It was with excitement and anticipation that we queued up for The Burlesque Hour at the Spiegeltent in the Opera House forecourt on Saturday evening. We rushed in and secured our seats near the stage (thankfully, not too near the stage as it turned out). Things started off bemusingly with Maude Davey stepping onto the stage in a long, black gown bearing a bowl of strawberries. She walked deliberately and seductively through the audience offering strawberries to audience members before introducing the show. The next performance, by Yumi Umiumare dressed as a school girl, was a frenzied explosion of underwear and energy. Next entered my favourite performer of the evening, Azaria Universe wearing a white body stocking and balancing on a Swiss ball.
Moira Finucane's performances were highly strung, sexual, menacing and ironic all at the same time and she has a penchant for using liquid in her performances, red sauce and milk in vast quantities. Although by the time she performed her dance of the many balloons I had warmed to her naughty, horror movie monster stage presence.
However, my favourite performances were both by the marvellous Azaria Universe. Her trapese work, executed while wearing tight elastics on her arms, legs and trunk (which made her look like a very feminine Michelin Man) was compelling. And her naked-except-for-300-strings-of-pearls rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart was hysterical AND moving.
Check it out for yourself. The Spiegeltent season is sold out, but the Burlesque Hour will be returning to the Opera House Studio Theatre in January 2009:
And yes, there is nudity.
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