How Eva Von Schnippisch Won WWII
The Vaults
Reviewed – 7th March 2019
★★★★
“an irrepressible seductress with a majestic survival instinct and unstoppable line of filthy wit”
Who doesn’t like an hour of vintage hedonism and moral decay after work? Reliving the Weimer republic of 1920s Germany at the VAULT festival is Eva Von Schnippisch, one of a number of Variety Show personas created by comedian and events producer, Stephanie Ware. The show is the confected musical backstory of Eva, a character that has already worked the UK’s club and ‘luxury event’ circuit for six years as a hireable ‘Madame of Ceremonies’. Billed as setting history straight, the evening commences with a stage set with a dressing screen festooned with feather boas and period millinery on one side, Sally Bowles’ chair and accoutrements on the other, with Eva (or is it Stephanie at this point?) clad in silk dressing gown, warming up the crowd as they arrive.
As she slips out of the gown and into character, Eva tells of her hair-raising rise from blow jobs in Berlin to threesomes with the big H (the child-friendly matinee version of the show must either be very different or very short). In between, she is enrolled by British Intelligence, parachuted into occupied France, captured by the Russians, before receiving her ultimate mission to infiltrate the social scene at Berchtesgaden. Throughout her various assassinations and assignations, Eva pines for a purer life in a Bavarian log cabin, giving a welcome glimpse into Eva’s softer side, but most of the time she is an irrepressible seductress with a majestic survival instinct and unstoppable line of filthy wit.
Stephanie Ware’s script sizzles like a frankfurter and Oliver Collier’s music matches her numerous on-stage skills adroitly. She can narrate while she gyrates, crack gags under interrogation, mix manic costume changes with Germanic ad libs while still retaining enough breath to sing like Brunhilde. As a persona, Eva’s true back story as an imperious handler of late-night crowds leaves her bereft of depth and complexity. The blurb for Eva’s compere services says that she can be fine-tuned between secret agent and Cabaret act as desired, but then, not being too particular is Eva’s style. Her forte is pleasing crowds, and the crowd joined in the audience participation whenever they were asked, or, more accurately, commanded.
Reviewed by Dominic Gettins
Photography by Stuart Hendry
How Eva Von Schnippisch Won WWII
Part of VAULT Festival 2019
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