The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre 7th – 9th
February, 2019
Performance on 7th February reviewed by
Bill Stephens |
| Moira Finucane and Yumi Umiumare in "Dance Hall" |
Self-styled globe-galloping Queen Provocateur, Empress
of Intimate Spectacle, Mistress of the Macabre, Moira Finucane, has transformed
the stage of the Playhouse into a 1930’s Parisian salon replete with intimate
cabaret tables, each with a tiny candle flickering on pretty cloths. Her
trademark red and gold lanterns glimmer above a stage draped with red velvet,
with a catwalk thrusting out into the centre of the room, on which she and her
troupe of glamazons, including one male, strut their stuff.
Not for Finucane the usual strip-tease fare. Though
there’s plenty of nudity, she and her extraordinary performers use strip-tease
as a starting point to present cleverly conceived acts which subvert, question
and challenge the usual boundaries of good taste and convention.
Finucane, herself a mesmerizing figure threading the
show together with multiple costume changes to perform some her classic
routines. Her response to a meat pie is indescribable. She’s unrecognizable as
a town yokel who “loves himself”, and hilarious, strutting the stage in Vivienne
Westwood shoes and glamorous gowns, often transparent, expounding witty “true
stories” spontaneously conceived on words suggested by the audience. Between
her own items, she busies herself clearing discarded items of clothing, or supporting
other acts, particularly butoh artist, Yumi Umiumare.
Umiumare’s acts are particularly mesmerizing and
unsettling. Her first involves a Japanese tea drinking ceremony, impeccably
performed, costumed in traditional Japanese robes. She holds the audience spellbound as she
suddenly discards the layers of costume to, seemingly, plunge into disturbing
madness. Her other items are equally complex and disturbing.
 |
| Imogen Kelly in full flight in "Dancd Hall" |
World Queen of Burlesque, Imogen Kelly, performs in a series of stunning costumes. Her pink ostrich feather fantasy, portraying two flirting ostriches, is an engineering marvel as she dismantles it, piece by piece. Later in the show, gorgeously costumed as Marie Antoinette, she leaves no doubt as to what Marie had in mind with her famous comment “Let Them Eat Cake”.
There were gasps as diminutive Rockie Stone performed
some seriously dangerous aerials, dangling by her toes from a rope high above
the stage, and balancing precariously on stacked chairs. Sultry songstress,
Willow Sizer, raised eyebrows with her unique technique for storing red wine corks,
and the only male among the glamazons, choreographer and dancer Paul Cordeiro
whipped up the atmosphere, and the audience, with a series of energetic dance
routines for which he was joined by the entire cast and a few brave audience
members.
The surprise of the night was the appearance of local
burlesque performer, Virginia Fields, who performed reverse strip, commencing
her act totally nude and enticingly adding costume piece by piece. Keen to
support local burlesque performers, Moira Finucane has announced her intention
to include some of the best local acts into the 9.30pm performances of “Dance
Hall” during its Canberra season. You never know may even spot an emerging Queen of Burlesque.  |
| Paul Cordeiro in action in "Dance Hall" |
