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Finucane & Smith’s Burlesque Hour SIZZLES!
@ The Famous Spiegeltent
11th to 14th December 2007
SOLD OUT!
HOT ON THE HEELS OF A WORLD TOUR, THE SMASH HIT OF FESTIVALS EVERYWHERE RETURNED TO MELBOURNE FOR 4 SIZZLING SUMMER NIGHTS ONLY!
From the frenetic house of Finucane & Smith - internationally acclaimed Queen of Cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane and Patrick White Award winner Jackie Smith - the work that has created an international storm of sell out critical acclaim and won 6 Australian theatre awards for its provocative and astonishing images of gender, sexuality, power and desire.
The Burlesque Hour… SIZZLES! With a mind-cracking mixture of the old, the new, the unexpected, in the world's most astonishing, most sizzling salon of showgirls with very sharp teeth!
Legendary iconoclast Maude Davey with her infamous and fabled strawberry act; Moscow circus trained circus and burlesque star Azaria Universe; Japanese butoh dancer and shock cabaret artiste Yumi Umiumare and guest artiste Clare Bartholomew's Pierre – Magician and Love Machine!
Creating a frenzy amongst critics and audiences around the world, from Tokyo to Trieste, London to Ljubljana, Edinburgh to Croatia to the Opera House and beyond; The Burlesque Hour mixes vaudeville and variety, circus and sideshow, striptease and cartoon strip, boho and butoh, music hall, monologue and mayhem in a wild ride that hijacks Burlesque, explodes expectations, and delights and disturbs long after the carnival is over.
…your table awaits…
Created by Moira Finucane & Jackie Smith
Costumes David Anderson
Lights Marko Respondeck
Sound Darrin Verhagen
Set Adrienne Chisholm
""Dramatic, original, effective, breathtaking … beyond genre: the cabaret variety set on fire, definitively" Vecer News, Slovenia
"I thought I would have nightmare after seeing this show but it was a fantastically indecent and breath-taking night!! In this political time, this indecent and crazy event was so perfect to have at the old warehouse in Yokohama, where it was as if “evil place” in a famous action movie popped up for one night only" Wander Distance Magazine Yokohama
"Intensive and hairsplitting physicality... it opens up a whole new world, a world of the surreal" Dnevnik News, Slovenia
"Sexually emancipated, hilarious and kerosene fuelled… gender bending, bodice ripping, stereotype trashing, neo-circus cabaret madness"  Metro UK"Every single artiste is wickedly entertaining, yet hugely different… saucier than your Edinburgh chippy … grotesquely addictive … with more than a tablespoonful of gothic sex appeal…"  Three Weeks UK"Unmissable…The minds that inspired it are as sexy as the bodies that perform it… comic, erotic, dynamic, acrobatic… The Burlesque Hour is a night to remember and will retain its power to delight and disturb long after the carnival is over" The Age Melbourne
"“Jaw dropping, feisty, seductive, dynamic… I suggest you grab a drink, sit back and allow yourself to be thrilled. Unmissable" Edinburgh GuideThe Burlesque Hour European Tour 2007
Slovenia, Croatia & Italy
Opening The City of Women Festival in Ljubljiana, Slovenia, The Burlesque Hour went on to seasons with renowned cultural venues Drugo More in Rijeka, Croatia, and Teatro Miela in Trieste.
The Burlesque Hour, a lush velvet trimmed salon where vaudeville and variety, circus and sideshow, striptease and cartoon strip, boho and butoh, music hall, monologue and mayhem are hijacked by astonishing performance art divas as Moscow circus trained circus and burlesque star Azaria Universe, Japanese shock cabaret artiste Yumi Umiumare, the legendary gender in performance icon Maude Davey, luminous guest artistes cult British cabaret star Ursula Martinez, and Clare Bartholomew’s epic-tragic clown Pierre: Magician and Love Machine, created a rollercoaster ride through dark, hilarious, physically explosive, unforgettably sexy and wildly moving acts that have been acclaimed from the Sydney Opera House to Stockholm, from Hong Kong to Tokyo, to London and beyond.
"From the sublime to the subversive, the hot to the hilarious… outrageous and unforgettable" The Times, London
"Prepare to be shocked and overwhelmed. Expect no less. Experience so much more… Jaw dropping, feisty, seductive, dynamic… I suggest you grab a drink, sit back and allow yourself to be thrilled. Unmissable."  Edinburgh Guide
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| The Burlesque Hour tour has been supported by the Australian government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and Arts Victoria International. |
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| Photographs Heidrun Lohr and Prudence Upton |
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A Call for Expressions of Interest from Visual Artists
The Tent of Miracles…
FINUCANE & SMITH’S CARNIVAL OF MYSTERIES
Finucane & Smith (The Burlesque Hour, Feast of Argentina Gina Catalina, Gotharama), multi award winning creators of intimate theatrical spectacles that mine old style entertainment genres and meld them into indelible visions of gender, violence, power and desire, call for expressions of interest from visual artists to become part of an extraordinary new multi-artform project; the surreal and marvellous indoor Carnival of Mysteries, old style but wildly contemporary, where audiences become participants, observers and contributors to the Mysteries of Innocence, Mercy, Passion, Love and Forgiveness.
PAINTING THE TENT OF MIRACLES
Visual artists, of all kinds and from all backgrounds, are sought to paint/realise/decorate the 8 exterior canvas panels of the extraordinary Tent of Miracles, the centrepiece of the Carnival. The tent is a tiny jewel of a carnival tent, measuring 6.5meteres in diameter, covered entirely by the unique and extraordinary original artworks on discrete panels measuring approx 2800mm X 2300mm each. Seating only an intimate 25 patrons, the Tent of Miracles will be both an extraordinary performance space and a beautiful visual artwork, able to be erected indoors or out. The Tent of Miracles will tour the world, and be seen by thousands of people. It will contain work from renowned artists - new short plays, cabaret, dance, burlesque, circus, true stories of humanity, poetry, circus, mementoes, performance installations, consumable art and foods of mystery.
TENT OF MIRACLE THEMES
The project has at is core the concept of treasured Mysteries; the Mysteries of Innocence, Love, Joy, Mercy and Forgiveness. Tent of Miracles Artists will not necessarily have Carnival or sideshow themes in their work; the only criteria is that their work can suit the panel form across one or more panels, can be made to last and rolled and stored, and will address one or more of the Carnival themes in their artwork. The Tent’s panels will be a kaleidoscopic response to these themes in diverse and unexpected ways – provocative, non-didactic, surprising.
We encourage visual artists of all kinds, from diverse cultures. We encourage diverse responses and visions.
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST MUST BE RECEIVED BY 16th OCTOBER 2007
Interested Artists are asked to submit a 1-2 page proposal and a sample of their work, outlining ideas and approaches towards painting one (or more) panels of this unique tent, in response to the themes. A stipend of $3000 is available per panel plus canvas and paints are supplied.
Mail expressions of interest to PO Box 1345 North Fitzroy 3068
email to carnival@moirafinucane.comMORE INFORMATION
For artist guidelines and project brief or more info on the Tent, the Carnival and its themes, and the work of Finucane & Smith please contact
Phone Project Coordinator Diana Hume 0435 015 818
OR email carnival@moirafinucane.com
OR write to Finucane & Smith PO Box 1345 North Fitzroy 3068 for an information pack This project is supported by City of Melbourne, Arts Victoria, The Myer Foundation, Sofitel 'Hotel for
the Arts' and fortyfivedownstairs |
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Burlesque Hour goes Global!
In 2007, The Burlesque Hour goes global with tours planned to London, New Zealand (see above!), Slovenia, Croatia and Italy, and discussions afoot for Shanghai, Berlin and Sweden! Stay tuned!
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The Banquet Room
Japan Tour a Sell Out Success!
In February 2007, Moira Finucane, Yumi Umiumare and Jackie Smith took the result of three years of their unique cabaret / dance / butoh / gothic / vaudeville / east/west collaboration to Japan. The Legendary Burlesques appeared in Yokohama's atmospheric BankArt 1929, and their cross artform work The Banquet Room featured in the Osaka-Asia Contemporary Dance Festival in Osaka's renowned Dancebox.
The Osaka-Asia Contemporary Dance Festival featured the works of dancers, directors and choreographers from 6 different Asia/Pacific countries: Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Australia and Japan. Playing to a sell out season in Osaka, and presenting an artists'workshop that ranged from movement to melodrama, Finucane, Smith and Umiumare were thrilled at the incredible response to their work together.
In Yokohama, an old port town just outside Tokyo, the artists presented "A Night of Art Burlesque" at the historic BankART 1929. BankArt, with a residency and performance art program that attracts artists from all over Asia is a fascinating site of cultural exchange in massive and beautiful old colonial buildings. Occupting an old shipping warehouse, Finucane, Smith and Umiumare presented a range of their most astonishing Burlesques, inviting local gender in performance artists to join them in a one night only event that sold out to standing room only, and was a roaring success.
The presentation of the artists' work in Japan exposed the artists collaboration and Finucane and Smith's work to Japanese audiences and the Asian market for the very first time, and the critical and audience reponse was electrified, intrigued and entirely engaged.
The Banquet Room
In a boxed exhibit of twisted physical performance and surreal worlds, the Volcanic Queen of Cabaret Bizarre, Moira Finucane and the Goddess of Dark Butoh Dementia, Yumi Umiumare, join forces to become two demonic sisters settling in to the business of supper in their tiny madly constructed banquet room. Crawling the walls of their minute world, the sisters - one in towering drab black and the other a be-jewelled white crinoline - unravel a dinner dance and settle down to the business of supper in 30 minutes of astonishing and disturbing imagery.
A collaboration between award winning theatre creator Jackie Smith and two of Australia's most extraordinary performance practitioners -Yumi Umiumare and Moira Finucane with the design work of installation artist and designer Anna Tregloan, The Banquet Room is a bizarre installation; an intensely physical manifestation of desire, femininity and entrapment, an hilarious and gothic story; a work where the class and filial insinuations of two women joined at the hip in their crinolines and Victorian maid's outfits are gleefully, visually and narratively disrupted before the audiences astonished gaze.
"Is it that Australian forms which have been cultivated by many migrants? A white dressed woman is sitting lifelessly at the corner of the three walled small room. At the back of the wall there is a little window where a black dressed woman is attached. She tries to communicate to the white dressed woman through her long fingers. After a while when the black dressed woman gets into the room, the white dressed woman also wakes up. They both rolls their white eyes, make an uncanny laugh and eventually fall apart. Maybe because of their costumes, it reminds me "Piano Lesson" the movie by Jane Campion. If I interpreted thought into a story line, am I peeping though the banquet where ladies are locked into the room with chastity belts, releasing their heavily suppressed passion?? Whatever it is, what powerful and scary forms their release turns into!! After they take off their dresses, two bodies wearing same white evening dress, were connected each others as if they are two headed beasts. They made each other drink wine, and stabbed a chicken with knife in side of the pot and screamed " gyaaaaaaaaa!" It was incredible thrilling work in which audience's internal scream was also released through the laughter." LOG Osaka Magazine
"The Queen of Cabaret Bizarre, Moira Finucane and The Queen of Butoh Cabaret, Yumi Umiumare, have already grabbed my heart!! They are both performing around the world in their own unique styles in Cabaret and Burlesque. How impressive...they are amazing combination, and I would love for them to come Japan again!" Hatena Ne Japan (contemporary dance blog) Tokyo
"The fourth work was The Banquet Room, directed by Jackie Smith, performed by Yumi Umiumare and Moira Finucane. It was powerfully scary and it was the most impressive show on the day ..Yumi Umiumare in classical white dress, and Moira Finucane in Black dress. They are both bizarre, funky and extremely strange and fun. Their face with rolling eye , ghost -cat like expressions and laughter are very interesting.. The smells of wine, powder, and all sorts of kinds made me overwhelming. They are too powerful for me ...but I want to see them again!" Dancecube Chaccott Magazine Osaka
"The most shocking dance I've ever seen in my life. ..The Queen of Cabaret Bizarre, Moira Finucane is extremely tall and skinny as if she is a witch, and The Queen of Butoh Cabaret, Yumi Umiumare is small and eccentric.. How incredible funny is this banquet that the two creates with their strange movement. Just incredible!! I rolled my self laughing without making any sound.the last scene is a shock" (Nagignon dance blog) Osaka
"I thought I would have nightmare after seeing this show but it was a fantastically indecent and breath-taking night!! Yumi Umiumare appears as a Kogal (little girl) and throws and chucks away her undies (in fact she has many layers of undies). Moira Finucane also appears as a mad waitress from cafeteria, and of course throws a coffee cup after getting sugar cube form her crotch and spread milk out. I was just constantly scared what would be the next things to be thrown at us! (The boy was catching a underpants on his face by the way!).
On the side, Mayu Takagi has to compete amongst those thick characters, but she may have brought more laughter. I don't know why but she dances about "rice cake" riding on a narration in lofty and cultural educational style. I was knocked off. And of course the final performance is Moira who moves around wearing red bikini with many needles around her breasts and both side of her pants. She brings balloons and.There were various themes includes gender and violence, gaze and authority and so on. And not only that they captured incredible bizarreness of burlesque and cabaret show in which the obscenity has burst as they said in their advertisements.
At the moment Yokohama is filled up with wave of redevelopment. Many of the old building turn into high tech tall buildings..many graffiti were turned into the boring wall paper full of government control. Also the famous golden town with full of unlicensed brothels were closed down without any consideration and strategies and taken over by superficial cultural projects. It reminds me of Money Laundering. They (local government?) believe Arts is the only solutions in order to shut down the stinky pasts, strong histories and memories in this area. The area of Yokohama have been decorated beautifully on the surface but the original beauty, the side of Dionysus, is about to be taken away.
Around this political time, this indecent and crazy event was so perfect to have at the old warehouse in Yokohama, where it was as if "evil place" popped at one night only, as if I was in the evil place in a famous action movie. The government officials and developers who can't understand "beauty", could never ever beat against with this event. Big applause!!" Wander Distance Yokohama review Yokohama
" ..The Banquet Room, named also under Butoh cabaret, it was slightly disgusting but filled with intended forms. Moira Finucane and Yumi Umiumare who went off to live in Australia were creating interesting bizarre atmosphere." Nobuo Kogure, Associate Professor, Kyoto Tachibana University
"Repressed women let loose in a Gothic fantasy of heightened physical states.over-the-top exaggeration, repetition and a great sense of fun" The Age
"Highly charged, multifaceted, extraordinary... Finucane's characters are typically defined by a fragile beauty, a power and an elegance bordering on fragmentation and death" Realtime
"Watching Umiumare dance butoh is like watching a stainless steel mannequin ram a knife into a toaster." Vibewire on line
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| The Banquet Room gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Victoria International Program - Export & Touring. The Banquet Room premiered as part of Dancehouse's International Festival, Beyond Butoh, November 2005, with the support of the City of Yarra, Rose Chong Costumes, CAE Arts & Dancehouse. |
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Burlesque Hour More!!!
The Crash Curve Carnivale returns with a Vengeance
June 21- July 15 2007 @ fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
At last! The smash hit sell-out success of festivals everywhere returns to Melbourne in the dead of winter to bring you Burlesque Hour MORE MORE MORE!!! Minutes before embarking on a world tour, Finucane and Smith's multi award winning, revolution-in-a-chocolate box returns with a mind-cracking mixture of everything you have gasped at, plus brand new acts, and luminous guests stars to leave you delighted and disturbed.
Performance art divas - internationally acclaimed Queen of Cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane, described by critics as a 'towering inferno'; Moscow Circus trained Circus and burlesque star Azaria Universe; Japanese butoh dancer and shock cabaret artiste Yumi Umiumare, - return to, shake, stir and shock our sensibilities in a whole new way.
"From the sublime to the subversive, the hot to the hilarious. outrageous and unforgettable" The Times, London
Burlesque Hour More! - a bravura return to the world famous infamy of the old and the gob-smacking audacity of the new! New guest stars, new star turns, old favourites, don't you be the one to miss out!
From Hong Kong to London, Moscow to Tokyo, these are the raucous risqué and razor sharp acts that have hijacked Burlesque, exploded expectations, and created a frenzy amongst critics and audiences alike!
Part striptease, part cartoon strip; vaudeville and carnival; showgirl and show-stopper; boho and butoh; music hall, monologue and mayhem; all to an eclectic, electric soundtrack from hardcore industrial to kitschy Jap-pop.
From the house of Finucane & Smith (Moira Finucane & Jackie Smith), renowned creators of intimate theatrical spectacles where variety, fairy tale, cabaret, the gothic, and burlesque are melded into indelible visions of gender, power, violence and desire; The Burlesque Hour is a crash curve carnival of Bearded Ladies, Japanese Serpent Warriors, Italian Stallion's, spike covered Showgirls with sharp teeth, trembling Victorian spinsters, mad Hello Kitty devotees, Ecstatic Ice Queens, Bodice Ripping Adventuresses, Apocalyptic Beasts in shredded fishnets and towering stilts. AND NOW THERE IS MORE!
Don't miss out ... Your table awaits
"Wickedly entertaining, hugely different, grotesquely addictive . saucier than your Edinburgh chippy.with more than a tablespoonful of gothic sex appeal" Three Weeks UK"Prepare to be shocked and overwhelmed. Expect no less. Experience so much more. Jaw dropping, feisty, seductive, dynamic. I suggest you grab a drink, sit back and allow yourself to be thrilled. Unmissable." Edinburgh Guide |
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"Sexually emancipated, hilarious and kerosene fuelled. gender bending, bodice ripping, stereotype trashing, neo-circus cabaret madness"  Metro UK"Sexy, potent and in-your-face... explosive, irreverent and confronting." The Australian
"I thought I would have nightmare after seeing this show but it was a fantastically indecent and breath-taking nighst!!" Wander Distance Magazine, Yokohama, Japan
"A succession of delights; performed with enormous wit, style, intelligence and originality. It's a knockout!" The Sunday Age |
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photos: Jodie Hutchinson |
THE BURLESQUE HOUR - BRAVISSIMA!
ADELAIDE GASPS FOR MORE !
Adelaide Cabaret Festival, The Space, June 2007
5 Shows Only!
They're back! The smash hit sell-out success of 2006 returns to Adelaide to give you more!! Performance art divas Moira Finucane, Yumi Umiumare and Azaria Universe shake, stir and shock our sensibilities with their infamous raucous, risqué and razor-sharp acts to an electric, eclectic soundtrack ranging from hardcore industrial to kitschy Jap-pop.
Bravissima! - a bravura return to everything you've gasped at, with brand new acts and luminous guests to leave you delighted and disturbed.
The WORLD FAMOUS ACTS that have made strings of pearls, red balloons and monster kitties the stuff of legend; the ASTONISHING NEW ACTS that will make fairy floss a banned substance; and flown in from London for your entertainment pleasure the LUMINOUS GUEST STAR Ursula Martinez, the women who has turned a tiny red hanky into an international controversy .. So don't you be the one to miss out as we roll out the very weird, the very wild, the very wonderful, Burlesque Hour Bravissima!
Hijacking Burlesque and exploding expectations from Tokyo to London, Stockholm to the Sydney Opera House, it's Bravissima! Part striptease, part cartoon strip; vaudeville and carnival; showgirl and show-stopper; boho and butoh; music hall, monologue and mime. your table awaits.
"Shocking tantalising, glamorous, daring...there's no rest for the wicked here" Adelaide Advertiser 2006
"Wild, luscious, unpredictable, daring...Snaps like a whip with a rhinestone handle" Adelaide Advertiser 2004
| Burlesque Hour BRAVISSIMA! has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. |
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Moira Finucane's outrageous adventuress Argentina Gina Catalina in
The Feast of Argentina Gina Catalina
Featuring the culinary creations of food artiste and chef Fofi Christou
From the house of Finucane & Smith (The Burlesque Hour, Gotharama, The Saucy Cantina) comes a sumptuous journey for the palate and the senses. The Feast of Argentina Gina Catalina brings together Moira Finucane's outrageous adventuress and diva Argentina Gina Catalina acclaimed throughout the world for her feats of daring, sensuality and fervour - with chef and food artist Fofi Christou, whose travels in 14 countries have inspired her passion for food. And now, for the very first time, Argentina's tales, each set in a season, each a tumultuous adventure, will inspire a feast of flavours and sensations, prepared before your very eyes.
From the sizzling Opera Houses of Madrid, to the alleys of Barcelona with her 12 bulging dogs; from markets bursting with pomegranates and suckers of squids; to adventures on the high seas surrounded by 2,000 pirates, and her childhood spent worshipped by wolves, killer whales, bandidoes and bears in the Arctic circle . La Argentina will conquer your heart and leave you ripping your bodice (or waistcoat...) for more. Extraordinary morsels to be eaten, wine to be drunk, and tales to be told. Enjoy!
Created by Moira Finucane & Jackie Smith
In collaboration with food artiste and Chef Fofi Christou
Text by Moira Finucane
"Events kick into high gear with Argentina's front of curtain monologue as a woman who runs (or swims with the wolves, bears and whales... a raging raven haired beauty" London Times
"Built layer by hysterical layer, Moira Finucane's demented diva Argentina Gina Catalina joyously brings the house down." The Australian
"Argentina Gina Catalina, perhaps Finucane & Smith's most entrancing character"Inpress
"Her exuberant Latino-goddess La Argentina describes a food market in which sexualised wares fall over themselves to proclaim her beauty. La Argentina is the only unambiguously life-affirming figure in the gallery of Smith & Finucane, a proud woman whose "firm arms" and heaving bosom" metaphorically embrace the world"Realtime
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The Feast of Argentina Gina Catalina
In June 2007, The Feast of Argentina Gina Catalina featured as part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and at La Mama in Melbourne
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With many thanks to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival for their support of the development of the Feast. And to the venerated institution of La Mama Theatre. |
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The Burlesque Hour Hits New Zealand!
Taranaki Arts Festival July 2007
At last! The smash hit sell-out success of festivals everywhere comes to New Zealand! From Hong Kong to London, Moscow to Tokyo, these are the raucous risqué and razor sharp acts that have hijacked Burlesque and created a frenzy amongst critics and audiences alike!
Join internationally acclaimed Queen of Cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane, Circus and burlesque star Azaria Universe, Japanese shock cabaret artiste Yumi Umiumare, and luminous guest artistes!
Part striptease, part cartoon strip; vaudeville and carnival; showgirl and show-stopper; boho and butoh; music hall, monologue and mayhem; and all to an eclectic, electric soundtrack from hardcore industrial to kitschy Jap-pop ..Your table awaits.
"From the sublime to the subversive, the hot to the hilarious. outrageous and unforgettable" The Times, London
"Wickedly entertaining, hugely different, grotesquely addictive . saucier than your Edinburgh chippy.with more than a tablespoonful of gothic sex appeal" Three Weeks UK"Prepare to be shocked and overwhelmed. Expect no less. Experience so much more. Jaw dropping, feisty, seductive, dynamic. I suggest you grab a drink, sit back and allow yourself to be thrilled. Unmissable." Edinburgh Guide |
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Doppelganger (UK/Australia)
An international performance collaboration with
Moira Finucane, Jackie Smith & Ursula Martinez
Doppelganger is an international performance collaboration initiated by Moira Finucane, Jackie Smith and Ursula Martinez. Ursula Martinez, Olivier award winner for her Extreme Variety in C'Est Vauxhall, has created autobiographical solo works and cabaret/live art/burlesque personas in which sexuality, attitude and politics combine to confound and delight audiences internationally. 'I couldn't imagine removing a jacket, skirt and underwear with a bolshie attitude could be that empowering" The Guardian.
These artistes are renowned for their unique irreverent, eclectic and unexpected take on gender in performance, and yet Finucane & Martinez have been repeatedly confused with each other by appreciative audiences, journalists and festival directors in both Australia and the UK. The artists have admired each others work for many years; the strange confusion has provoked an intrigue with the notion of doppelganger and given the artists a launching point for their collaboration.
Supported by Arts House's culture lab, the Australia Council and British Council, Doppelganger sees Martinez, Finucane and Smith come together in London (part 01) in 2006 and in Melbourne (part 02) in 2007 in a fusion and frission across their unique styles and influences, focusing on their points of difference and divergence and forcing the points of similarity. Cross pollinating energies and performance disciplines, they will create highly experimental very short new works in solo and duet which mine their diverse skills, conceptual bases and expertise.
Doppelganger is supported by City of Melbourne's Arts House culture lab, by the British Council through support for Ursula Martinez' travel to Australia in 2007 for part 02, and by The Australia Council, through support for Finucane & Smith's travel to London for part01 in 2006 |
photos: Jodie Hutchinson |
 WELCOME TO GOTHARAMATHE CHAMBER OF THE QUEEN OF DREAMS
“Many whisper that Moira Finucane is in league with the dark forces of the underworld, that no performer could possess so much presence and range of ability without selling their soul to evil. I’m not really convinced of these rumours… but I do think there’s going on behind Finucane’s latest show Gotharama. It’s just too damn fine to be true…it’s a blood spattered and hair raising platter of nasty gothic tales and Finucane’s performance can spin in a moment from an industrial backed scream-fest to a whispered monologue every bit as terrifying.” John Bailey, Beat, July 2005
Gotharama, the third of Moira Finucane and Jackie Smith’s Cabarets Bizarre premiered in July 2005, in Melbourne at fortyfivedownstairs to extraordinary audience responses, a sell-out three week season and critical acclaim. The work, supported by The Australia Council, Arts Victoria, Sydney Opera House Trust and the City of Melbourne, is an intimate and extraordinary blood-red spectacle: welcoming audiences into a twisted little parlour - of Victorian tapestries, fortune telling games, lush red curtains around the monstrous bed of the slumbering Queen of Dreams, old-time tunes tinkling on the ivories - then plunging them into a wild, unexpected, twisted, torrid, hilarious and horrifying gothic world.
Created with the extraordinary design talents of set designer Anna Tregloan, costume designer David Anderson and lighting designer Paul Jackson, Gotharama is the boudoir of the Queen of Dreams, dominated by a massive gothic bed faced with antique cupboards – part open coffin, part boat, part bed. When the red velvet canopy of this bed is drawn back, thirteen gothic chapters are revealed; an extraordinary mix of monstrous and meticulous physical performance and gothic tales played out by Moira Finucane. At the bedside, dressed in a massively spiked Victorian bombazine, sits the Psychokinetic Pianist at her shiny black upright piano; accompanying monologues, speaking in tongues, singing with bloodcurdling sweetness ‘god bless the little children’ and hanging her handiwork by its neck.
From the corseted, bandaged woman that awakes to an industrial scream-fest in A Fair Maid Awakes; to the innocent girl following her evil beau out on a boating trip in An Outing; from the forbidden reading of a gothic romantic novel that literally makes the bed rain with excitement in Beware The Novel; to the understated emotional abyss that engulfs a bikini clad woman on A Sunny Day and causes her to freeze to death; Gotharama takes a “spectacularly stunning” ghost train ride across forms and influences, delivering the gothic feminine in perverse, unexpected and thrilling ways. The rock goddess emerging from the grave in Buried Alive!; the tale of Sisters, in which a dead sister waits in a freezing mansion for ‘you’ to arrive; natural forces that slowly dismember a woman gripped by Inertia; the death of aerialist parents ‘the Handsome Divines’ in the terrible tale of The Seven Terrors; the monstrous mother waiting for her children in What’s for Dinner (‘sweet but not too sweet, crisp but not too crisp’); and a girl’s-own gothic bodice ripper in Argentina Gina Catalina’s adventure with the pirates on the high seas, culminates in Gotharama’s grand aortic spectacle – Finucane’s gothic white bride becoming a human blood fountain in The Bleeding Heart.
Working with composers Darrin Verhagen and Carolyn Connors, Gotharama revels in frission and tension between the parlour sounds of the upright piano and the screech of industrial hard core. Piano compositions from Carolyn weave through Finucane’s monologues, varying from understated richness, to dramatic counterpoint, to melodramatic hysterics. Beethoven’s Pathetique, a work once forbidden to young ladies, accompanies and drives the forbidden book reading. The Gothic soundscapes of Darrin Verhagen bring the sound of crows, howling winds, maniacal screams and circular saws into and across Finucane’s gothic journeys.
Pecking the eyes out of performance and gothic influences including gothic architecture, the gothic romantic novel, Nosferatu, magic realism from Santa Sangre to Innocent Erindira, Japanese horror, silent movie, physical theatre, burlesque, vaudeville, melodrama, old style cabaret, performance and text based theatre, Gotharama coalesces these forces and forms in a completely unique performance work.
CRITICAL RESPONSE
Herald Sun
“GIVEN that the realm of gothic embraces every kind of woman -- from virgin child to withered crone -- Moira Finucane is likely to have enough to occupy her wicked imagination for the rest of her life. And that is splendid, for few performers, except maybe Nick Cave, awaken the gothic as well as she. Finucane never fails to be hilarious and horrifying, nor to tell us some useful myths about the dangers of femininity.
She is Mary Shelley's Bride of Frankenstein, screaming and writhing in undergarments that suggest the devices used to stop ladies ``abusing'' themselves. She is a head that has seemingly lost its body - and so it has, as she tells us in a sickening story of dismemberment by rot, mould and morbid bacteria. A favourite Finucane stunt - slipping into something white and being spattered with blood, like Stephen King's Carrie on prom night - naturally has its place in Gotharama.
Most impressive, though, was Finucane in pink bikini, dutifully exposing her body in public as a modern girl is expected to, only to suffer the icy winds of the world. In a wordless few minutes, she metamorphosed from beach bimbo to dying maiden, to be born again as a well-clad Cruella de Vil. Finucane usually picks her co-stars right, and in pianist Carolyn Connors, a demure but deadly blonde, she has found the perfect conspirator.” Alison Barclay, Herald Sun
Beat
Gotharama is such a spectacle, such a ravishing ride through the delicious dark side that is deserves to be watched by anyone with even the slightest interest in great performances. Even if you have to sell your soul to afford it, get yourself a ticket.” John Bailey, Beat
The Age
“Moira Finucane once again presents us with a wacky collection of perverse characters that can portray evil as subtly as Rebecca's Mrs Danvers, and are as over-the-top as any blood-soaked character from a 1970s B-grade horror film. Finucane and her wickedly talented pianist Carolyn Connors keep the audience thoroughly entertained in this highly polished Gothic cabaret.
This production of a Gothic wonderland was obviously a team effort. Jackie Smith's direction allows the show to maintain a steady pacing throughout. Anna Tregloan's set design of a parlour enclosed within a large, blood-red curtain is minimal yet easily transformed to represent the innocent or the horrific, and is classically underpinned by Paul Jackson's lighting. Likewise, David Anderson's costumes completely capture a character's personality, be it a zombie or the girl-next-door. In the sonic area, Darrin Verhagen has created some sinister sound washes; while Carolyn Connors on piano and piano accordion is a great support to Finucane.
Finucane is fantastic. Her monologues are beautifully crafted and her mime routines are kaleidoscopic. Gotharama is highly recommended, particularly for those who like a darker shade of cabaret.” Joel Crotty, The Age
Realtime
Nightmares of a different order are in no short supply in the latest “cabaret bizarre” by cross-genre artist Moira Finucane. Finucane’s works merge elements of cabaret, dance, storytelling and sideshow, often playing on imagery equally grotesque and beautiful.
Gotharama’s near-dozen short vignettes betray a fascination with the Gothic in all of its definitions: from the trashy page-turner of the 18th century to the industrial-edged Goth subculture of today. But while the term has almost come to signify a repository of clichéd tropes, a kind of shorthand for creating suspense and the thrill of fear, Gotharama manages to reanimate the corpse of the Gothic through inventively reinterpreting the standard types of the form.
There are moments of Gothic intensity in which Finucane’s performance approaches the sublime, in the philosophical sense: tableaux which cannot be assimilated through any frame of reference except their own heightened, hysterical brilliance. They are savage and erotic spectacles such as the Frankenstein-like “fair maid” who jerks manically to life, all bloodcurdling screams and erratic spider-walking, limbs flailing to a shattering industrial throb; or the closing vision of a Carrie-style figure spouting showers of blood and revelling in the carnage. But equally, Finucane’s more measured and subtle moments of storytelling create uncanny and disquieting effects. A disembodied head upon a bed explains how a series of unfortunate events led to her present state; a young girl recounts a boat trip with a sinister older man bent on her destruction. There is much humour. In Buried Alive!, the victim cries, “I’m not dead! I’m not dead! I was just bored!
But the most eerie and understated piece, in my opinion, is A Sunny Day, in which a bikini-clad woman sits contently in the sun, which slowly disappears leaving her shivering with an increasing violence. Over the course of several minutes, and with not a word spoken, Finucane suggests a world of personal terror through the simple, natural process of growing cold. Finucane is able to switch from sledgehammer to slow-acting poison in a heartbeat, and in Gotharama she has created a show worthy of comparison with her best works of the past decade.” John Bailey, Realtime
Inpress
Finucane and co-creator/director Jackie Smith have unfurled the spindly tendrils of the Gothic into umpteen incarnations… Gotharama proves utterly absorbing. This is a show for those who like blood, carnality, fetish culture, parlour music, or a good scary story on a dark and stormy night Kirsten Law, InPress
“Stunningly spectacular…Finucane shines…turning the most perfunctory shifts ( eg a sunny day turning to a cold day) into something particularly emotive. She may leave some of the audience perturbed, but that is the sign of an artist worth experiencing. Emma Westwood, InPress
Vibewire Rewiring Youth Media
“I've seen several Finucane/Smith works and this is the best way I can think of to describe them: they're like dreaming when you've got a fever. Like fever-dreams, the scenes are disturbing, unsettling, rich with symbolism and ridiculously hideous. And, like dreams, they're open to interpretation. I guess this makes art ‘good' art, when there's space for the audience to create meaning. The setting for Gotharama doesn't end with the stage, which has the effect of immersing the audience in a gothic-plane.
Finucane slips from character to character as smoothly as she changes costume (which she does at least ten times). The costumes were exquisite. At times I felt as though the other characters in the scene were present – which is a testament to Finucane's strength as a solo performer… she uses her whole body powerfully to create her characters. Moira Finucane is mesmerising.” PJF, Vibewire.net
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GOTHARAMA premiere season was supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, the City of Melbourne , City of Melbourne In Space Program & Sydney Opera House |
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Burlesque Hour UK Tour
'Outrageous & Unforgettable' The London Times
The Burlesque Hour spent a month in Scotland under the velvet canopy of the Spiegel Garden's very intimate, very beautiful tent, La Gayola. Playing twenty two shows in rain or shine, to an audience of thrilled and amazed Scots and internationals, The Burlesque Hour won hearts and minds in a wild display of Australia's most extraordinary gender-in-performance work. Critical and audience responses were extraordinary, with Scotland on Sunday hailing the Burlesque Hour as "The hottest temptation of the Festival"
"Fairground attraction meets sexy sideshow burlesque in the hottest temptation of Festival" Scotland on Sunday Review
"Sexually emancipated, hilarious and kerosene fuelled. gender bending, bodice ripping, stereotype trashing neo-circus cabaret madness" Metro UK"Every single artiste is wickedly entertaining, yet hugely different. saucier than your Edinburgh chippy . grotesquely addictive . with more than a tablespoonful of gothic sex appeal.It's Burlesque that's cool in the cabaret coolness stakes now" Three Weeks"Extraordinary.powerful.when burlesque is good, it is transforming for performer and audience and has a unique ability to enter the mainstream without losing any of its power to subvert. After all, Finucane has played the Sydney Opera House without changing her act one jot. this art form has life in it yet" The Guardian
"Prepare to be shocked and overwhelmed. Expect no less. Experience so much more. The Burlesque Hour is not for the faint-hearted, the queasy or the conservative. But even these types have to appreciate the entertaining spectacle for what it is. It's difficult not to. These showgirls are polished and prepared to dazzle, from their go-go dancing routines right through to mad moments of nudity. Jaw dropping, feisty, seductive, dynamic. I suggest you grab a drink, sit back and allow yourself to be thrilled. Unmissable." Edinburgh Guide Just as exciting were the profoundly strong audience responses to the work's sexual, emotional and political complexities. The artists found themselves in the thick of an audience discourse about the show that was illuminating and wonderful. A young man declared the show was all about love, another said he understood more about the way women feel than he ever had, many young women said that they felt they saw freedom unleashed on stage. A highly respectable older gentleman apologised that he was so moved by Victoriana - a gothic revival, he had to step outside and collect himself before returning, and he had hoped he didn't disturb the show. A young theatre company discussed at length the 'discomfort' that drew them in and disturbed them, without in any way feeling the work was 'against them'. Artists from many countries responded very strongly to the way gender politics were explored in the work as "unique and powerful'; we had the privilege of many artists coming night after night. Coming out of the tour is an exciting collaboration with UK live artist and cult cabaret star Ursula Martinez (see coming soon!). These insights from audiences and artists formed one of the most valuable elements of the tour:
"this is one of the boldest expressions of true feminity I have ever seen. I spent the rest of the weekend telling people to see it" Shimrit Elisar, London
"this show is the best thing I've seen at the Fringe in the last three years. The Burlesque Hour was fantastic. You can easily read comments on women in society, gender roles and sexuality into the performance pieces but you can just as easily sit back and be entertained for 90 minutes, its entirely up to you. Refined and subtle in some ways, verging on the disturbed and hysterical in others" Brian Reddie Edinburgh
"Burlesque at its most individual and set in a superb location (the tent was worth the entrance fee alone!) Amazing acts - some strange, some funny ha-ha, some bizarre - GO AND SEE IT NOW" MJH, England
"Inspiring from start to finish" Kevin Reilly, UK
Following a month in Edinburgh, Finucane, Smith and Universe presented their Burlesques in a grand chandeliered music hall in London at the avant garde variety event Medium Rare, prompting the Evening Standard to publish a full page article declaring Freak Show Seduces A List, and Finucane performed at the iconic performance art club "art house meets doss house" Duckie and the extraordinary exhibition performance space The Horse Hospital, an old horse hospital in the heart of Bloomsbury complete with winding horse ramp, and hand hewn drainage floors. Finucane and Smith gratefully acknowledge the support of Arts Victoria, The Australia Council through Playing the World, and Undergrowth - Australia Arts UK in making the tour possible, and the extraordinary team of The Burlesque Hour (including guest artistes the Town Bikes) and of the Famous Spiegeltent for making it such a success
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Azaria Universe Desert of Love
Moira Finucane Queen of Hearts
Yumi Umiumare Hebi Onna
photos: Heidrun Lohr
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Burlesque Hour wins Awards and is seen by over 15,000 people!
It has been a great two years for The Burlesque Hour. Since its premiere in 2004, The Burlesque Hour has been seen by over 15,000 people in seven jam packed seasons in Melbourne, Sydney at the iconic Sydney Opera House, in Adelaide and in Edinburgh in the UK.
The Burlesque Hour was nominated for six, and won four!, of Australia's most prestigious theatre awards, the Green Room Awards! The Burlesque Hour was awarded Most Outstanding Cabaret Work, Best Direction - Cabaret, Best Design - Cabaret, Most Innovative Use of Form - Cabaret. The Burlesque Hour was named Most Outstanding Production of 2004 by Inpress Magazine, and was listed in Dance Australia's Most interesting Australian Group of Artist by Hilary Crampton in Dance Australia in March 2005.
The Burlesque Hour returned again to Melbourne in late 2005 for nine sell out shows at the Famous Spiegeltent in which the tent was packed to the rafters, and Finucane was hailed as "A latterday punk feminist Gypsy Rose Lee...a startling stage presence....a remarkably talented comic writer ... her mix of upfront raunchiness and highbrow wit, summed up what makes The Burlesque Hour so enticing" The Sunday Age, December 2005. With 2 more sell out seasons in Adelaide in 2006 and a public clamour for MORE!!, the house of Finucane & Smith has added MORE!!! tempting new treats and luminous guest stars to the already heady line up in 2007.
So in 2007 stay tuned for Burlesque Hour MORE!!! in Melbourne for the International Comedy Festival and Burlesque Hour BRAVISSIMA in Adelaide for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. International outings to Hungary, Canada, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany and Italy are also on the cards!
Stay tuned.
The Burlesque Hour - crazed crowds agog at talent and glamour
The Burlesque Hour premiered at fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne, in July 2004 to a rapturous reception. Selling out the entire season the night it opened, The Burlesque Hour had audiences and critics in a frenzy. Following an extraordinary season Burlesque Hour continues to gobsmack Australian, selling out to standing room only and standing ovations at the Sydney Opera House, and in Adelaide , in Edinburgh under the velvet canopy of La Gayola, and in two packed-to-the-rafters return season in Melbourne at the Famous Spiegeltent.
Creating a salubrious salon wherever it goes, The Burlesque Hour welcomes its treasured guests with the unique Burlesque Bean Count Competition, and a beautiful music-hall-meets-oriental-salon aesthetic.
Under the magical influence of designer Adrienne Chisholm, candles burn on satin covered tables; Forty-four Chinese lanterns flown in from Guangzhou create a lush salon glow; fortune telling fish and colouring in competitions deck every table; and the stage is a curvaceous cacophony of stars, hearts and a very pink Burlesque Hour sign hanging over a lush purple stage and catwalk.
In an hour and a half and ten minutes of non-stop rollercoaster ride (with a short interval to catch their collective breaths) audiences are treated to an astonishing array of work by artistes Moira Finucane, Yumi Umiumare and Azaria Universe. From the very pink madness of the world of Hellooo Kitty to the unrequited Victorian passion of Victoriana - a gothic revival ; from the crazed coquette Queen of Hearts with three inch spiked red velvet bikini and 150 balloons; to the bombshell dressed only in Pearls and the very beautiful Valeshka the bearded lady; from the mesmerising predation of Hebi Onna the serpent warrior, to the claws out sex-on-legs of I Scream U Scream; The Burlesque Hour has had audiences gasping, screaming and cheering for more.
Add to that the extraordinary guest artistes - legend of Australian variety and original star of the Tivoli, Miss Toni Lamond ; performance art icon Maude Davey ; and the all-dancing all-dangerous Town Bikes; and British live artist and cult cabaret star Ursula Martinez.
Add to that! the sensational costumes - from burlesque bugle beads to Victorian bustles - from couturier David Anderson and the very luxe and luminous lights from Alexandre Malta, it is always one hell of a season.
Burlesque Hour Artistes
Created by Finucane & Smith
Directed by Jackie Smith & Moira Finucane
Performed by Moira Finucane, Yumi Umiumare & Azaria Universe
Set by Adrienne Chisholm
Lights by Alexandre Malta
Sonics by Darrin Verhagen
Costumes by David Anderson
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
"On the barometric scale that arcs from feminine to feminist to female, The Burlesque Hour is so far off-the-chart, the needle is pointing to meteor... there's a storm front approaching.
The Burlesque Hour is a series of set pieces...by an unholy trinity of fatale feministas: Moira Finucane, beauty queen of the damned; Yumi Umiumare, an Asian tiger in a China doll shop; and Azaria Universe, the perfect blend of form and function.
" The Burlesque Hour is eye-popping, balloon-popping, cork-popping theatre. It's the kind of show you need a cigarette after... and several months of psychoanalysis." Herald Sun 19 July 2004
"A succession of delights; performed with enormous wit, style, intelligence and originality. It's a knockout!" The Sunday Age 2004
"Powerful performances ... intense...superb...deliciously ambiguous." The Age 2004
"The new showgirl is political and transgressive... a pungent commentary on gender, violence, power and desire..." The Australian
"If you want to see some inspired, adventurous, often hilarious theatre, see this show. the gamut of emotions, the delicious strangeness of it all; I want to go and see it again. And you can say much better than that." 3D World Sydney 2004
"The Burlesque Hour. a gob smacking highlight of the last 12 months , simple in concept, modern in approach, profoundly complex and breathtakingly beautiful - it showed what talented artists can do.and should be doing." InPress Magazine 2004
"Worthy of a standing ovation, and they got it. The Burlesque hour was easily the most sensational and entertaining show of the year" Beat Magazine 2004
"Glitter and pizzazz .nudity, masses of glamour and a certain degree of daring in this wild, unpredictable production which snaps like a whip with a rhinestone handle." Adelaide Advertiser 2004 |
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Detailed Artists Brief and Guidelines {PDF}
