ether.

With the costumes too, my brilliant co-creator, Russell Lucas and I tried to evoke her, not copy her. We rub shoulders with themes (she uses a lot of nature and bird imagery in her work, hence the feathery headdress). The cleaner’s outfit for This Woman’s Work is as much a nod to the cleaner’s story we mention at the start of the show, as it is to her TV special appearance where Kate sang Army Dreamers dressed as a cleaner or archetypal vintage housewife. That’s one for the super-fans.

We did of course watch a LOT of footage, interviews, videos, everything we could find, to get to know her journey as an artist and also how the world around her changed. Her early interviews are so uncomfortable. She is often being asked truly banal or overtly sexualised questions. She is so polite and accommodating but it’s great to see her later on in her career take the reins and shut down lines of enquiry which show the interviewers have no idea what they are talking about. I also read the brilliant biography by Graeme Thomson called Under the Ivy. It’s the best music biography I have ever read and really lets you into her creative process. 

Do you have to know her music and be a super-fan to enjoy An Evening Without Kate Bush?

Absolutely not. It’s one of the biggest compliments the show has received. Of course, if you are a super-fan you’ll hear lots of the songs you know and love plus some little hidden gems for those in-the-know. But none of that is at the expense of the audience members who have perhaps come along with a fan friend or just out of curiosity. We elevate and celebrate everyone and when someone tells me after the show that they didn’t know her work but are going home to listen to her music, then I am thrilled. 

The show is partly interactive, how does that work?

The show is as interactive as you want it to be. I’ve been working in cabaret for over 20 years and my primary aim is that the audience have a good time. It’s great to be challenged and surprised, but I want them to feel safe. That’s really important to me. 

The invitation to participate starts small, a wave of a hand or a howl in the dark. I’m always really careful with any audience interaction to choose people who want to participate. There’s no enforced joining in – just gentle encouragement. I find that people self-select pretty easily. If someone doesn’t want to play, their body language communicates that. So far I’ve never chosen anyone who didn’t want to be asked and I’ve had people come up to me after the show and fling their arms around me with gratitude.

There’s a lovely moment in the show where I invite a couple to dance together. During our Edinburgh Fringe run we had a mum and her son come and dance which reduced the whole room to tears and in London, a couple who’d recently broken up but wanted to stay friends, joined us on stage: they sought me out afterwards to say thank you. Our audiences have been brilliant – there is always so much love in the room. 

Russell Lucas and I were inspired by Kate Bush flashmobs and events like ‘The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever’ which have sprung up around the world, from Sydney, Australia to Folkestone, Kent. We’ve taken fans’ stories and paid tribute to them on stage. You’ll enjoy the songs you know and love but put through the lens of the fans’ story. 

You say after the opening song, And Dream of Sheep, “She’s not here but you are!” How would you feel if the real Kate Bush was in the audience… and would you want to know in advance?

We would absolutely LOVE it if she came to see the show – although she’d have to wear a disguise as I think the audience would capsize if they knew she was in. When we were making it, we always knew we wanted it to be something she would approve of – so it’s been created with love, respect and a hefty dose of joyful eccentricity! 

Friends of hers have seen it and loved it and in Chichester, I had the great privilege of meeting one of her original Tour Of Life backing singers, Glenys Groves. She was so enthusiastic about the piece and is still in touch with Kate so you never know… we might yet have an evening WITH Kate Bush one of these days! 

The show focuses on her fans worldwide – what are the most bizarre you came across?

Kate Bush’s fans are really friendly and open! People have shared so many incredible and personal stories with me: there’s the man who proposed to his wife to The Kick Inside, the young lad who found the courage to come out to his parents after listening to Wow and the couple who chose Don’t Give Up as the first dance at their wedding. Touring this two-act version of the show around the country (with even more costume changes!), I’m able to weave some of these new stories into the next night’s performance. We’ve also heard from fans who went to see every single Tour Of Life date, have tattoos of her lyrics on their arms and folk who come to the show dressed as her. 

Does the show change each night depending on the audience’s reactions?

No two shows are the same and I love that. It keeps it fresh and alive. 

I ask the audience what their favourite songs are or what’s brought them to the theatre and then weave their stories into the evening’s entertainment. 

We call it a ‘chaotic cabaret cult’ and it really is! It’s playful, anarchic, touching, hot and sweaty and full of music and laughter. 

Imagine if Kate Bush made a tribute show about her fans and you come close to capturing the spirit of An Evening Without Kate Bush. 

Even if you just howl with the hounds or wave a hand in the air, you are still part of the experience. 

I love hearing people’s stories and I always come out into the foyer afterwards to chat to anyone who wants to stay and talk. The audience really make this show.