F E S T I VA L C A B A R E T | Reviews
ASK A STRIPPER Breaking down stereotypes in the fight for equal rights ●●●●●
Picture this: the local council has decided to take a public vote on whether your job should exist and doesn’t ask for your input. Would you be outraged?
This is just one of the hypocrisies touched on at Ask a Stripper, a question and answer session hosted by Morag and Stacey Clare, aka Gypsy Charms and the Ethical Stripper. With a PHD, a TED Talk, a few properties, and a husband between them, they’re here to smash down the stigmatising stereotypes society holds about strippers and the wider sex worker community.
During the hour, clothes are shed – literally and metaphorically
– and there’s no such thing as a stupid question. They range from ‘How do you stay safe at work?’ to ‘What’s your favourite song to dance to?’ When queries are deemed as ‘hot topics’, the maracas come out and topical hashtags like feminism and whorephobia are investigated.
A pressing issue the pair are spreading awareness on is the current Sexual Entertainment Venue license consultation in Glasgow. This has the possibility of capping the number of venues at zero – effectively eliminating strip clubs. Although both admit that the clubs are not perfect (like most people’s workplaces), licensed premises allow for as close to protection as is currently afforded. Without these, it just serves to drive work underground.
Morag and Stacey are examples of confident, strong and
educated women who are using their relative positions of privilege within a minority group to speak up for those who can’t. The premise is simple, yet the effect is radical: it facilitates a
conversation with a silenced group and humanises the plight of sex workers. They make the simple point that, ultimately, they just want to have the same rights in the workplace that everyone else has. Is that too much to ask? (Katharine Gemmell) n Heroes @ Bob’s BlundaBus, until 5 Aug (not 14, 21), 7.50pm, £5.
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ANDREA SPISTO: BUTCH PRINCESA Genre-busting immersive theatre ●●●●● GINGER JOHNSON'S HAPPY PLACE Raw cabaret confessional ●●●●●
SONGS IN THE KEY OF CREE Snapshot of Tomson Highway's career ●●●●●
The bureaucratic requirement for Fringe shows to fit into neat categories is highly contentious, especially when a show is so unique that it takes that little box and smashes it into oblivion. Andrea Spisto’s Butch Princesa is a prime example of this, with elements of clowning, cabaret, character and sketch comedy synthesising to create soul-baring, immersive theatre. In her surreal opening sketch, she constructs
the unseen world of South America’s Harry Potter, complete with a Latin remix of the theme tune. Spisto is an idiosyncratic performer, but nothing is done just for a tawdry, absurd laugh. In fact, beneath all of her madcap sketches are liberating perspectives. We see her dressed as a giant white puffball, visually representing cocaine, as a critique of Britain’s hypocritical middle-class coke habit; the next she’s overtly celebrating the beauty of queer sex or singing a pansexual pop song that salutes liking what you like. Principally, Butch Princesa is a love letter to Spisto’s
roots, queer identity and the nature of evolving as a person, especially as an immigrant. Its forward- thinking stance endeavours to open up minds and convey how Spisto learned to release herself from society’s shackles. (Katharine Gemmell) n Heroes @ The SpiegelYurt, until 25 Aug, 6.20pm, £5.
40 THE LIST FESTIVAL 14–26 Aug 2019
As one of the creative forces behind acclaimed drag collective Sink the Pink, Ginger Johnson is well-known among cabaret scenes up and down the country. But with Happy Place, she takes a step away from all-singing, all-dancing cabaret to offer a show that is raw, emotional and utterly arresting.
We're in Johnson's happy place, where there are no terfs, Tories or telephones allowed. Instead, she is showered with a literal suitcase of awards, has her own tech person and has made her own furry pals in the form of puppets Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Simon. But all is not perfect as the pressures of life outside the happy place start to encroach on our hero, leading her down a rabbit hole of anxiety and self-hate. Ginger's excellent songs, including her rendition of Gossip's 'Standing in the Way of Control', audience sing-alongs, comedy and cute puppets are not enough to mask the more serious undertones. As she slowly deteriorates, the happy place and its contents becomes a more ominous form of escapism, highlighting the price of trying to cope in a world where homophobia, climate change and hatred reign supreme. (Arusa Qureshi) n Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 19), 9.40pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).
Retrospective cabaret Songs in the Key of Cree takes audiences on a journey through Cree- Canadian playwright, pianist and composer Tomson Highway's illustrious career, via some of his best tunes from works including the 2010 musical The (Post) Mistress and Rose, the third in his famous 'Rez Cycle'. The songs are performed by Peruvian-Canadian
cabaret singer Patricia Cano, with jazz saxophonist Marcus Ali accompanying and Highway on the piano. The symmetry between Cano and Ali is at times spine-tinglingly beautiful, as both musicians do great justice to Highway's soulful tunes. A particular highlight overall is Cano's delivery of the impressive 'When Last I Was in Buenos Aires, Argentina', but there are also moments where Highway tackles more serious topics, such as hard-hitting 'The Lunch', his response to the rape and murder of Cree woman Helen Betty Osborne in 1971. As well as providing a unique chance to hear the
native Canadian language, Songs in the Key of Cree features a range of musical styles from jazz to country, giving a wonderful sample of one of Canada's favourite playwrights. (Arusa Qureshi) n CanadaHub @ King's Hall, until 18 Aug, 7pm, £11 (£9).