It's burlesque ... but not as we know it
Thanks to the fame of inimitable Dita Von Teese, burlesque is back in the spotlight. But there's more to this theatrical form than just taking your clothes off, as Hannah Gray found out.
Thanks to the fame of inimitable Dita Von Teese, burlesque is back in the spotlight. But there's more to this theatrical form than just taking your clothes off, as Hannah Gray found out.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."It's a gothic fairytale, because it's a very dark fairy tale," she said. "I wouldn't like to rate it as as good as them, but it's a bit like the Grimm Brothers, as they originally were."
For many people, having created their first play would have been achievement enough, but Lucy was determined that her work should not just stay on the page, and so she set about auditioning for cast members.
"It was just a case of looking for actors, directors, singers and street performers," she said. "I was quite surprised by the response, considering it was an unknown play. I got a great response, we put together a talented team."
Having assembled her cast, Lucy began the process of directing the play, including working on the choreography.
Although she doesn't have much in the way of dance training, she will soon turn her hand to anything. "I just pick it up," she said.
"It is fascinating watching her work because it's like click and there's another step, click there's another one, and then we've got a routine," Charlotte Lawrie, one of the play's cast members and co-producers said.
By last autumn, the play was ready to go, and Candyland was performed at Stamford Arts Centre in September 2008. It was a sell-out success and extra seats were put in to cope with the demand.
There was a risk, even in respectable Stamford, that what was on offer that night could be misinterpreted, and that the audience could have gone along in anticipation of something more in the Dita Von Teese style of burlesque.
But Lucy made sure all the information about Candyland specified that it was a 'gothic burlesque fairytale'. This strategy obviously worked because the audience came from all walks of life.
"The funny thing was that the audience we got was incredibly mixed, although I did put a warning on it as we didn't want children," she said.
"We had everyone from students from the college to OAPs," Charlotte added. "Everyone loved it."
As a measure of its success, Candyland got two standing ovations.
"I was very proud to get two standing ovations because it's a real labour of love," Lucy said. "I think it was a really mixed response. People really enjoyed it because they found it unusual. I think some people came for it as a cabaret and it's so much more than that because there's burlesque, and the storyline.
"So many people loved it. A lot of people cried at the storyline, in a good way.
"The best part for me was that it seemed to inspire the people who watched it."
As well as being well received, the play made money for charity - 500 for ASBAH, the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, and 200 for Sue Ryder Care.
Lucy was keen to raise money for ASBAH as her nine-year-old daughter has both spina bifida and hydrocephalus, and ASBAH holds a special place in Lucy's heart.
"It's just the fact of knowing they're always there, and there's a representative who can come out and help you with things like talking to consultants," she said.
But it was about more than raising money for the organisation.
"I wanted to associate Candyland with raising awareness as much as anything else," she said.
To help this, a representative of ASBAH was at the play and handed out literature about the two conditions.
Lucy's determination to use Candyland to do good for charity has continued since the staging of the main play. Some of the cast take part in troop work, smaller-scale performances at different venues.
And everywhere they go, they take their collection buckets.
"We do very well out of this, people are very giving," Charlotte said.
Next up is another performance of Candyland, due to take place on August 26, 2010. Lucy has made some changes to the play, and has also started working on several new plays.
One day, she would also like to the Candyland on the road.
"There are a lot of burlesque artists who are of the more classic American style burlesque," she said. "I have a lot of friends in that industry, but there is nothing to my knowledge out there like this that condenses all those elements."
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