In The Vault Cabaret, many Circus WOW members found invaluable performance opportunities 2004-2016. Individual performers, but also some WOW acts, regularly appeared on the program.
“Debuting on Valentine’s Day 2004, The Vault Cabaret began as an experiment, a way to activate the local professional performing arts scene by providing a regular opportunity for local emerging and established artists to perform and to develop an audience for their work. Lou Belancic, drummer and local butcher, had turned the old ANZ Bank in Wentworth St, Port Kembla into The Vault Venue in 2003, and it was the perfect space for cabaret. Lou became an integral partner in the Vault Cabaret’s success; operating as a one-man technician, getting the shows up and rehearsed in less than four hours.
“The audience came, and continued to come for 13 years, loyally lining up and putting up with our stubborn refusal to allow pre-booking. They came with their BYO picnics, dressed up according to whatever loose theme we had going, and during the show, cheered on the acts, supporting both emerging and established talent with the same enthusiastic applause.
“The Vault Cabaret was a cultural phenomenon, a perfect alignment of time, place and people. It was also crazy fun, a night where combined energies of artists and audiences lit up a little space in Port Kembla with a whole lot of love.”
—Excerpts from The Vault Cabaret Story, an introduction written by Anne-Louise Rentell, The Vault Cabaret 2004-2016, a book of visual memories compiled by Anne-Louise Rentell