Ben and Jerries go green cabaret – Event Review

If you have ever sat down at a getting to know people event with me whether that’s at a first day of university, youth club, social event etc, my go-to ice breaker question is always if you were an ice cream “what flavour would you be and why?” I think that this is a fun way to get to know people and if used correctly can allow you to learn a lot about people without it being an intense interrogation. For anyone who is interested my answer to this question is usually mint chocolate chip as it’s mostly bright and colourful but there is a few dark spots scattered around. As a big fan of ice cream, this also allows people to learn about my interests without having to share a single bit of information. I have always been a massive fan of Ben and Jerries’ as a brand of ice cream with (controversially) phish food being my favourite flavour! Back a few years ago when I used to train three times a week, my Friday night treat was some of their ice cream which defeated the whole object of going to judo training three times a week but to me, the ice cream was just that good. I would use the thought of ice cream to help motivate me through the tougher sessions which does explain why I don’t attend these sessions anymore but still am a massive fan of ice cream! There is also nothing I enjoy more when feeling a bit under the weather than wrapping up warm in cosy blankets, putting on Kung fu panda and digging into a tub of my favourite ice cream (which controversially is phish food) and I don’t know what it is about this action but it always seems to magically fix any issues that I am expediting. With this love of ice cream and Ben & Jerries specifically) you can imagine my excitement when it was announced that Ben & Jerries would be organising a ‘go green cabaret’ inside of the Glee Club located at Cardiff Bay!

On top of my love for ice cream, I was also excited for this event as I have never actually been to the Glee Club before. I have spent twenty-two years living in Cardiff and regularly spend days down Cardiff bay which means walking past the venue frequently but I have never actually gone into the glee club or watched a show there! The tickets to attend this show were just £5 each and not only included an evening of wonderful entertainment but also included as much ice cream as you could handle. The amount of Ben & Jerries I ate throughout the evening alone was worth more than the entry cost! Not only was this a very affordable show but also every ticket purchased was helping to support the fight against climate change. This was the “Go green” element of the show as it was a fundraiser for the charity possible who support people to help reduce their carbon footprint on the planet. The event started with a panel where the ways we can help the planet with advice such as “start with what you are passionate about” being shared as this is what you will be more likely to try and encourage others to join you. This is a very important discussion that needs to have more and these smaller steps to a more carbon-free life promoted more!

Another thing that I have never done before is seen a live spoken word performance and my knowledge of these sort of acts is based purely on inclusion in television shows. I was blown away by Dylema who was an incredibly talented poet who delivered poems about racial identity, sexual politics and the power of our words. Dylema had not only created these powerful poems but was also hilariously funny and occasionally performed some amazing vocals runs. A highlight for me was their performance of “if the black girl knew” which was an incredibly powerful poem about self-love and the negative effects the media has on young, black people. There were also a performance by the drag kings Izzy Aman and Christian Dior who did a hilarious burlesque-style performance and freestyle rap respectively. There was also a performance by the drag queen Dysalexia who delivered a hilarious performance of a mash-up of Adele’s “Hello” with direct quotes by Gemma Collins during her time on the tv show Big Brother. The headliner for me was Sederginne (who appeared on Ru Paul’s Drag Race Holland) who did a wonderfully fun rendition of “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton and hilarious performances “I need a Hero” which was remixed with Grindr app alerts. This performance was hilarious and had the audience in stitches throughout! However, I do think that throughout the rest of the evening the idea of climate change was shoehorned into the acts which did feel a bit out of place. Izza man and Dysalexia managed to blend performance with this climate change element as Izzy did songs such as “it’s getting hot in here” to a globe (which is a clear reference to global warming) and Dysalexia blending extracts from Great Thumbergs speech into her lip-sync performance. The rest seemed to want to just tag it into their acts with little thought such as Sederginne doing a strange patter in the audience where they talked about the possible different usage of a Ben and jerries tub or Dylema simply throwing in their two pence on the issue. I think that the importance of talking about these issues and the art of performance were blended in a more smooth way!

Overall this was a very affordable event that shone a light on a very important issue that is global warming. It offered many practical and easy actions to help reduce our impact on the planet but also offered some very entertaining acts! The free ice cream was a great touch and the fact that empty tubs of Ben & Jerries being used as plant holders was a very nice touch that also hinted towards recycling! I would rate this show 4 out of 5 stars!