Even when non-political, cabaret questions social mores with special regard to sexuality, religion and commercialism and this is what constitutes its form of humour and its stronger point of social commentary. Of course, no nationalistic force would ever have any of it.
Germans loved jazz from the beginning. It sounded like the music that could bring renovation and new life to their tired society and was generally welcomed
For many philosophers and scholars, laughter was a serious matters and cabaret sure received this message. The more self-conscious cabaret supported the freedom laughter creates
While in the interwar years Germans used the French world Cabaret and the German world Kabarett interchangeably, in subsequent decades, Kabarett came to indicate a more engaged, more political form of entertainment.
Many cabaretists were Jewish, but they performed in front of a Gentile audience. In the interwar years, when anti-Semitism rose to violence, this created unexpected issues.
Cabaretists very rarely rehearsed their numbers. Their best skill was improvisation and the ability to interact with the audience and adjust to their reactions.
Although similar to other concurrent forms of entertainment, cabaret had a very specific characteristic: intimacy. The locale in which cabaret happened was therefore of importance to the language of the show
The kicklines of girls, though not a novelty, because extremely popular in Germany in the interwar years. They gave a dynamic image of the Nerw Woman… but also insinuated a less glamorous truth about her actual role in society
A subversive form of art, cabaret wasn’t the right choice for a time of war. During the First World War cabaret renounced its nature to become pure, mindless entertainment
Berlin was a city propelled by an energy that came in equal parts from anxiety and the search of pleasure and fulfilment. In the 1920s people really ‘danced on the edge of the vulcano’
Dada was the first and maybe the more extreme of all avant gards. Its wish to make people think through provocation, his preference for improvisation and the need for direct connection with the public made it a natural choice for cabaret
Cabaret had a complex relationship with censorship in Germany… even when the Weimar Republic abolished it in favour of the greatest freedom of expression