They had me at ‘Hello’. Before that even, when a row of suited and booted guys stripped down to their black briefs and proceeded to fan dance the audience into a frenzy. Forget burlesque, this was ‘boylesque’ and this cross-dressing troupe from Brisbane rocked the Spiegeltent with a show that was solid gold.
When your compere is a pink-haired drag queen in a glittery off-the-shoulder bodysuit and electric blue latex boots, you know this ain’t no place for blushing violets. Highlights included the gloriously slutty gymnast, Nadia Kominecha, who matched Grace Jones for attitude as she schlepped her way through twenty hula hoops in a giant blonde wig and four inch heels before stripping to her g-string.
This is burlesque so there are quite a lot of bare bums - the briefs don’t often stay on - but this is witty stripping that plays with gender stereotypes. Tarty girls totter past tinnie-drinking lads. Men become women become men again. A strong man lifts two fierce super-slags, an angry drag queen strips to becomes a proud naked man. As a woman I loved it, and always felt included.
Gravy Davy, a skinny, doleful comic who took plate spinning to surreal levels, is a one man talent show on acid. His lap-dance with a plate of meat was beyond strange but Vic Reeves would have loved it.
I was by turns, laughing ’til my head hurt, charmed, seduced and finally silenced -by the aerialists. The first, Natano Faanana, span from red swathes of cloth revealing the beautiful Samoan tattoo that covered half his body. The final act, Mark Winmill, crowned King of Burlesque in Vegas, mesmerised me with his graceful - and yes, sexy - slow-motion movement on a rope swing.
The show ended, in savage drag show style, with Fez Faanana’s filthy version of a cheesy classic – ‘You can Reach Me by Caravan’ with a surprisingly soulful transformation at its heart. The crowd were on their feet cheering at the feel-good, final parade of sparkling willy-warmers and heart shaped nipple tassles.
And suddenly it was over and they were gone. It was brief but boys, it was brilliant.
