As their contemporary brand of burlesque takes the London stage by storm, Matthew Amer talks tassels, pasties and empowerment with Miss Polly Rae and two of her Hurly Burly Girlys.
There is an intriguing dynamic to burlesque performance in the 21st century. On the one-hand, the spectacle, the glamour, the costumes and the dancing mark it out as luxuriant entertainment of the highest order. On the other hand, there is the niggley matter of women disrobing for the pleasure of an audience. In a post-Suffragette age of equality, it is a tricky conundrum and one that has sparked discussion around the hectic desks of the Official London Theatre office since it was announced that The Hurly Burly Show would be coming to the West End’s Garrick theatre.
If mention of the word burlesque is summoning images of 1940s styling and big bands, think again, for The Hurly Burly Show takes the risqué revue in a very different, entirely more modern direction.
As described by its creator Miss Polly Rae, The Hurly Burly Show is a “contemporary burlesque revue; high energy, high sauciness, comedy, phenomenal costumes, lighting, sets. All the elements of burlesque that once were – the striptease, the parody, the comedy, the glamour and the theatricality – all that’s there, but we’re changing it up and making it more modern using contemporary music and contemporary styling.”
“It’s quite camp and glamorous with an awful lot of Swarovski going on,” adds Polly Rae’s colleague Kathryn McLaughlin, who is better known in burlesque circles as Kitty Bang Bang. “It’s good clean filth, as they say.”
The show audiences are currently lapping up at the Garrick theatre has been five years in the making. After building a reputation on the cabaret circuit, two years ago Polly Rae joined up with regular Kylie collaborator William Baker, who helped hone her vision into the nipple tassel-rotating, g-string-jiggling show we see today, which comes complete with inventively used Swiss balls, Marie Antoinette skits and a rude nun enjoying herself rather too much to the Pet Shop Boys’s It’s A Sin.
But back to that question that insists on being asked: what differentiates burlesque from more salacious forms of entertainment? “The difference,” says Polly Rae, “is in the intention and who you’re marketing to. Striptease and stripping in gentlemen’s clubs is designed for the titillation of the voyeur, for male attention. With burlesque, it’s not designed to do that at all. Men who go to gentlemen’s clubs would not come to our show and get the same experience at all, because this is certainly driven more to a mainstream audience. It’s still of an adult nature, but the context is so completely different. Because it’s more tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted and fun, it’s never considered seedy or distasteful. It’s designed to make people feel good and make them laugh. It’s just a little bit saucy as opposed to crossing the line.
“Obviously we’re not wearing that much on stage, but you kind of forget at different moments that you’re naked because it’s not about that, it’s about how you’re removing the clothes and the cleverness and technique that’s fun. There’s a million ways that you can take something off and it’s about finding that creativity in that. But at no point is it something that is used for sexual satisfaction.”
Katie Ella Hardwicke is the newest of the seven-strong Hurly Burly Girlys to burlesque, having come from a background of performing in music videos and musical theatre. “Because you never actually reveal anything,” she says, “it doesn’t feel like you’re getting naked, it doesn’t feel like you’re on show. Because of the comedy element of it, that’s kind of bypassed.”
“When you think about it,” she adds, “ a dancer wears leotards and tights, so the shape of your body is always on show anyway. You don’t even get to see that much of us because of the pasties. You see more on the beach.”
It is a fair point. While little is left to the imagination, everything of the most intimate nature is constantly covered. The same could be said of the most recent revival of Guys And Dolls at the Piccadilly theatre, in which Miss Adelaide removed all but her very short shorts, or Chicago in which many of the female dancers perform in little more than their underwear. Many productions have gone further in the name of art, but I suspect it is that thin line between dancing provocatively and dancing while disrobing for fun that causes the blurring of the issue.
“I love that burlesque is a little bit controversial, a little bit taboo and a little bit oo-er-missus,” Polly Rae admits, “but if you’ve got a problem with it, seriously, get over it. It’s no worse than anything that Madonna or Lady Gaga ever did.”
There are those who say that, contrary to the claim that burlesque plays into the outdated stereotype of women as purely sex objects, it is empowering to have such control over your body, its use and who gets to see it. Interestingly that is not an argument any of the performers use.
“I don’t find it empowering, I must admit,” explains McLaughlin. “It’s a job. But I do speak to a lot of women who like a place where other women don’t judge them. It’s somewhere they can explore their own bodies. I do think that women in the audience enjoy it for that reason. They do find it a platform where they can talk about things. It’s not about perfection, it’s not airbrushed, we’ve all got cellulite,” she laughs.
“You can’t change everybody’s mind,” Polly Rae admits. “If you have an idea in your head about what something is and you disagree, then you disagree and I totally respect that. This show and this concept isn’t for everybody. Not everybody likes it. But then, not everybody likes anything. You can’t please everybody, but for people who do like it and do enjoy it, they love it. It’s like marmite.”
While marmite is yet to conquer the world, remaining a very British delicacy, Polly Rae has her sights firmly set on global domination, rolling out her own brand of cheeky, chirpy, contemporary burlesque worldwide. “I think that there’s a place in the market and in the world for this type of entertainment, because it’s really light-hearted, cheeky fun. It’s a real escape and we poke fun at life. Everything is a joke and it’s all very tongue-in-cheek. It’s quite innuendo driven. It’s quite Carry On in terms of its humour, quite typically British. I think that when it does move around the world, people will really get that.
“I had no idea that my life was going to take this turn and I would go down this road. Five years ago, if you’d have told me I would be in the West End I would have laughed. I can’t believe this has happened. But it’s phenomenal that people are loving what we’re doing, because it’s quite unique. I want it to be the Cirque Du Soleil of burlesque shows.”
That is quite some ambition, but then, so was bringing burlesque to the West End stage and into the mainstream. I wouldn’t bet against seeing a whole lot more of the Hurly Burly Girlys in the future.
MA