*Cabaret*, by William Shakespeare

Did Shakespeare write *Cabaret*??


No, of course he didn't - it´s a story set in the decadent Berlin of the 1930s (for the truly pedantic, I admit that the story begins on New Year´s Eve 1929), and contains elements that Shakespeare would have relished - love and rejection, betrayal and conflict.

He would have had a ball writing *Cabaret*, but of course being dead for 300 years or so is rather inhibiting....

*Cabaret* started as a Broadway musical in 1966, and had a revival in 1985. But most people know it from the 1972 film version, where Liza Minelli played the lead, and sang the title song in the infamous KitKat Club.

I never saw the film, and never saw the musical itself until this weekend. Jackie, a friend of mine, had joined the local Light Opera Club, and this was her first production. She got tickets for my wife and me, and we went along for what was a most enjoyable performance.

Jackie was a member of the Chorus, and so she played in the crowd scenes, singing along with the other members, and dancing basic Chorus-type steps. She had no solo spot, and she didn´t have a speaking part, but she was there on stage, supporting the principals. Jackie was a little dismissive of her role when we chatted afterwards, and so I was obliged to share with her my *Spearholder Philosophy*, which I´ll share again here, and re-introduce Shakespeare at the same time....

The immortal Bard wrote, in As You Like It:

*All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts...*

The way I understand that is to consider that life is like a huge play - if we want to live well, we play well - we try to choose good parts, good productions in which to appear. Go back to the theatre for a moment. If you want to appear in something grand, you´d probably choose a play by Shakespeare.

But it´s unlikely that you´d walk straight into a leading role. You´d more likely start out as a spearholder. You´d get a small part where you may stand in the background, (and maybe hold a spear).

It may not be very thrilling, but at least you are appearing in a Shakespeare play. You may have to perform this role over and over again, and you may not progress beyond being a spearholder. But opportunities come and go, and you may one day get a small part, perhaps saying something like *What now, my lord?*, or such like. Not a huge part, but essential to the production. Youre still doing Shakespeare!!

It may stop there, or you may get very lucky, land a lead role, and deliver one of the great speeches. For my part it would be Henry V´s speech before Agincourt:

*And gentlemen in England now abed
will think themselves accursed they were not here.....*

The spine tingles - it´s the best of the Bard - it´s Shakespeare.

We´re playing our parts on the stage of life. Most of us will have bit parts all our lives. We´ll be spearholders. But if we choose to perform in a decent production, then our humble contribution will have some effect. We will support our fellow *players*.

And we may be promoted - we may get the small speaking part - we may get a leading role.

If we play the part well, we will have lived well, regardless of our actual role.

The Bard wrote: *All the world´s a stage...*

He could just as well have written: *Life is a cabaret...*