You probably haven’t heard yet, but live chamber music is IN. That’s right. It’s hip. It’s the next phase in retro. And Ensemble Galante are among the vanguard.

You can find much in the media at the moment about the death of classical music as a recorded art form and as large format production – with many an opera company and symphony orchestra hitting the wall.

So maybe with Adelaide’s explosion of small bars, small dining, the timing is exquisite to forgo the ostentatious, and return to small format performance, in small places, with small audiences where one can have a glass of decent wine and take in music more osmotically. Immediately, accessibility increases and up-and-coming performers have more options to hone their craft, collaborate and experiment in delivering centuries old material to new audiences in new ways.

Memento Mori – Remember You Are Mortal is a gothic & boutique performance by this accomplished troupe of period instrumentalists in the contained and acoustically suited Jade Monkey, adjoining the old St Pauls Church complex. Upon entry into the performance space a heavy ambience was immediately conveyed through candle light and a glorious Memento Mori altar dedicated to the impermanence of existence – skulls, flowers and overturned cups. The ensemble, bare foot and adorned in appropriate stygian hue take to the stage to deliver a wonderful program of harpsichord, string & wind baroque music ranging from Jean-Marie Leclair, Bach, Vivaldi & Hadyn staged over three acts.

Still life paintings & woodcuts from the mid to late Renaissance, studies on mortality and death, were projected behind them to create a meditative multimedia experience of both period sounds and sights. While the pieces of music selected themselves were not specifically themed on death, the paintings projected often themselves reflect the instrumentation featured – themselves being reminders of the fleeting vitality when the final breath can no longer evoke the charms of the flute, when age has reduced the viol to a mute stringless monument to happier times. Even my ever draining glass of Sauvignon blanc should serve as a reminder that such pleasure are but passing moments.

We need more chamber music staged in such a manner such that we feel we are the fortunate few. Where a little forethought on the performance connecting to our senses in ways other than aurally can deliver a truly magnificent experience.

While Memento Mori was a limited performance run for Adelaide Fringe, I recommend you following them on Facebook for future performances.

I’m somewhat optimistic with the changes I am seeing in burlesque of late. More than just a collection of routines and loosely appended cabaret, there are story arcs, dialogue and comedy. SHAKE! By (Miss Burlesque Victoria 2013) Becky Lou is an embodiment of this evolution.

It is a time honoured piece of advice to writers to “write about what you know’ – but as many authors point out, this is not about retelling history, but about revisiting emotions.   And while SHAKE! is an autobiographical production tracing the events and milestones that shaped Becky Lou’s trajectory to a Burlesque belle, more importantly what she shares with the audience is a big beating heart worn on her sleeve.

Her story, starting from a Madonna-inspired childhood, moving through awakening teen sexuality and the realities of suffering artistic compromise to pay the bills, is interspersed with sexy strip numbers to ensure the baring of her body and soul are in equal measures.

And in this, there may be something in particular that the burlesque practitioner brings to the performing arts that makes the reception of thought provoking monologues and comedic delivery most effective. Becky Lou is an adept in the eye to eye, of pulling an audience in and holding a room. So, despite her softy spoken nature –when she has our attention through her physical prowess, she then uses this to good measure to unfurl her cerebral musings on her life and motivations.

In so doing, this show becomes greater than the sum of its parts. It is erotic, laced with hilarity and moments of introspection and poignancy. As such, I think many burlesque performers are now on notice that ‘technique’ transcends physical dexterity, dance routines and clever props. It is as much about whether you have a story to tell – any story – and can you take the audience on that journey?

SHAKE! is playing until the 15 March 2015 at the Adelaide Fringe @ The Coffee Pot off Rundle Mall.