An original concept by Patrick Kennedy, the show was devised by PK Productions and includes music by Hans Eisler, Bertolt Brecht, Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoliansky and Fats Waller.

Each vignette is framed with a famous song from the period and describes the rise to success of the women and the ultimate fleeing from Berlin due to the growing threat of Nazism.

Halbwelt Kultur is a German portmanteau meaning 'Underworld Culture', a calque of French demi-monde, and comes from a 1927 book Ladies of the Underworld by Netley Lucas: The show was developed in August 2012 as a VIP pre-show to Rufus Norris' Cabaret at the Churchill Theatre Bromley.

Following the success of the Churchill Theatre run, the production was invited to be part of the Scratch Beneath new writing festival at the Pop-Up Cinema in Notting Hill in October 2012.

The performances there garnered several outstanding reviews from critics including The Guardian who described the troupe as: A stunning female septet... with their talent as singer-dancers and their silky underwear, they stirringly evoke the self-conscious decadence of the Jazz Age.