The latest extravaganza from the much-awarded Finucane and Smith is every bit as subversive, erotically charged and hilarious as its predecessors. A loyal congregation in Melbourne attend The Burlesque Hour and Glory Box ‘church’ at fortyfivedownstairs each winter to be surprised, outraged, affirmed and delighted by the ideas and challenges thrown at them by a range of unique performers and guest artists.
Glory Box is perfectly at home here, the singular theatre environment adding to the Alice Through the Looking Glass experience of the night. Much red lushness provides the backdrop of Glory Box: Paradise, a gothic ‘burlesque macabre’ of a show which is many things, pure entertainment being one of them.
A special treat in this year’s line-up is Yana Alana (aka Sarah Ward, one of Melbourne’s much-revered cabaret performers) with her deliciously outrageous ‘Pussy’ song. ‘Candy’ sees Finucane shirtless, in rock anthem mode, duetting with the glamorous Alana – Finucane lean, demanding, unfettered and frenetic against Ward’s luscious, silky diva. An intriguing contrast: which woman do you watch?
Yumi Umiumare’s commandingly physical performances take you elsewhere altogether as she deconstructs images of the Oriental and the mystical with some unforgettable visuals. Ursula Martinez’s infamous ‘Hanky Panky’ act is astonishing. The drag king elements are hugely amusing, Quick Change Sex Change being one of the rudest things you’ll see on stage this year. Her Majesty the Dairy Queen is a staple of The Burlesque Hour and still outrageous, while Jess Love’s jaded hula hoop dancer is a turn-up for the books.
The song and dance aspects of Paradise are balanced with less showy but more poignant moments, for instance Fincucane’s ‘A Sunny Afternoon’, where a bikini model in an iconic beach-babe pose fragments before us, her carefree demeanour dissolving to reveal the shivering isolation of the actual woman. ‘Animal Love’ is a sweet piano interlude, allowing for a quieter moment. This season of Glory Box will also feature various guest artists including Paul Capsis, Pamela Rabe, Rhonda Burchmore, Deborah Conway and Vika and Linda Bull, ensuring a different experience for punters almost every night.
Glory Box: Paradise doesn’t seek to shock or alienate audiences; crowd-pleasing is paramount here, but the show pleases without ever compromising on artistic integrity or pandering to the commercially viable. Ms Finucane and company deliver some of the most important, mindblowingly wild, ‘fuck you’ performances to be seen on stage. While gasping in admiration at the skills and physical talents of the artistes in the show, audiences also have the opportunity to engage with the ‘monstrous feminine’ and have the best fun with it. An incidental strength of these provocative, rude and very funny shows is how they force audiences to look at women anew, reassess and question how they might objectify female performers and how they engage with images of femininity and female behaviour.
Get yourself along this year. And take someone who hasn’t been before.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Finucane & Smith’s Glory Box: Paradise
fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
13 July – 11 August
