A familiar face to audiences across the world through his acclaimed performances at major festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, incoming Artistic Director Reuben Kaye has garnered acclaim and a devoted following for his bold, subversive cabaret.
He’s no stranger to Adelaide Cabaret Festival either, having performed in standout shows such as Reuben Kaye: Live and Intimate, The End, enGORGEd, and enGORGEd XXL, leaving audiences laughing, gasping, and coming back for more. In his new role, Reuben will continue to push boundaries and celebrate bold, brave performances.
A note from Artistic Director Reuben Kaye:
"Adelaide Cabaret Festival has cemented its place globally as the premiere festival for the boundary pushing art form that is Cabaret. As such it is a home to the best in the industry and celebrates us, the misfits and outcasts. This festival has launched and fostered the careers of many incredible artists and given Australian audiences the opportunity to experience new and exciting work alongside established performers from Broadway and beyond. There is no festival like it."
"To inherit the mantle of Artistic Director is not something I take lightly. It is a privilege and an honour. This festival has given me so much, I am frothing at the mouth to return the favour. Cabaret is the art form of immediacy, where the world view is deliciously tilted, the status quo is questioned and our humanity magnified. We are in uncertain and scary times no doubt. But that is the crucible where cabaret as an art form was forged. It is a solitary cry in the dark that magically becomes song, laughter, cheers. In cabaret there are no rules... It can be anything and therefore for me it is everything."
Reuben Kaye Biography
Fast, on the edge and brutally funny, multi-award winning, Australian comedian, singer, and writer Reuben Kaye is loud, politically active, queer, brash, and the winner of Best In Breed at Crufts 2022. (He thought he was entering a different type of competition).
After racking up millions of views across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram plus appearances on Spicks and Specks, The Melbourne International Comedy Fest Galas (ABC), Celebrity Letters & Numbers (SBS) and in the UK, Channel 4 & BBC’s You’re Fired, Kaye is now the danger man to watch on the scene.
Backed by his band The Close Contacts, Reuben’s unmissable live shows have sold out in Australia, London and Europe, winning the prestigious Off West End (Offie) Award for Best Cabaret in London as well as multiple Australian Green Room Awards for Best Artist & Best Cabaret Production, as well as the Adelaide Fringe Award for Best Cabaret twice, gleefully proving that he is the much needed, Swarovski studded revolt against the ever narrowing views of an increasingly conservative world and he’s done it all while looking fabulous!
Reuben Kaye is what happens when you tell your children they can be anything.