Written and
performed by Chrissie Shaw
 |
| "Madam Bijou in the Bar de la Lune" Photo: George Brassai |
Pianist –
Alan Hicks,
The Famous
Spiegeltent – Civic Square – Canberra
8th
March 2016
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
Inspired by
a photograph called “Madam Bijou in the Bar de la Lune” which was taken in 1932
by George Brassai for his book “Paris de Nuit”, veteran Canberra entertainer,
Chrissie Shaw has devised an exquisite and intriguing cabaret.
Little is
known about the real Madam Bijou, so Shaw has imagined an exuberant life for
her. As the show begins Bijou is discovered, seated at her favourite table. She’s
wearing faded finery and her fingers are laden with jewels...real or
fake?....the audience can only wonder.
Each jewel is
the catalyst for sparking a new memory in Bijou of some person or encounter
earlier in her life. The memories are either delightful or distressing, but she
shares each without inhibition or embellishment, as she wanders among her
audience offering to read palms, or collecting tips and stray glasses of wine.
 |
| Chrissie Shaw as Madam Bijou |
Shaw is a
master storyteller with the ability to immediately capture the curiosity of her
audience with a meaningful glance, a pregnant pause, a quick, mysterious smile.
Within minutes she has the audience captivated with stories of her lovers, hanging
on her every word as she talks of the young fortune hunter who deserts her, the
bishop who seduces her, and the sheik.
Are these stories real or are they simply a figment of Bijou’s imagination?
Who would know?
Her moods change
from beguiling to accusing, from wicked to innocent in a flash. She’s equally
compelling as a world-weary old woman; a 12 year-old girl about to receive her
first holy communion; or a madam performing an “interpretive dance” for an
appreciative client.
Punctuating
and embellishing Bijou’s stories are carefully chosen songs by composers of the
era, Satie, Debussy, Poulenc , Milhaud and others, but it is Brecht’s “Ballad
of Sexual Obsession” which most
accurately suggests the key to Bijou’s current plight. Shaw sings them all
charmingly in either French or English as appropriate, in a clear voice
dripping with character, superbly accompanied on piano Allan Hicks. Hicks
doubles as Bijou’s friend, the bar pianist, sometimes joining Bijou in song,
providing gentle vocal harmonies.
The other
star on this occasion was the Famous Spiegeltent, replete with its own faded
finery, providing the perfect environment for this beautifully conceived and
strangely affecting little show. Its many wooden-framed mirrors mischievously
and unexpectedly revealing Bijou's
Melbourne
readers will have the opportunity to see “Bijou – A Cabaret of Secrets and
Seduction” when it’s performed at The La Mama Courthouse theatre from June 15th
– 19th.
.
This review also appears in Australian Arts Review.. www.artsreview.com.au