Arts
Le Boudoir
We're Gonna Get Married!: More Tales from the Rainbow Library
Le Boudoir
 |
Montreal
Dykes Put on a Bawdy Night of Lesbian Talent |
by Euan Bear
What's
bawdy, bilingual, and the best benefit for a Pride event north of the
border? Le Boudoir, certainement!
Or at least so said co-producer Miriam Ginestier.
Le Boudoir was her brainchild in a quest to meld her "mainstream"
dance/cabaret work with an entertainment showcase for lesbian talent.
It's a benefit for Divers/Cite, the huge Montreal Pride celebration.
Le Boudoir is cabaret and dance, burlesque
and vaudeville-style theatre all rolled into a single event that runs
from 9 pm (doors open at 7:30) to midnight at Montreal's magnificent art
deco cabaret hall, le Lion D'Or. It celebrates "original burlesque,
providing an opportunity ripe for the reversal of normal social order
and uncensored expression," according to the event's press release.
Ginestier has produced many other cabarets
at the same venue - a space that is more stage-friendly than your average
bar. "At first, I didn't know enough lesbian performers, so I used
straight girls in some acts," Ginestier said in a phone interview.
"But now it has become so well-known and even generates an occasion
to create new work" for lesbian performers. One group, the Mambo
Drag Kings, formed expressly for this event, Ginestier said, and has now
gone on to perform internationally.
The show comes in three parts, with generous
intermissions between, and involves 30 acts. In the 35-minute first part,
there will be a dozen short acts, including a silent movie, a drag troupe,
a pantomime, and a monologist interacting with a projection of her butch
self, with whom she makes love. Did I mention bawdy?
Part 2 is a 45-minute play, written especially
for le Boudoir. Part 3 is more typical (if anything about le Boudoir can
be called "typical") cabaret fare. At the intermissions, audience
members can wander around, visit a dream interpreter or have their palms
read, get a temporary tattoo, eat, drink, check out the "peep show,"
and be very merry.
Ginestier produces eight cabarets a year.
"Queer culture is not as rich as its potential. There's a lot of
talent out there." But because the shows are often risqué,
Ginestiere says, they don't translate to mainstream venues. "I refuse
to admit mainstream media. I don't want our shows to become some kind
of titillating entertainment for straight people."
Its roots lie in early forms of burlesque, vaudeville and turn-of-the-century
music hall. It was a time and a venue in which artists celebrated themselves
and their common triumphs and hopes. Burlesque and vaudeville punctured
the pretensions of ponderous artistic traditions and celebrated the joie
de vivre of the community. Performances were often seductive, scandalous,
and subversive.
Among other creations showcased will be
writer-director Nathalie Claude's naughty vaudeville version of "The
Four (crossdressing) Muskateers," including 2 dueling queens, full
of double-entendres, asides, and mistaken identities. Then too, watch
for La Flor de la Canela, or The Cinnamon Flower, a pantomime / group-dance
act put in motion by Ginestier herself. Somewhere along the line you'll
see the Tap Rockettes and Damsels in Dress (though they may or may not
stay that way). The thirty pieces of golden talent will be held together
by marvelous mistress of ceremonies Johanne Cadorette.
Le Boudoir has been very well received in
its past 10 years. Even the puritanical set who have campaigned against
the sexual objectification of women (by men), she said, "are seduced
by the good quality. This is not spoken word, not folk, it's fun. We get
a very mixed crowd ranging in age from 18 to 60. I consider myself a feminist,
and most of my performers do too, it's just expressed a bit differently."
One year, Ginestier recalled, she discovered
that the Francophone lesbian community members who attended were "horrified
by dildoes" onstage. Last year there was an incident of language
tension when a piece primarily in English drew a catcalled critique from
a Francophone activist. But those were minor bumps compared to the raucus
- and positive - response drawn by bumps - and grinds - onstage.
Audiences are invited to come in fancy dress, and be warned: gentlemen
seeking admission must be escorted by a lady.
So, for a wickedly fun evening's entertainment
in the big city to the north, it might be well worth a trip to le Boudoir.
Just please remember to designate a sober driver for the trip back or
to make arrangements to stay in the city.
LeBoudoir will be performed on Thursday
($15) and Friday ($20), June 10-11 at le Lion D'Or, located at 1676 Ontario
Street East in Montreal. Tickets available online at www.ticketpro.ca
and in Montreal at Café Esperanza (5490 St-Laurent). A limited
number of tickets will be on sale at the door.
Editor Euan Bear lives less than 20 miles from the Canadian border.