The toweringly graceful Reuben Kaye is back to yell, dance, sing, flirt with audience members, and tell a fascinating family story, all while backed by a live band, (and dressed in glamorous outfits) at this year’s Adelaide Fringe. Alongside Reuben’s usual and expected cabaret aesthetic and performance style, the energetic performer has added an interesting story to his show about the unique life of his Uncle Helmut who spent much of his life growing up in East Berlin which, at the time, was a dystopian occupied territory. APOCALIPSTIK follows Helmut’s extraordinary life journey, from an orphanage and jail time while locked inside a totalitarian society, to migration to Australia, followed by world travels funded through illegal practices, and returning to live in Berlin after the falling of the wall (with a fun little surprise at the end). Reuben contrasts elements of his Uncle’s dystopian lifestyle with current occurrences in the world, mixing humour with more serious exploration, eventuating in an unexpected fun secret of Uncle Helmut’s discovered at the climax of the show. His uncle’s unique storyline is intertwined with Reuben’s own personal life-shaping experiences which are depicted through monologues as well as catchy and bold songs, frenzies of energetic dance, and dramatic costume changes. Politically, this isn’t a space for homophobia, misogyny, prudish behaviour and support of greedy big business, but if you’re willing to have your discriminatory perceptions challenged, Reuben might just be the person to bully you into a different moral direction. Throughout the night there is plenty of humour with some jokes landing with ease, others inciting jolted gasps and chuckles, and others not quite hitting the audience in the right spot. The reason Reuben can get away with more sinister and shocking jokes is because he does have a big heart full of love, and despite making some risqué comments about priests and young boys and making airport sniffer dogs overdose, they are not harmful or said with malice or too much dispassion. Alongside the humour, Reuben’s shows are peppered with political messages paired with moral outrage and fear at the current state of the world, as Reuben addresses topics like climate change, toxic masculinity, fast fashion, big business greed and capitalistic consumption. These stresses and fears for our future combine effectively with Uncle Helmut’s eccentric life story to build the unusually unique show APOCALIPSTIK. Live music with original songs are intertwined throughout the night, showing off Reuben’s impressive vocals as he belts out bold and powerful lyrics, while also insinuating drama in slower moments. There are fun tunes, mixed with slower, more dramatic songs, and all relate to topics like toxic masculinity and capitalistic practices, as well as family life stories. The live band, made up of instruments like drums, electric guitar and keyboards, is very talented, and well done to Shanon D. Whitelock for the musical direction and arrangements. Although there are some humour misses and monologue missteps along the way, Reuben fans will be delighted with this family story-based journey, that still includes Reuben’s signature comedic monologues, dramatic cabaret moves, cheeky humour, powerful messages and attention-grabbing costumes.