Review by Markus Hamence – HOUSE OF ROT: Grey Gardens. Performance date: Sunday 14 June 2026. Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, South Australia.
A supporter of this or not, undeniably one of the most exciting developments in contemporary cabaret in our festival is the way it has increasingly blurred traditional genre boundaries. No longer confined to a sultry, velvet dress clad singer, a spotlight and a piano, modern cabaret freely borrows from theatre, comedy, drag, performance art, dance, live music and even immersive storytelling. Audiences today are just as likely to encounter a deeply personal memoir, a political statement, a theatrical character study or a full-scale concert experience as they are a traditional cabaret performance. This evolution has allowed artists to push creative limits, creating works that feel fresh, unpredictable and uniquely reflective of the world around them. Productions such as HOUSE OF ROT exemplify this shift, existing somewhere between concert, theatre piece and artistic installation, proving that cabaret remains one of the most adventurous and constantly evolving forms of live performance.
“Paul Capsis and Adam Noviello transform decay into art in one of the festival’s most captivating and courageous works.”
Markus Hamence
Led in by pianist and musical director, Victoria Falconer, HOUSE OF ROT: Grey Gardens is the kind of cabaret that doesn’t ask for your attention; it seizes it, drags it into the shadows and invites you to dance amongst the ruins. Inspired by the extraordinary story of Grey Gardens, creators Dino Dimitriadis and Victoria Falconer have fashioned a deliciously dark theatrical fever dream, brought vividly to life by the astonishing pairing of Paul Capsis and Adam Noviello. The production explores legacy, isolation, grief and survival through a collection of original music and reimagined classics, creating a world that feels simultaneously decayed and dazzling.
Capsis remains one of Australia’s most magnetic stage performers, delivering every lyric and glance with the intensity of someone living on the edge of revelation. Alongside him, Noviello proves a captivating counterpart, bringing vulnerability, wit and a simmering unpredictability that keeps the audience hanging on every moment. Together they create characters who are eccentric, broken, resilient and deeply human. Their chemistry is electric, shifting effortlessly between tenderness, absurdity and emotional devastation.
“Beautifully bizarre and emotionally bruising, HOUSE OF ROT finds extraordinary beauty amongst life’s crumbling edges.”
Markus Hamence
Visually, HOUSE OF ROT embraces theatrical decay with style. The atmosphere is rich, gothic and intoxicating, where beauty and collapse exist side by side. Every musical moment feels carefully curated to deepen the emotional landscape, while the intimate setting of the Space Theatre allows audiences to become fully immersed in this crumbling yet strangely glamorous world.
What makes the production so compelling is its refusal to sanitise its themes. It sits comfortably in discomfort, finding humour in tragedy and elegance in ruin. Beneath the eccentricity lies a poignant meditation on the spaces we inherit, the stories we carry and the ways we endure when life begins to fall apart.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival has seen nothing like it; the most brilliant and twisted mash-up of the classic ‘Send In The Clowns’ and The Cranberries ‘Zombie’. Haunting and intoxicating, this impeccably arranged number, coupled with simple yet dramatic spot lit performers, dragged the audience in to their tortured and tragic souls and defined the show’s concept.
HOUSE OF ROT: Grey Gardens is cabaret at its most daring – bold, unsettling, funny and heartbreakingly beautiful. A mesmerising Adelaide Cabaret Festival premiere that lingers long after the final note fades into the darkness.
Wrapping it up… HOUSE OF ROT is a thrilling reminder that some of the most unforgettable stories bloom not in perfection, but in the beautiful chaos of lives lived unapologetically on the margins.
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