Halbwelt Kultur

Halbwelt Kultur
Official poster of the show
Music	Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Fats Waller, Mischa Spoliansky, Friedrich Hollander
Book	Patrick Kennedy, Stephanie Martin, Finn D'Albert
Productions	2012 Churchill Theatre tryout 2012 Notting Hill Festival 2013 New Wimbledon Theatre 2013 Riverside Studios 2013 Battersea Mess and Music Hall 2013 Jermyn Street Theatre

Halbwelt Kultur is a 2012 musical cabaret based on the lives of seven highly influential women of the Weimar Republic.

An original concept by Patrick Kennedy, the show was devised by PK Productions and includes music by Hans Eisler, Bertolt Brecht, Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoliansky and Fats Waller. The 2012 Churchill Theatre Bromley Cabaret VIP pre-show production became a hit and spawned a seven cast strong production premiering at the New Wimbledon Theatre in April 2013.

The show presents snapshot vignettes of the women set against the sound of the period's finest songs and the backdrop of the rise of World War II. It is based on verbatim interviews and accounts of the period and is a series of Brechtian vignettes magnifying the personalities of the women's lives. Each vignette is framed with a famous song from the period and describes the rise to success of the women and the ultimate fleeing from Berlin due to the growing threat of Nazism.

Halbwelt Kultur is a German portmanteau meaning 'Underworld Culture' and comes from a 1927 book Ladies of the Underworld by Netley Lucas:

The show was developed in August 2012 as a VIP pre-show to Rufus Norris' Cabaret at the Churchill Theatre Bromley. It was a one-woman show portraying the stories of seven Weimar women backed by a five piece band. The show ran for a sold-out four performances in the Studio space before being invited to take part in the Scratch Beneath Festival in Notting Hill. The production was directed by Patrick Kennedy and performed by Stephanie Martin.

The show was remarkable for its innovative use of original Weimar era music combined with verbatim monologues taken from history books, autobiographies and recorded material.