Smashed – the Nightcap

Victoria Falconer is no ordinary host! She has a vast history of performing and directing across Australia and internationally. But for this month she has left her role as co-artistic director of the Hayes Theatre to become the cheeky, sexy dynamo who fronts the cabaret Smashed – the Nightcap at Wharf 1. She sings, plays multiple instruments, leads the band and controls the show with a bold, defiant hand, deftly reeling the audience in to her contemporary take on the “salacious cabaret dens” of the 1920s and 30s.

Keeping her glass full and the audience eating out of her hand, Falconer heads a “femme-fronted” line up of cabaret and circus stars in the dim haze of the theatre on what was once one of the loading wharves of Sydney’s historical “Hungry Mile”, where crime boss Tilly Devine reigned, razor gangs roamed and ladies of the night lounged.

But it’s 2024! The bar is open, the grog isn’t ‘sly’, the ladies are limbering up … and “Daddy” Victoria is in charge!

In costumes as colourful as the show itself, Falconer introduces the show with a spiel that puts masters of stand up to shame! Weaving between shadowy tables she sidles by her customers, teasing gently, roasting sassily, flirting audaciously. By the time she’s back on stage she’s set the scene for Sydney Festival’s “juiciest line-up around” with a live band including Nathan Barraclough, Abi McCunn, Jarrad Payne and Mary Rapp.