Liam Head chats all things 10 ACT CABARET
10 Act Cabaret is back!
Created by The Head Bros, 10 Act Cabaret is a platform for performers to express their creative minds in their own unique way. The shows aim to fuel their creative passion and provide platforms for working artists to develop new or existing cabaret shows. Audiences will enjoy 10 punchy, eight-minute long cabarets that speak to the heart and promise variety, depth, intrigue and story! The company is currently seeking submissions for both the Melbourne and Brisbane seasons – will you be the next big cabaret star?
The Head Bros was established by performer Liam Head and his brother Kyle in 2019. He writes, directs, and produces shows for the company, who have launched productions of 10 Act Cabaret and Hallmarked! since their establishment, with more works in development. Avid theatre fans might recognise Liam from his most recent role as Nick Healy in the Australian premiere production of Jagged Little Pill, which toured the country through 2021 and 2022. He has also appeared in Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS, and is rumoured to feature in Micheal Gracey’s (director of The Greatest Showman) new movie musical, “Betterman”, a biopic written about the life and times of Robbie Williams.
How did you come to create the concept?
Liam: So we started 10 Act Cabaret when I was in the uni, and a lot of my mates were like “I’ve got so many ideas, I kind of want to try them but I don’t have, you know, $20,000 to get the show on the road.” And so I thought, okay, here’s an idea, what if I get ten shows together, just a snippet, around 8 to 10 minutes, and we’ll hire a theatre and we’ll just try out these shows and see if they work. It’s an opportunity for young creatives to invent, create something new, something they find exciting and something that they think audiences should listen to and should hear without having to fork out heaps of money. So we give them the opportunity to be able to freely explore and create with no limits, just guidelines, I guess, just to make sure that the show runs smoothly. We’ve since done two full shows, one in 2019 and then one last year in 2022 where we had ten fresh acts each time, and they bring an around 8 minute cabaret about their own different story. Maybe it’s personal to them, maybe it’s incredibly far fetched. A lot of it is light hearted with heaps of comedy, and some of it comes from a deeper place.
And writing a cabaret isn’t the easiest task!
Liam: No, not particularly [chuckles]. But there’s kind of that writer’s block, you know, like you don’t have anything, and then you wake up at 2am and you’ve written five cabarets, two new shows, ten songs, and a Nobel Peace Price! It all kind of comes pretty quick when you when you get that first spark.
How were the past iterations of the show?
Liam: A lot of people have come and auditioned with work already put together, or even just dot points in a notes app from two years ago where they thought it would be a cool show. There wouldn’t be a single commercial producer that is happy to invest all that money into a full show. So this has little tastes of them, little snippets, and we get that in front of an audience and invite different producers to come see the show and see the work. It’s tough to get stuff going. And like, with everything in life, you shouldn’t do it if you’re not having fun.
What’s the future of 10 Act Cabaret?
Liam: We’d love to eventually have a five-week run, a different city every week. But at the moment we’re starting with Brisbane and Melbourne and letting the word spread, letting people get excited about it and we’ll see where it goes.
10 Act Cabaret plays in Brisbane on May 9th and Melbourne on May 12th.
For tickets and more information, visit The Head Bros website.
