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1927
 The show is 'Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea', and the company who perform it are 1927.
1927's Suzanne Andrade and I catch up for a quick telephone conversation the day she heads off on tour... "to the airport tonight on our way to South Korea, then South Carolina, Singapore, then Australia starting with Adelaide then Sydney and Melbourne," she rattles off the place names as though they might be next door neighbours.
All this touring, clearly, indicates that 1927 are a much sought after company, receiving invitations to perform all over the world.
"Much sought after? It feels a bit like that at the moment," she murmurs, "so it's a matter of striking while the iron is hot. We've always felt in demand," she admits, looking back to a point where the newly constituted company made something of an immediate impact when they performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year.
"Ah, the Edinburgh Fringe - well, we won five awards and it's a lot of awards to win. It was nice to know we'd been noticed when we were out there. They do mean that lots of people see the little awards at the bottom of your advertising material."
The 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards, held in New York City, have noticed the work of 1927, and news of the companies nomination came through on the day before our interview was scheduled.
"This is our second nomination, and we've found out we're up against some really big shows. It's quite exciting, but other than that I don't know how much it means outside of America," she says smoothly.
We change tack slightly in discussing the marketing of wine - she's a lover of fine red wines - and how awards are used to sell the wines to people who otherwise don't know what they want to buy. So it is, she suspects, for comedy and festival crowds, who want to see a performance which is 'ready-recommended'.
Such a place is Edinburgh, full of tourists, and which Andrade characterizes as a place full of heaving people... "sometimes it's like walking into a massive stand up venue full of people and it can get oppressive. We like to find a kind of peace within. It can be nice to rub shoulders with others - with other performers. Normally its quite nice, we met Michael from the Black Sea Gentlemen there, but I think its more the kind of hustle and bustle which can wear you down."
In part, she's bemoaning the lack of time for them to come up with new ideas for their performances.
"There's always a need to develop new works, but we're always wanted. I'm not complaining: this is the way we like to do it," she cautions.
And 1927 is a small company; "there are five of us now, and everybody has their own specific skills they bring, but we'll find others along the way with their skills to add as we need," she suggests.
Of 'Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea', the show which they'll be performing, I have to admit I'm really none the wiser as to what sort of a show it might be, nor how it necessarily fits into the 'cabaret' canon.
"... it's a series of short stories essentially, the whole show takes place in front of a screen, and to a large extent the performers interact with the cinema," Andrade explains. "The whole show is covered in a crackle effect - like that of old film, and scored by live piano, so I can see why you're none the wiser.
"It's a mish mash of live performance, and there's even some audience interaction thrown in there, and the way I deliver the text is in an old British voice... Esme [Appleton] and I become little animated actors and then there's a sailor... I suppose the music is kinda cabaret as well, I've got a kind of Louise Brooks black bob, the costume and the look of it is quite dark humour," she concludes.
Alex Wheaton
1927 perform 'Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea' at the Cabaret Festival from Wed 11 June
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