Monday 12 December 2016

The Burly Q Club - Cabaret Review

What: The Burley Q Club
When: 3-17 December 
Where: Greyhound Hotel


Sina King - photo courtesy of Encore PR

The Burly Q Club is an exciting new burlesque/dinner theatre experience produced by Miss Burlesque Australia 2011, Sina King. The show is currently being presented at the Greyhound Hotel in St Kilda and is a raunchy and rollicking recap of the fun and feathers of the heyday of American burlesque.

Burlesque began in the mid 1800's in Britain as a lower class form of comedy revue. A century later and across the oceans Americans added the art of strip tease to the line up to compete with the emerging movie industry for entertainment dollars. By the 1960's burlesque - or burly Q as is was fondly called - was a dying art form.

Dying but not dead yet, a resurgence of burlesque has emerged over the last two decades, the most prominent advocate probably being the luscious 
Dita von Teese.

Australia has never let burlesque die out completely - probably because of the essence of humour and satire which is essential to the full burlesque experience and whilst burlesque used to be associated with comedy, in modern times it has allied itself with the circus arts. Artists such as Moira Finucane lead the way internationally with the show (now approaching it's 13th year) Glory Box

The Burly Q Club is Sina King's latest creation and as dinner theatre it focuses more on the titillation aspect of burlesque with all of the acts incorporating strip tease in some form or another. Circus also features with one of the best aerial hoop acts (Miss Kopalova) I have ever seen. Morphing into a rhythmic gymnatics routine we are amazed to discover "what you can do with a bowling ball" as the MC breathlessly puts it.

Aurora Kirth, compere extraordinaire, brings much of the humour (with a little hint of dominatrix) to the proceedings in the form of Leila, the "multi-accentual" grand dame of undiscoverable European provenance. Leila keeps the crowd in line and in laughter as we journey through the garden of Eden on an exploration of temptation, indulgence, and acrobatics.

Sina King brings the magic of the medicine woman as she plays with a (real) snake in her jungle of temptation, and Zelia Rose brings some tribal "black honey" into the mix - her bananas swaying madly as she proudly reveals her talents.

Things get very hot and heavy, with just a touch of BDSM as Bray Beunrostro and Miss Kopalova explore sexual power in a mind blowing acrobatics routine. This act will leave images never to be forgotten.

Hannie Helsdon brings back the comedy with a cheeky Barbie doll hula hoop routine, and as a little something for the women Rowan Thomas does a strip tease on the Cyr Wheel. Ah, men and their toys...

This is a dinner event, so Leila gives the audience some breaks as the three course meal is served encouraging us to "take a moment to fan down your groin" before once again reminding us "Love is in the air. Reach out and fondle it."

The Burly Q Club is a sexy, awe inspiring night complete with some of the most accomplished burlesque and circus artists I have seen. Magnificently curated it is a wonderful cabaret performance with ostrich feathers and booby tassels galore. As Leila tells us, "Strangers you arrive and lovers you shall leave."

5 Stars

No comments:

Post a Comment

SWANSONG - Theatre Review

WHAT: Swansong WHEN: 13 - 22 March 2024 WHERE: TW Explosives Factory WRITTEN BY: Conor McDermottroe DIRECTED BY: Greg Carroll PERFORMED BY: ...