The amazing bouncing Ferret

Described succinctly by one reviewer as "poet, philosopher, peignoir model, puppeteer and trainee crowd surfer", Miss Eve Ferret is a firm favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers. And her new show A Ferret Up The Arts (that Paul and I went to see last night) is fucking hilarious, to boot!

From her riotous opening number complete with marching drum, through her trademark meandering repartee of anecdotes and jokes (often at the expense of her long-suffering guitar accompanist Roddy Matthews), through her paean to the aforementioned peignoir (a long frilled nylon nightie - "closed, it's Rita Hayworth, open, it's Elsie Tanner!") to her seemingly endless supply of props (at one point, singing in French, she peppered us with mangetout, the next, fake money) not to mention her crowd-surfing Ferret doll, she was unstoppable.

The divine Miss F is not just a clever knock-about performer however, she can actually sing - and beautifully - when she wants to. She has been compared to both Barbara Dickson and Diana Krall in the past, and when she gets her teeth into a number her voice has the power to send chills down the spine.

She certainly had the audience in rapt awe at her version of Scars (a song written by Fran Landesman, whose Ballad of the Sad Young Men is a gay classic). Over the course of the evening she tried her hand at just about everything from Rappers' Delight to the blues, singing a blend of covers and her own material - Handbag Girl was a particular joy - and at every musical turn we were thrilled.



Of course the biggest thrill of all was Miss Ferret's promised "messing about with my chums" bit, as she introduced the first of her special guests, the extraordinarily talented Mzz Kimberley - an American drag queen with a magnificently powerful soul diva voice, who did a stunning version of Bridge Over Troubled Water as a gospel number, and transformed Peggy Lee's classic I'm A Woman into I'm A Tranny in a duet with Eve. Stunning.

But, of course, it was the appearance of that remarkable double-act, the lovely Fidelis Morgan and "national treasure" Celia Imrie - who entertained us so magnificently at Polari in April this year - which really set the place alight! They opened with a suitably autumnal song'n'dance number, during which the pair were pelted with fallen leaves - and soft toys and anything else that came to hand - by Miss Ferret, and then returned to delight us with a three-way version of Noel Coward's Mad About The Boy, with Fidelis playing the posh masculine type, Eve the Cockney housekeeper, and Celia the infatuated schoolgirl. It was a work of genius, and we adored it!

Eve Ferrett is an incomparable entertainer. There really is no-one else like her. This show was so hysterically funny at times, both Paul and I had tears streaming down our faces and were doubled up with laughter! I am so very pleased we went - it cheered me up immensely.

So overjoyed were we that we are booking for the second of her two shows. Next Monday (11th November), Eve's special guests are none other than Miss Adele Anderson (of Fascinating Aida fame) and the 80s pop legend Hazel O'Connor!

I can't wait.

A Ferret Up The Arts is at the Arts Theatre, Covent Garden.