A decade of risqué cabaret at Brunswick Picture House

IT’S hard to believe it has been 10 years this Easter since Brett Haylock and Chris Chen established Brunswick Heads as a surprise cabaret hotspot with their unique blend of circus, vaudeville, comedy and burlesque.

Haylock had just opened a cabaret show in Brisbane when, on his first day off, he went to visit friends and stumbled across the old Brunswick Picture House — an encounter that proved life-changing.

With Chen, a former chartered accountant, by his side, he set about transforming the asbestos-riddled building, which had sat empty for 30 years, into one of the hottest venues of its kind outside Sydney or Melbourne.

Haylock brought formidable credentials to the project, having spent years touring the award-winning circus-cabaret sensation La Soirée, performing everywhere from London’s West End to New York’s Broadway.

Their shows — including the signature Cheeky Cabaret — are known for blending polished performance with a sexy, mischievous edge.

“We have a couple of surprises up our sleeves for this Cheeky,” Haylock said.

“Every show is a completely different line-up. This time of year, we have a couple of internationals as well who are coming out to do the festival circuit and will drop in.”

Over the years the pair have garnered a reputation for looking after artists, which Haylock said had led to performers “banging down our door”.

“It’s taken us a while to achieve but it’s a very fortunate place to be in,” he said. “We came to Brunswick Heads after 20 years of touring, so we have a solid understanding of what it’s like to be on tour. We were building up a bank of contacts unknowingly.”

Haylock believes their summer comedy program — which this year features laconic comic Dave Hughes, Please Like Me’s Josh Thomas and Utopia’s Celia Pacquola — would be the envy of many major-city venues.

“There’s no other venue outside Sydney or Melbourne that has the line-up that we do,” he said.

While the team will mark the milestone with a celebratory show over Easter, as it coincides with Bluesfest they have opted to spread the anniversary celebrations throughout the year.

The summer season of Cheeky Cabaret begins on Thursday January 22 then runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday until February 8.

For more information and tickets, visit brunswickpicturehouse.com