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BURLESQUEThe Queen of Tarts This saucy queen gets carried away with her flamingo croquet mallet and proves that she's not always chopping off peoples heads..... A fabulously costumed comedy act.Sexy Lexy The 18th century darling is a twirling aristocrat or pirate. She performs a stunningly skilled routine using POI and tassels which she twirls at the same time!!!Miss Piggy She is available to do balloon popping or fan dancing and is very popular at birthdays. She wears diamante Kermit body jewelry and is a storm in a teacup!!!Casanova Think comedic striptease - 'boylesque' but performed ironically by a Drag King. Thrown in a live sex change of the satirical, traditional burlesque sort...he gets hot and sleazy taking off his tweed layers, but lo, when he doesn't get the response he is after, he opts for a more 'attractive proposition'... He gets carried away with a carving knife and handy bicycle pump only to transform into a curvaceous fire-tassel-twirling woman.This act is great for cabarets, private parties and stripograms with a twist!The Strong Man See this Mighty Man of Muscles! He who leaves ladies weeping - at the mere sight of him.His show involves an array of serious lifting, glass eating, Globe spinning and many more acrobatic feats!He is indeed, the only man alive who can lift a ton with his posterior! A truly original Fairground attraction for the modern eyes!Suitable for Cabarets, Fairs and private parties including children.STATUESRedSarah started statuing over 10 years ago with the Invisible Circus and has travelled all over the world with this classic art form.She is able to create characters from ancient mythology or fairytale fantasy to suit any theme and style of event.Stone statues - body painted statues made to look like any type of stone.Toy box - wind up doll character statues suitable for young children's events.Blanco - ancient and mysterious characters swathed in white robes come to life before your eyes and take you inside a world of bubble magic.Artistic installation up to 6 performers available.STILTS :RedSarah is a very creative lady when it comes to costumed characters; she works with various other performers to create acts for walkabout, stilts. 2 legged or 4 legged walkers.Characters:Showgirls x 2 Pompadour Queen of Hearts + / Alice / The Rabbit / The Hatter - 4 people Pixies x 2 Angels x 4 Devils x 4 Lady at the Races Funky Diva Suited and Booted x 2 Charlie chaplin Ice Queen x 2RedSarah is also an accomplished DJ and stage show producer / director.what is burlesque ?here are the words of our leader Kittie KlawThe term ‘Burlesque’ literally means “to imitate, parody or send upâ€. In short, it is a humour based form of theatrical entertainment found throughout early variety theatres but mainly popularised by 19th century Music Hall.What is it all about?It’s everywhere there is farce, disguise, transformation and satire. It transcends demographics and pokes fun at everything and everyone in a light hearted way.Since it’s not-so humble beginnings in British theatre, the form has been subject to much cultural reinterpretation in different countries, across a two-hundred year period and yet still continues to be adapted and interpreted by performers and writers today. These reinterpretations which developed in different ways in different parts of the world largely across the 19th and 20th centuries, show a diversity of culture in both social history and national tastes across the UK, Europe and the USA.Burlesque Beginnings - Britain’s Bawdy BackdropIn Britain, the earliest 19th Century burlesques were akin to extravagant tableauxs and pantomime versions of the great operas and ballets aimed to poke fun at the arts and create humorous alternatives providing a light hearted evening of entertainment. Those responsible for writing these early burlesques (such as J.R.R Planche) were in fact the very same journalists responsible for the satirical writings in publications such as the infamous Punch magazine, and are a clear indication of why British burlesque has always been a satirical style designed to make meaningful comment.These early works are thought to have been the inspiration behind much of work of Gilbert and Sullivan and regarded by some, as the roots of Musical Theatre itself.Burlesque theatre has always enjoyed a wide appeal. The unique theatrical comedy and lavish styling of the early burlesques were attracting a consistent middle class following by the mid 19th century.At this time, theatre was becoming more accessible to people of the poorer social classes in the form of the ‘free and easy’ or ‘music room’. These rooms were where pub patrons could each take a ‘turn’ and entertain one another after a few drinks – a bit like an early Karaoke!Although the music rooms encouraged patrons to stay longer and drink more, the landlords were not able to charge for admission to these rooms nor serve alcohol within the rooms themselves and so savvy landlords sought a way to capitalise on the popularity of this new social escapism and circumnavigate the licensing laws.Proprietors designed and commissioned purpose built theatres for the drinking masses - The Music Halls. These halls were complete with adjoining bars where money could be made through hall admissions as well as through the liquor sales. Quite simply, you bought your ticket to the hall, went in through the bar, bought your drinks and then took them upstairs to the show.In these new theatres, the burlesque acts as well as actors, singers, dancers and comics all found a new resource for work and their craft evolved to fit the variety bills of the Music Hall. Instead of full length stage shows, the acts became akin to short, characterised sketches and ‘turns’ with each designed to give a delicately gloved finger to the establishment and send up the Toffs, much to the applause of their new audience of the more repressed working classes. Of course, criticism and fear from the thought police was lurking around every curtain.The more outrage the acts provoked, the more provocative the acts became. Many acts incited aggressive moral policing from groups such as The Vigilance Society who, in fear of public moral health, sought to shut down the halls based on the more risqué and bawdy antics of certain acts which were thought to be examplar of ‘the very suburbs of hell itself’.For example, the idea of ‘ladies in tights’ (all be them black and fully opaque) was a scandalous, liberal usage of the burlesque genre but as part of a socially powerful theatrical form, these ‘costumes’ and bawdy antics were justified as ‘art’ over titillation. The acts which scandalised those with fragile sensibilities tended to be those which contained any kind of sexual referencing or that which saw a female performer displaying her body shape – even when dressing as a boy.Despite the scandals and controversies, burlesque was still adored by a variety of audiences and even in the latter part of the great Music Hall days (1900 – 1940s) The public were still embracing the genre and the acts were continually celebrated, criticised, imitated, gossiped about in the newspapers and some even performed by Royal Command. Political burlesques about Etonians and Hitler would have been played out by The Western Brothers and ‘incidentally sexy’ boy impersonators such as Vesta Tilley kept tongues wagging and people thinking.The Royal Variety Performance today is just the latest adaption of the Royal Command Show which typically featured Edwardian burlesques including Vesta Tilley herself.Burlesque had been a well established genre with both men and women performing in equal capacities in Britain for fifty years before it made it’s first big leap to the USA.The Big ReVamp – Burlesque Hits The USAWhere as burlesque in Britain had shifted from being a middle class theatrical curiosity to short, punchy Music Hall component aimed at the working classes, the American interpretation has a decidedly different story which highlights our differing social histories.The history begins in the 1860s when a well known British burlesque star, Lydia Thompson set sail for the states having conquered (and tired of) Europe. Thompson was greeted as a star upon her arrival and she and her troupe, ‘The British Blondes’, were a sensation with their early spoof burlesque show Ixion which featured the women not only in tights (!) but impersonating boys.Aside Note: Although a star and a pioneer in many respects, Lydia eventually came back to the UK penniless and died a pauper; after a series of unfortunate events culminating in a fire which destroyed her theatrical wardrobe show now lies in a forgotten and unmarked grave in Kensal Green, London. Although Thompson remained an almost unsung heroine after her career weaned, a hundred years on, her impact upon the American theatre and general burlesque history is now of historical significance. This new wave of British humour - which typically featured an eyeful of scantily clad actresses amidst obscure narratives - inspired many performers and proprietors alike to reassess their lots and as with most British humour exports, the Americans reinterpreted the form to suit their own national tastes and sensibilities.With no social class system to ‘burlesque’ the American understanding of burlesque was fine tuned for a very different market resulting in the emphasis being placed on more bawdy or lewd referencing over the satirical components. By the time of the Depression and prohibition, venue owners were seeking a new way to make money and, like the British landlords of almost a century earlier, the American proprietors were quick to identify the value in this new and sexy enterprise. They too began building special theatres.Grasping the available resources, need for work and the targeting new public desires for escapism, the American Burlesque was born and the burlesque became synonymous with the Strip Tease act as typified by the likes of Minsky’s Theatres.Although the American burlesque genre was ‘classless’ it was still subject to controversy and with it’s emphasis on teh ‘strip’, it was regarded as a ‘low’ form of entertainment, even being looked down upon by the neighbouring Vaudeville theatres which rather ironically, were the US equivalent to Music Hall.American burlesque was glamorous, sexy, controversial and female led. It became nicknamed, the ‘leg show’, ‘bump ‘n’ grind’ and ultimately became synonymous with Strip Tease itself. This form was made iconic with stars such as Gypsy Rose Lee who represented an image of feminine prowess and liberated sexual identity amidst the controversy of the more explicit forms of stripping and the infamous ‘hootchy cootchy’. As an entertainer and showgirl, Rose Lee famously joked that because she was such a high paid star, she was not so much a stripper but as a high brow ‘ecdysiast’.So, on one side of the Atlantic the satire was gone and the focus had shifted, but the humour and sexual send up was still evident in the American burlesque’s costumes, gimmicks and exaggerated characters.Dens of Iniquity – The Enduring European InfluenceIn Europe, the iconic styles of both the Moulin Rouge and Weimar Berlin cabaret were reactions to late 19th and early 20th century politics, arts and societal needs. The outbreak of war saw both the closure of many establishments but also highlighted the need for light entertainment and social satire. With unstable political changes across much of Europe through out the early 20th Century, many of the prolific cabarets, writers and satirists left their home countries in search of safer, more liberal grounds for their art forms.As archetypal bohemian dens of iniquity and creativity, they still hold a romantic fixation in the performance art industries today, including the burlesque scene.The cabarets and burlesque of the continent, such as the Moulin Rouge are as popular as ever, and as timeless variety theatres without specific social focus, they have changed very little. If anything, all that has changed is that they are more ‘tourist friendly’ and cleaner than they once were.A little know fact that many CanCan performers today are not aware of, is that originally, the CanCan was performed to allow audiences a glimpse of what was beneath the split in the bloomers - the high kicks and leg extensions were designed to give an eyeful of what was for sale beneath.The CanCan is still performed and is considered a classic routine but it’s enduring hold on audiences is one of romanticised glamour and kitsch nostalgia over it’s seedier roots and links to the sex industry of yester-year.The Death of Burlesque? A Macabre MythAs World War I dawned, many of the halls and theatres across the world either closed or were used for home font purposes - as in the unusual case of the Britannia Panopticon in Glasgow which was used to keep hens and incubate eggs!However, the idea that British burlesque died, is mere myth. In Britain, for a hundred years the Burlesque show remained pretty constant in it’s style – that is, until the 1930s. The invention of, and rise in popularity of early cinema saw less expensive and more comfortably seated nights out for the public which were increasingly preferred over the cramped halls and bills of the Music Halls. Gradually, the halls closed in favour of the new comfortable and inexpensive movie theatres.The traditional British form barely even changed in style - it merely transformed in medium. If you look at British comedy, you can see how Burlesque was adapted and gradually morphed to accommodate the changing times. Instead of live variety theatre or Music Halls we had British humour on TV and film – typically the ‘Carry On’ series.Been consistently rather more prudish (at least outwardly) than other nations, we have always opted for bizarre humour and innuendo (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) over directly showing off our ‘rude’ bits. As such, our burlesque’s have always capitalised on this. British comedy has strong burlesque genealogy and most recently we can see it in the award winning Little Britain series; where as in the age old style of British humour, stereotypes of the class system are burlesqued and bawdy gags are still all the rage. The TV variety and comic sketch show became the new burlesque.In America, the live burlesque and variety shows generally declined in popularity, almost fading out entirely in the dawn of the swinging Sixties. The era of free love and nudity had left the art of the strip tease rather redundant and outdated.By the 1940s, American burlesque had already begun to melt down and run off in to two paths – the modern strip show or the musical theatre - each with more in common with European burlesque styles than either its British or American pasts.The new strip shows which became the new proprietors enterprise endorsed a more explicit content and left the glamorous hey day of American pin up and the art of the tease behind. On the other side of the divide, the musical theatre was emerging with an eerily similar glamorous, sexy image.We can still see the lingering burlesque trail in musicals today where stereotypical images tend to involve scantily clad women in top hats, leotards and fishnet tights, fan dancers, CanCan girls and a multitude of high leg kicks. In a similar vein, Las Vegas showgirls appear to continue the evolution of American burlesque style with their ‘exotic’ style showgirls who typically appear topless but lavishly adorned with sequins, fishnets and feathers.Threading the Sequins TogetherThere is, as a result of this lineage, some confusion and debate over where the divides between stripping and burlesque lie. Many performers, promoters and patrons argue this topic out on a daily basis, however, what is generally agreed upon in that the audiences and tailored marketing for modern burlesque shows and modern strip clubs are expressly different from one another in design and intent and although both are forms of entertainment, one is considered theatre and the other is generally not.The problem is, that with a diverse history, misconstrued terminology, forgotten acts and a distinct lack of genuine reportage available, it may be hard to define where any dividing line is for each individual performer.Both the roots and differences of the strip tease and the burlesque are as common as they are diverse – both historically and theatrically. They are not interchangeable terms and are subject to contextual interpretation:For example, in the traditional American interpretation, the strip tease is pivotal in a burlesque show but is heavily stylised with the emphasis on the Tease rather than the strip. Typically performed by pin up models and great beauties of stage and silent screens, the burlesque theatre was largely focused on the aesthetics and sexual context provided by beautiful ‘unattainable’ ladies.By contrast, in the traditional British form, the emphasis of any burlesque was on character commentary or narrative. Hence, strip tease was often irrelevant with the strip tease itself being neither necessary nor sufficient on it’s own to constitute a ‘burlesque’. Any shedding of costume needed to serve a narrative purpose - there must by definition, be some form of context or narrative to justify the removal of garments – that is. if anything came of at all.Strip Tease is most often considered an art form within itself and as far as the modern burlesque act goes, there is no exact formula nor precise rule for their inclusion of the techniques and skills of an ecdysiast.Burlesque Theatre Today – Big BusinessWith the many forms and varying theatrical values attracting a variety of different performers with individual styles and personal tastes, the genre is now, yet again, subject to reinterpretation by a new era of Burlesque artistry.The Burlesque circuit which has developed over the past decade is beginning to mirror the 20-something year saga of the stand up comedy circuit. There are many parallels, but Burlesque seems to have captured the public’s imagination with tighter grip due to it’s theatrical values and sexy image. The burgeoning new scene is in many ways repeating the humble roots of Music Hall in the free and easies – the new wave of burlesque is again a form of ‘public access theatre’. Although a creative boon to society, there is of course a dilemma emerging with it. The trouble lies in that defining the line between the hobbyist circuit and the professional entertainers can be tricky for those unfamiliar with the whole scene and with the rushing popularity, there has also come an exploitative bandwagon. The result has been that the burlesque genre as a legitimate passion, pursuit and even profession has been systematically misrepresented and the craft itself, often misunderstood and its history selectively misreported.Burlesque is often regarded today as empowering form for women ‘reclaiming their sexual identities’ but the real history of the form throws out many more contrary issues than is often acknowledged.The evolution of change in burlesque theatre suggests a variety of interesting questions and debates about the roles of both men and women and has as much relevance to both sexes as it does to all genders. There is a stark contrast with the early British roots where the original burlesques were written by men but originally commissioned by a women who was on fact the proprietress of her own theatre and as a theatrical form, was performed by both men and women. A century on, and an ocean apart, burlesque had its sex roles reversed where the theatres were run by men and performed almost entirely by women whom some feminist groups would argue were exploited or objectified for their sexualised appearances.The debate will be endless.Regardless of controversy and debate, it’s roots are in satire and send up and like the by gone eras of burlesque theatre in both the UK and USA, tiny sets of professional entertainers have once again emerged. The scene is even generating it’s own micro-celebrity culture which is also beginning to cross over in to other more mainstream forms of show business.Today, people are more affluent than they have been in recent generations and are enjoying going out for live entertainment and demanding more than the predictable and over priced ‘JD and DJ’ culture of bars and discos typical of the last 30 years. Experimenting with personal style over the trends of fashion and nurturing the latent theatrical desires within are not just a new fangled social activity but in fact a new lifestyle for many.The desire to perform and indulge in theatrical fashions and social experiments has much to do with the modern burlesque trail blazers and die hard enthusiasts both on and off stage. The provision of accessible stages and platforms for a new wave of performers (both amateur and professional) is the hall mark of 21st century burlesque.There is at least one good act in every person just waiting to be blurted out, burlesque style. Organisations such as the Ministry of Burlesque are there to support and encourage the curious enthusiast, the light hearted hobbyist as much as the emerging talent and established stars. There is, quite probably an ‘inner Barbra Windsor’ in everyone and the accessible world of burlesque allows her some stage time amongst friends.As a new life is being breathed in to the rising balloon that is burlesque, it’s no surprise that this rapid expansion is causing both a wonderful chaos and a new order in peoples lives as they struggle to spot the difference between hobby and career, politics and personal feeling, entertainment and emotional need, traditional and ‘neo’ styles. It’s a challenge that more and more people every day are taking on with great enthusiasm.The Burlesque scene will eventually plateau in popularity and rather than burst, begin to contract in size until it finds its ideal elemental balance of culture and skill. As long as the ethos of fun and inclusion are not forsaken in place of the pursuit of fame and wealth, the Burlesque legend will live on for another glorious era.
