Maeve Marsden On Singing About Gin & How Sydney's Lockout Laws Are Killing The Arts

If you didn't already know, gin is delicious. In fact, it's such a tasty drop that there's a gin renaissance sweeping the world, which has led to a proliferation of boutique distilleries, new, exotic flavours and fabulous gin cocktails on the menus of bars from Sydney to Shanghai to San Fransisco. But, while gin may have wooed even the most refined palates of today, it's also a beverage with a less than pristine history. And for two local artists, that's something worth singing about.

Maeve Marsden and Libby Wood are the two gin-swilling divas of Mother's Ruin: A Cabaret About Gin, which they created with writer and gin aficionado Elly Baxter. Baxter runs a website called theginstress.com and was regaling Marsden with historic tales and curious trivia one evening over a bottle of the stuff, when the pair hatched the idea for a cabaret show. "Gin's a really fascinating drink," says Marsden. "So we researched gin and how it's travelled around the world through colonialism. The more we researched, the more characters and stories we found."

The show they created is a theatrical montage of song, story, humour and cocktails - a gin-eology of the juniper spirit from the early 1600s to the present day. They've selected songs from a variety of genres and adjusted the lyrics to make them all gin-centric. For instance, I've Been Everywhere has become 'I've Drunk Every Gin' and the old standard Fever has been re-written to describe symptoms of malaria (which was once treated with tonic water).

It's not just the lyrics that are altered, the songs are reinterpreted to the point where they are unrecognisable in some cases, says Marsden: "Some of them are quite different to the original version. We try to reclaim them for our stories and use them in different ways."

Critics and audiences alike have responded with great enthusiasm to the show, described by Time Out's Cassie Tongue in her five-star review as, "Proud and unapologetic, beautiful and powerful". It's toured nationally and been part of Sydney Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Melbourne Cabaret Festival and Perth Fringe. Its success has inspired Marsden and Wood to take the show overseas and, to that end, a recent Sydney show at Giant Dwarf theatre was also used as a special fundraiser to help pay for the venture, with a cheekily subversive theme making a nod to Sydney's anti-nightlife lockout laws. "It's like a speakeasy-themed event, so people are encouraged to dress up in kind of 1920s speakeasy kind of vibe. There'll be performances from the show - live cabaret style performances… we've also got a couple of surprise guest performers."

Australian boutique gin distillery, Four Pillars is partnering with Mother's Ruin... for the event and for the tour. They'll be supplying the essential ingredient for G&T's and Negronis on the night. The ladies plan to take their show to England and Edinburgh, equally excited about the prospect of new audiences as they are about taking Australian gin to the land that is arguably the home of that spirit. 

As the tour reaches Victoria - and given its spirited subject matter - the contrast between Melbourne's thriving bar scene and Sydney's struggling, lockout-ravaged nightlife is certainly front of mind. "I don't think prohibition works, personally," says Marsden, who has experienced a direct negative effect on her industry in the NSW capital. "I think the lockout laws are the wrong approach to Sydney's nightlife. There's a stifling of the arts."

She cites cities around the world, including Melbourne, that have a diverse and rich artistic personality because of the small bar culture they foster. "I don't think simply closing the doors on Sydney's nightlife is the solution," Marsden concludes.

Catch Mother's Ruin: A Cabaret About Gin, 19 — 21 Jul at MAP 57: St Kilda Winter Gardens.

Gin lovers, check out our pick of the best Australian made gin.