Your Ultimate Guide to Cairns Festival 2025
Glitter, Chaos, and a Cabaret Like No Other
Known for their glitter-soaked productions and unapologetically subversive style, Buenos Nachos Productions is back with Madame After Dark, a cabaret experience like no other. Cairns Festival sat down with one of the stars of the show, Nina Supernova, to talk circus, chaos and the power of performance that sits outside the mainstream.
When Buenos Nachos Productions descends on Bulmba-ja Theatre for Cairns Festival this month, audiences should brace for a night unlike any other. Madame After Dark is a glitter-fuelled cabaret-spectacle-meets-circus fever dream that refuses to stay in its lane and that’s precisely the point.
At the centre of the chaos is Nina Supernova, whose passion for boundary-pushing performance runs deep.
“Think cabaret got lost, ran away to the circus and threw a feather bomb in a nightclub,” she laughs. “It’s sweaty, sexy and just the right amount of unhinged.”
The show is a full-throttle celebration of the wild, the weird and the unapologetically bold. It offers a space where aerialists swing above the crowd, mermaids spit sass and burlesque meets bite. But beyond the glitter, Madame After Dark is also a love letter to Far North Queensland’s subversive creative spirit. “This show embodies tropical living,” Nina adds. “It’s lush, humid and a little wild. It’s inspired by the rainforest after dark, salty skin, fruit bowl excess and that unmistakable northern energy where nothing is quite what it seems.”
For the team behind Buenos Nachos Productions, Madame After Dark is more than a show, it’s a movement. Rooted in the local scene and shaped by a fierce belief in outsider art, the production is both inclusive and immersive. “At its core, it’s about community and belonging. It’s a space where outsiders feel seen, where locals feel proud and where every audience member becomes part of the art.”
And when Madame After Dark steps into the spotlight at Cairns Festival, it will be a moment not just for the performers, but for the entire local scene.
“Cairns Festival gives us the rare chance to bring our glitter-soaked fever dream into the spotlight and share it with the wider community,” Nina says. “There is something electric about standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the most exciting artists in the region. Madame After Dark isn’t just a show… it’s a celebration.”
Madame After Dark presented by Buenos Nachos Productions
| When: | Thu 28 - Sat 30 Aug |
|---|---|
| Where: | Bulmba-ja Arts Centre |
| Doors: | 8.00pm |
| Show: | 8.30pm |
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