The Castanet Club was an Australian cabaret collective from Newcastle Australia which spawned several well known media personalities.

History

''The Castanet Club'' (colloquially known as ''the Castanets'') began playing at the Clarendon Hotel in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

in 1982. They soon gathered a following and played venues all around Newcastle before adopting the premises of an ex disco adjoining the Clarendon Hotel. The venue was decorated by the group along with local artist Michael Bell in Bell's "acid-trip circus aesthetic" and itself became known as the Castanet Club, having the name across the front of the building. The Castanets played here and invited guest artists to perform, some of whom joined the group. At one stage, in 1983, Tiny Tim played the venue sharing the stage with the band. Supplementing the performances here, audiences joined the band for mobile performance known as ''Swinging Safari World Tours'' run on rented buses involving musical acts and live events around Newcastle. As the Castanet Club grew more successful, they toured nationally, including a sell-out season at the 1984 Adelaide Festival where they won the "Best of the Fringe" award against approximately 300 other performers from around the country. About 1985 the band permanently relocated to Sydney where they enjoyed runs at the Sydney Trade Union Club's cabaret space "The Gap" and popular comedy venue, the Harold Park Hotel, they adopted a theatrical mode, performing seasons at

Belvoir Street Theatre Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Its artistic director is Eamon Flack. The theatre comprises two performing spaces: the Upstairs Theatre and the smalle ...

as well as reviving the bus-based mobile ''Safari'' shows. This period is recorded in the 1990

Neil Armfield Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armfi ...

movie, '' The Castanet Club'', featuring live concert footage.
The Castanet Club went on to play London and the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, where audiences and critics responded well: "They were an hilarious kaleidoscope of colour, music, movement, satire and goodwill." The Castanet Club played their final show in 1991.
In 2021 the

Newcastle Museum Newcastle Museum is in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The museum is connected with Newcastle Libraries. History The Newcastle Museum was founded in 1988, and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. It was originally located in the old Cas ...

hosted a retrospective exhibition ''The Castanet Club: An Exhibition You Can Dance To!'' featuring footage, photographs, props, costumes and other Castanets' paraphernalia, including the iconic sign from over their Newcastle venue. Film-makers Glenn Dormand (aka Chit Chat von Loopin Stab) and Tony Whittaker created an instalment of the ''Stories of Our Town'' film series entitled ''Stories of Our Town: The Castanet Club Story'' to coincide with the exhibition.

Members

The members of the Castanet Club adopted persona for their performances and often specialised in a musical instrument. * Stephen Abbott as Johnny Goodman on guitar * Penny Biggins as Doris Crawley on accordion * Kathy Bluff as the Kid Kalamai/Kid Paganini on violin *

Glenn Butcher Glenn Donald Butcher (born 16 September 1961) is an Australian actor and writer. Career ''The Castanet Club'' Butcher first came to prominence as a member of the cult Newcastle-based comedy musical troupe The Castanet Club (1982–1991), i ...

as lounge lizard Lance Norton * Rodney Cambridge on drums * Russell Cheek as Tron Wexler & Barnsey's roadie Doug "Gargoyle" Ormerod * Warren Coleman as Bowling Man & Pastor Noel Anderson * Peter Mahony as Urman Erstwhile on bass * Maynard as Maynard F# Crabbes on Trombone * Angela Moore as Betty B-Plate & Shirley Purvis *

Mikey Robins Mikel Mason "Mikey" Robins (born 8 December 1961) is an Australian media personality, comedian and writer. He is best known for the satirical game show ''Good News Week'', which ran on the ABC and Network Ten between 1996 and 2000, and returned ...

as Elvis Presle * John Hay on keyboards * Jacqueline Amidy as Nastassja Bassi diva vocalist Several Castanets went on to entertainment careers in the Australian media: Maynard and Mikey Robbins became breakfast presenters at Radio station

triple j Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

, Steve Abbott evolved his Johnny Goodman character into the Sandman who was on Australian radio and television through the nineties, spawning books, albums and a very successful t-shirt, Glen Butcher joined popular ensemble sketch comedy show ''Full Frontal'' and Angela Moore became a much loved Play School presenter Two Castanets, Warren Coleman and Russell Cheek, each separately won the television quiz show ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being t ...

''. Warren Coleman would go on to co-write the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winning animated feature ''

Happy Feet ''Happy Feet'' is a 2006 animated jukebox musical comedy film directed and produced by George Miller and written by Miller, John Collee, Judy Morris and Warren Coleman. It stars the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hug ...

''.

Discography

Publications

"The Castanet Club: History, provenance and influence"
''Australasian Drama Studies'', No. 66, Apr 2015: 25252. ISSN: 0810–4123. * ''The Castanet Club: a Newcastle Story'', Castanet Club Press, ISBN 9780646836904, 0646836900

References

External links

The Castanet Club Archive.
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Planet Maynard
* * * {{YouTube, U9iETl9DUIQ, The Castanet Club Story Australian cabaret performers Australian comedy musical groups Cabaret The Castanet Club 1982 establishments in Australia 1991 disestablishments in Australia Musical comedy Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Musical groups established in 1982 New South Wales musical groups Newcastle, New South Wales