REVEL: Wellington’s own cabaret fantasy
Paris has the Moulin Rouge, Berlin has the Wintergarten, and if Inverted Citizens have their way, Wellington will have REVEL.
Now on its third year of becoming a cornerstone in Wellington’s cultural calendar, REVEL returns to The Hannah Playhouse this June with a deliciously elevated night of world-class performance, bespoke cocktails and full-throttle theatrical glamour. Touted as “Wellington’s premiere cabaret experience,” the show brings together variety acts, live music and upscale entertainment in a format that feels both wildly ambitious and distinctly local.
For Inverted Citizens’ Laura Oakley and Jackson Cordery, REVEL is more than a show. It is a long-term vision for what cabaret in Wellington could become. What a delight to chat to these two passionate performers and creators.
From circus training to making it happen
Inverted Citizens began, as many great creative endeavours do, with a group of friends who were serious about performing and ready to make something of their own.
“There was a group of the three of us, myself and Jackson, and then a friend of ours,” says Laura. “The three of us were really serious about performing and wanted to make shows. So, that’s basically how it came about.”
They had trained together, worked together in ensemble circus shows, and shared a common drive to create performance opportunities rather than wait for them to appear.
“It became apparent that if we wanted to perform, then we had to make it happen,” says Jackson. “So that’s been the driving factor for what we’re doing.”
Both Laura and Jackson came through the circus community in Wellington, with Jackson based around The Circus Hub in Newtown and Laura beginning her circus training in Christchurch before moving north. That shared training ground gave them not only technical skill, but a sense of what it takes to build performance from the inside out: hours of repetition, invisible labour, and the satisfaction of doing something extraordinary as though it were effortless.
“That’s what I think is so beautiful about circus,” says Laura. “When I’m performing a skill on stage, I’m like, wow, this is really the culmination of almost a decade of training, but no one really knows that, which is quite fun in a way. It’s like your own personal, juicy little secret.”
Building a cabaret world
REVEL first emerged as a one-night cocktail cabaret that tested the waters of what an Inverted Citizens experience could be. Since then, the concept has grown in scale, confidence and ambition.
“In 2024, it was very much a one night only situation,” says Jackson. “And in 2025, we really went for it.”
That meant reimagining The Hannah’s stage, expanding the season, and beginning to establish the REVEL formula: a cocktail bar built into the stage, variety acts from different art forms, high production value, and a new show each time.
“We feel like we have established the formula now – of elements that we want to keep returning, and then the areas that we keep fresh,” says Jackson. “We want people to know what to expect, but for it to be a new show every time so they can come back year after year.”
This year, REVEL moves further into that world-building. The audience will be seated in a newly reconfigured space, with a sense that the audience itself becomes part of the picture. There will be show-only balcony seats, premium and deluxe options, and a cocktail experience woven directly into the performance environment.
For Jackson, who has increasingly stepped into the creative and production design of the work, the joy is in imagining the whole world of the show.
“What really drives me is having an idea, creating it and bringing it to life,” he says. “Even when I’m not performing, it’s the creative outlet. I’m creating the show.”
The art of doing it yourself
Behind the glamour of REVEL is a deeply practical, hands-on creative process. Like many independent artists in Aotearoa, Inverted Citizens are working in an under-resourced arts landscape where ambition often depends on time, skill-sharing, and an enormous amount of DIY ingenuity.
“We are grinding the production side of things,” says Laura. “Learning different skills for ourselves, like marketing, set design, everything, which is a real joy, but also… when we’re living in an art landscape, particularly at the moment, which is very under-resourced, you really have to have that DIY attitude.”
In practical terms, that means building props, designing the space, solving technical problems, managing performers, marketing the show, and still finding room for performance and training.
Jackson has made much of the physical world of REVEL himself, including previous stage elements and props. This year, Laura offers one tantalising detail: “He has made a disco ball capable of aerial stunts, and I will say no more...”
This approach, they allude, is about using what is available now to build toward something more sustainable in the future.
“We don’t have lots of money, but we’ve got time to invest,” says Jackson.
A meeting place for performance worlds
One of the most exciting things about REVEL is the way it brings artists from different disciplines into the same room. Circus performers, drag artists, musical theatre performers, burlesque dancers and musicians all meet inside the same cabaret universe.
For Laura, that cross-pollination has become one of the show’s most meaningful outcomes.
“Something that’s happened with REVEL that’s been so special is that we’ve been able to create these connections across different art forms,” she says. “It creates such a nice time, a beautiful community of people, and then there’s a launching pad for post-REVEL collaborations.”
Jackson agrees. Coming from circus, he says, it can sometimes feel like different performance communities exist in separate bubbles.
“REVEL brings people from different art forms together into one space,” he says. “It’s nice to realise that everyone likes meeting each other and wants to collaborate.”
This year, that multi-disciplinary energy extends to live music, with a live band joining the REVEL world. Jackson describes the sound as “fabulous disco, live music,” while Laura speaks warmly of the way the cast and creative team are brought together through shared passion, trust and the desire to make something bigger than any one performer.
Wellington’s own night out
REVEL is deliberately reaching beyond the usual arts audience. Inverted Citizens want to create a night that feels glamorous, generous, entertaining and enticing: the kind of night people plan around, dress up for, talk about afterwards, and return to year after year.
In fact, REVEL’s aspirations are deliberately bold. Jackson would love to see the show travel around the country and beyond, adapted for touring while retaining the essence of the Wellington experience. Longer term, the dream is even bigger.
“We would love to bring in a dinner cabaret element,” he says. “We’re trying to build Wellington’s own version of the Moulin Rouge or the Wintergarten.”
For now, that dream is being built night by night, show by show, cocktail by cocktail, in the intimate and endlessly adaptable world that is The Hannah.
REVEL invites audiences to step out of the everyday and into something sparkling, strange, skilful and alive. It is an act of imagination, but also an act of belief: in local artists, in Wellington audiences, and in the possibility that world-class performance can be built right here.
REVEL is on at The Hannah 4–6 June. Get your tickets now!