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| Caroline Lee as Lola Montez |
Written by
Jackie Smith
Directed by
Moira Finucane
Performed by
Caroline Lee and Holly Durant
Tuggeranong
Arts Centre, 13th September, 2017
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
Exotic
dancer, Lola Montez, is one of Australia’s more intriguing historical
characters. Her main claim to fame is that she reportedly scandalized the
Ballarat miners with her erotic Spider dance, and horse-whipped an unfortunate
theatre critic who gave her a bad review.
Not wanting
to risk a similar fate, this reviewer is pleased to report that Jackie Smith has
cleverly embellished this information
with her own imaginings to fashion an entertainingly subversive and
intriguing script, for which director, Moira Finucane has devised gloriously theatrical production,
utilising elements of burlesque razzle dazzle to sugar- coat messages of
body-image, celebrity, and girl-power.
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| Caroline Lee as Lola Montez |
Red fringed curtains,
red lanterns and red roses decorate the stage. A large wooden cabin trunk,
which doubles as an altar, a bed, or a podium, is positioned centre-stage,
together with an elegant chair draped with a Spanish shawl.
Caroline Lee
utilises all these items in her spell-binding performance as Lola Montez. Drawing
on her considerable acting skills, she creates a fascinating character who teases
and tantalises throughout Smith’s fascinating verbal strip-tease. Sumptuously gowned,
she flirts outrageously with her audience, always promising more as she weaves
together fact and myth to lead them up the proverbial garden path, where, in
the stunning Spider Dance finale, all is revealed, literally.
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| Holly Durant and Caroline Lee in "The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez" |
Weaving in
and out of the Lola’s story, dancer, Holly Durant excels in a series of glamorous
burlesque routines which slyly comment on Lola’s story, while adding additional
sex-appeal and eye-candy to an already remarkable presentation.
If you’re
hoping to learn the true story behind Lola Montez’s famous shenanigans, you
won’t find it in this production. But you will discover how deliciously
decadent history can be when interpreted by Jackie Smith and Moira
Finucane, and performed by Caroline Lee
and Holly Durant.
This review also appears in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au
