THE daughter of a machinist and a manicurist from Michigan, USA is credited with bringing burlesque back into fashion.

Dita Von Teese, real name Heather Sweet, is widely regarded as 'the queen of burlesque', and a particular scene that features in her shows - a scantily-clad Dita seductively posing in a giant Martini glass - has become an iconic image.

But not all burlesque is the same, as Lucy Slessor, the writer, co-producer and director of Candyland - A Gothic Burlesque Fairytale, explained.

"That is more to do with American burlesque, which is a different movement focusing very much on striptease," she said.

Away from America, and certainly in Stamford, where Lucy lives, burlesque has a different meaning.

With strong hints of cabaret and vaudeville, Candyland is dark, sardonic and satirical, full of dance and songs, but laced with menace. Because Lucy's work is a play rather than a show, she is trying to make it clear to potential audiences that they are going to see a piece of theatre.

That's not to say there are no elements of Von Teese's style of work - you are likely to see your fair share of corsets and fishnets - but just that there is so much more in Candyland as well.

"If the first thing people think of is Dita, that doesn't worry me because I think she's a remarkable woman who is fantastic at what she does. She's a classy act," Lucy said.

"If anything, it opens the door for people to ask questions and discover that burlesque is about much more than striptease."

Nothing in Lucy's history really indicates that she would one day end up writing, producing, directing and appearing in a play like Candyland.

She has a background in childcare, but has also worked in sales, including a stint at the ET. Recently she has been a full time mum to her nine-year-old daughter.

The inspiration to take up writing and performing came from both a chance conversation and a debilitating condition.

"It initially came about as a conversation about my love of cabaret and burlesque," Lucy said. "I decided on the spur of the moment that I was going to write a burlesque play. I've always loved performing, I've always wanted to direct and I wanted to write.

"I just thought it would be so nice to bring back the old-school glamour."

The motivation for her to really get down to writing was developing chronic neuropathy, a disease of the nervous system which affected her feet.

"I could barely walk, I was in constant pain all the time, and I couldn't leave the house for nearly two years," she said.

"I just thought 'I want to do something. I've got a computer, I love to perform, I want to write this play and I'm going to do it'."

Now that she is a playwright, director and producer, Lucy feels she has realised some of her ambitions.

"It's where I would have always loved to have been, but never thought I could be," she said.

Lucy wrote the play at the start of last year and it took two months to create, although there were subsequent re-writes.

What she ended up with is something very unique.