Part 1 of my conversation (aka The Cabaret Book Club) with Melbourne-based singer-songwriter (and actor, comedian, etc. - grossly overachieving) Gillian Cosgriff.

She's from Brisbane, she studied in Perth but she lives here in Melbourne (so there, Queensland and WA), Cosgriff is a much sought after performer, writer and actor, and award-winning to boot. She spent a solid six months on the road with Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow (I'm really jealous) and she has a laugh like Sid James. She's also very well cultured, so we sat next to my bookshelf and basically unpicked all sorts of topics, from women's stories on television, perspectives in literature, how neither of us have read Tolstoy and the pathetic reason why, what responsibility the artist has to the audience in terms of what the viewer infers versus the artist's intent, how grace through self-realisation and repentance seems to be increasingly rare, weird 1980s Disney releases and Rhett Butler's genitals. A good episode for people who like both lively debate about artistic expression/writing and cock jokes. 

Photograph of Gillian Cosgriff by Lachlan Woods.