Take a touch of James Joyce, add a soupçon of Edith Piaf, Shane McGowan and Scott Walker, sprinkle in some shredded shamrocks, throw in a large chunk of the blarney stone and mix with a tumbler of Jameson’s Irish whiskey – stir vigorously until bubbling and fizzing; do all this and you still haven’t made the force of nature that is Camille O’Sullivan!
O’Sullivan has arrived at Soho Theatre with her new show Loveletter which whilst a love letter to the world, it’s being mainly sent to her good friends and fellow Irish singers, Shane McGowan and Sinéad O’Connor. O’Sullivan sidles onto the stage entering from the top of the stalls, touching the shoulders and heads of the people sitting by the gangways. She arrives in a black cloak and goes straight into ‘Summer In Siam’, a Pogues song composed by McGowan. On the stage itself she’s surrounded by a couple of mannequins, one with a large cat’s face, the other with a poodle’s head. There are also various plastic rabbits, what looks like a stuffed Bagpuss, neon signs and other paraphernalia and by the end of the evening you realise you’re looking at the inside of O’Sullivan’s wonderfully chaotic mind. Also on stage is Feargal Murray who accompanies O’Sullivan on keyboards, occasionally on trumpet, punches in a couple of tracks where her full band is heard and also sings back-up and duets with O’Sullivan too.
After O’Sullivan removes the cape, we can see she’s wearing a black top and sequined skirt that look as if they’ve been bought in a charity shop, black tights with large holes in them – even the ladders have ladders -and a pair of boots, one of which is falling apart – O’Sullivan’s choice of clothing is eccentric and eclectic and is perfect for her persona. She later discards the boots and puts on a slinky red dress which shimmers under the disco ball that hangs above her.
During the next ninety minutes or so (she started late and then over-ran), she treated the sold out audience to fourteen or so songs from the likes of Tom Waits, Jaques Brel (‘Port Of Amsterdam’), more McGowan (‘The Broad Majestic Shannon’ and ‘Rainy Night In Soho’), Kirsty MacColl with the very apt ‘In These Shoes’, David Bowie (a medley of ‘Where Are We Now’ and ‘Modern Love’) and Sinead O’Connor. Her encore consisted of the magical and mystical ‘Galileo (Someone Like You)’ written by Declan O’Rourke, Nick Cave’s ‘The Ship Song’ and she ended the evening with a poignant fragment of McGowan’s ‘Fairytale Of New York’.
As well as giving us her idiosyncratic interpretations of these wonderful songs, O’Sullivan, hula-hooped, laid on her back with her legs in the air, rubbed even more of the audience’s heads, cuddled people in the front row, spoke to old friends, sat on the lap of the man in front of me, made cat noises and at times her stream of consciousness was almost Joycean – in fact at one point she even quoted some of the great Irish writer’s work.
O’Sullivan is a wonderful chanteuse and definitely an acquired taste but it’s a taste well worth cultivating. Here voice at times sounds like a scrap of sandpaper with the edges torn off and at other times like a glass of smooth Irish coffee – she’s a truly unique talent.
If you want to be transported back to the cabaret clubs of the Weimar Republic in the twenties or the smoky bars of Paris in the fifties, then a trip to the Soho Theatre in the next few days will be right up your street – Camille O’Sullivan’s Loveletter shouldn’t be missed. And as footnote having mentioned the Weimar Republic, not far from the Soho Theatre, the producers of the revival of Cabaret change their Sally Bowles regularly so they should take a look at Ms O’Sullivan – she would be wonderful in the role but that’s for another time.
Review by Alan Fitter
A love letter in song, Camille’s celebrates dear friend Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O’Connor, David Bowie, Radiohead, Brel, Nick Cave and more.
Chameleon-like on stage, each song has a different character with its story to tell. Camille with long-time collaborator Feargal Murray has created an intimate, heartfelt show with a little bit of joyful, mad chaos as her life unravels, capturing the honest response to those much loved and lost.
Dark, sexy, fierce, amusing and mesmerizing, Camille transforms each song she performs into an intense, emotional, and theatrical experience. Expect joy and pure passion.
CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN: LOVELETTER
Soho Theatre Dean Street
24 November to 6 December 2025
