Reviews for Calamitous Liaisons

Here's a collection of reviews and audience feedback for my solo ukulele show, Calamitous Liaisons:

Calamitous Liaisons at Wilton's Music Hall, London, 4 March 2014

"The opening song in Tricity’s performance was 'The Men I've Had Before', a fast paced, playful number about, well... the men she’d had before.  I’d listened to the song already, so my excitement was piqued well before she appeared from behind the red curtain; first came the eyelashes, then the woman herself!

Tricity seamlessly guided her audience through the trials and tribulations of a colourful love life, using only her ukulele, fabulous voice and downright charm. Her original songs feature stories that are easily relatable to anyone who’s ever had a few romantic woes of their own, but are told with far more candour than most of us dare. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Calamitous liaisons, and found it to be wickedly funny, full of energy and wholly enchanting....."
Nicola Grant, The Mahogany Bar, Wilton's Music Hall

"Loved last night. Still humming Ladylove for some strange reason. Very catchy."
R Sykes

"So very good it earns T.V. the forgiveness she'll need if it turns out she lied outrageously when she said it was the last outing for this show. So very glad I made it if she was, in fact, being as grippingly honest as her performance!"
Caroline Grannell

"The dark and atmospheric Mahogany Bar was a perfect setting for this deliciously naughty frolic with the ever delightful and glamorous Tricity Vogue.

Entering from her boudoir behind a red curtain Tricity began with a saucy tale of her various conquest’s Nebuchadnezzars and get-jiggy skills!  This prompted many a blush and nervous giggle but certainly broke the ice!  After a quick swig from the wine bottle she then led us sometimes gently, sometimes poignantly, often riotously but always with immense charm and wit through her many calamitous romantic capers.  The final song went a little off-piste with a tale of giving Lady Love a whirl!  I, for one, sincerely hope this is a path she chooses not to follow as it would surely limit material for an equally entertaining follow up album (or perhaps not ;) )!

Calamitous Liaisons, another triumph from the original, beautiful and most talented Ms Tricity Vogue!  Do buy the album and enjoy the rest of her romantic escapades."
Tim Jefford

Calamitous Liaisons at the Coach & Horses Dining Room, Soho, 16 February 2014

"This was such great fun - the intimate setting upstairs at the Coach and Horses added to the atmosphere of the show, and Tricity's Calamitous Liaisons were by turns risque, laugh out loud funny and painfully familiar to anyone who ever felt unlucky in love. As the show ended with stunning new song "Ladylove," I felt we had been steered through troubled waters back to port in steady and capable hands. Can't wait for the next instalment!"
Gill Wilkinson & Chris Westwood

"Witty, honest, elegantly refined and sometimes exceptionally rude, like being flashed by the Queen during the amuse bouche. Warning: Not suitable for first dates."
Ahmed, Flaneur & Engineer

"We had a wonderful night out at Tricity's one woman show "Calamitous Liaisons". Great songs and entertaing anecdotes ensure a very amusing journey through the life of Tricity Vogue."
Steven Tagg-Randall, Video Archivist

"Intimate surroundings in a fab little pub in Soho, with Peter O'Toole's stool - would have happily paid extra if I'd known I was going to be in the same room as celebrity furniture!  Intelligently crafted songs beautifully sung. Tricity plucked and strummed the ukulele creating a wave of audible honey over the assembled punters. Fun frivolous and frolicking in all the right places, it could have only been an evening with the fabulous one and only Tricity Vogue."
Zoe Denham 
  
"Charming, sharp, witty and fun!"
Michael Barry 

"This was a wonderful evening - charming, witty, and moving. I smiled and laughed throughout and was left wanting more..."
Charlotte Ginsborg  

Calamitous Liaisons at the Coach & Horses Dining Room, Soho, 20 October 2013
    
"Beautifully naughty, disarming and funny, and the songs stayed with me for a week. (Ok it hasn't been a week but I'm confident. Ladylove was in my head as I cycled around today and I was itching to listen to it. I haven't had that about any tune at all for years to the point where I was wondering if I'd ever feel like that again, so thanks)." 
Rosa Conrad, musician

"I raise my glass to Tricity Vogue for charming, alarming, sustaining and entertaining me! What a lovely night with a fabulously talented and beguiling sassy, strumming songbird. This liaison, for me, was far from calamitous xxx" 
Lana Shelley, musician

"Loved the doodahs tonight. Let me know when you do them again because, dear me, it all works."
@mister_meredith via twitter

"Lovely night! @tricityvogue was fabulous sans mic & on great form! Great venue at coach & horses- All Veggie Pub!"
@AlexCarter001 via twitter

"Refreshing, cheeky, fun, and utterly original, the glamorous Tricity Vogue delivers a fabulous night's entertainment."
Alex Carter, singer

Calamitous Liaisons at the Coach & Horses Dining Room, Soho, 13 October 2013 

"I accepted Tricity Vogue's invitation to come into her boudoir, and I did not regret it. With delightful tunes and soulful voice, she took us all on a beguiling ride of heartbreak and ecstasy."
Audience member 

"Hilarious and intimate, like my insides are being tickled"
Sahar, milliner

 "I loved the show: a scintillating and captivating performance with very memorable songs." 

Richard Link, composer 

"Just wanted to say thank you for a lovely time. You touched us. We laughed and we cried. You are one talented lady." 

Audience member 

"As much fun as you could hope to have on a Sunday evening with your clothes on or off or with a ukelele and not get arrested. Music and passion always in fashion with Tricity Vogue's heart warming lust for life and love reminiscences."

Pete Saunders, pianist

"Great way to be amused early Sunday Evening. Tricity's infectious humour works perfectly in this intimate dining room and her calamitous liaisons seem to ring a bell with most of the audience. Raucous applause was well deserved," 
Coach and Horses Landlord 

"Thank you so much for a brilliantly entertaining night, such funny & charming songs & stories. We went home humming & happy!"

@em_threadneedle via twitter 

"It was really special. I don't think you could have picked a more perfect venue to debut your show. When I saw it was unmic'd, I was worried how it would come across, but it couldn't have been any more suitable. Your voice is exceptional - it was such a great experience to hear your voice live, especially as I already know most of the songs. The show felt very intimate, you had everyone so spellbound, my mind didn't wander at any point. I actually forgot I was holding a wee in for over an hour haah..."

Audience member 

"How wonderful to see the delectable Tricity Vogue in an intimate show with riotously witty songs that also include true soulfulness and poignancy." 
Audience member 

"Charming and warm, Tricity Vogue puts humour and hilarity into heartache."
Audience member

"A really warm and uplifiting show. Stopped me mithering over my own stupid relationship for 5 minutes! Hope there are plenty more West End outings for C.L."

Audience member

Calamitous Liaisons at Bom-Bane's Cafe, Brighton, on Thursday 12 September 2013
 
"Far from a calamitous liaison. Our evening with you was a sweet delight. Lovely to meet you in such a fabulous setting"

@clivejholland via twitter 

"Thank you for a fantastic evening, I am still smiling & singing about pineapples! Hope our paths cross again soon."

@emmiebobo via twitter 

"Oh what a delightful evening I had. I'm off to work now with a smile on my face singing the pineapple song. @tricityvogue #unmissable"

@clivejholland  via twitter 

"Great performance. Your lyrics are poignant, funny, profound, and rhyme in unexpected witty ways. Congratulations."

Audience member 


Calamitous Liaisons at Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 1-18 August 2013

“Sporting boudoir chic, swigging from a bottle of white and exuding conversational warmth, Tricity makes a virtuoso virtue out of the ukulele’s simplicity. Charming, accomplished and thoroughly loveable. ‘Calamitous Liaisons’ soars.” ****

Ben Walters, Time Out London  Read the full review here

“We’ve all had our share of love stories gone bad, but not all of us have the talent to turn those heartbreaks into a delightful cabaret show.” ****  
Delphine Dallison, SGFringe  Read the full review here  

After seeing the show, I did feel as though maybe you'd gone through my diaries and written songs about me!

audience member 

"Calamitous Liaisons - sly and saucy, melodically inventive, emotionally supple. Her best show yet?" 

@not_television via twitter 

"Charming, sexy, blithe and smart. And plays a ukulele. Go!"

@TimBenzie via twitter 

"TRICITY VOGUE'S kick ass show about her delicious love life. 'Calamitous Liaisons' #hotticket @edfringe" 

@RusseLucas via twitter 

"MUST SEE SHOW - @tricityvogue's Calamitous Liaisons 6pm The Counting House. Marvelous songs, fast paced, funny AND poignant. FREE! #edfringe"

@heidibangtidy via twitter 

"Cannot sufficiently recommend @tricityvogue Calamitous Liaisons. Wry, wistful, funny and warm and musically exquisite. Go see!"

@DustyLimits via twitter 

"Me and my girlfriend loved your acts at the fringe, really fantastic; every one should see them!!"

@heloisewithanh via twitter 

"Today I see and enjoy very much @tricityvogue at The Counting House, she plays and sing so well and also she wear amazing red shoes"

@La_Harlotta via twitter 

"The new show from ‪@tricityvogue 'Calamitous Liaisons' at the ‪#edfringe is a joy. Terrific songs - funny, clever & sometimes touching. See it" 

@KeithJ_gmb via twitter 

"You'd be batty to not spend a portion of your #EdFringe weekend in the company of @tricityvogue and her Calamitous Liaisons show. Go go go!"

@JohnnySetlist via twitter 

"Delightful show from @tricityvogue Calamitous Liaisons, The Counting House 5pm. Mae West meets a ukulele!"

@Liberty_Sweet via twitter 

"Very jolly, very friendly, and just a little bit rude. Can't ask more than that."

Catherine Monelle via edfringe.com 

"We really loved @tricityvogue's Calamitous Liaisons. Fantastic songs from a fantastically witty and talented woman."  
@madelinedances via twitter

 


 

Bad Girls At The Ball: Debutantes Gone Wrong

Bad Girls at the Ball

First published in Erotic Review in November 2011

As the Blue Stocking Society prepare for their Bad DebutanteBall on 23 November 2011, co-founder Tricity Vogue hunts down some real-life bad debs.

A debutante is a young lady coming out into society for the first time. Until the 1950s, the female offspring of the British social elite were kept under wraps at home or in all-girl schools until it was time to unleash them on the marriage market, like prize heifers. And then they were dolled up in white dresses and paraded for the duration of the Season, by the end of which, hopefully, they’d be snapped up by a husband.  The social season ran from April to July (so as not to clash with the hunting season), and smart families would take a house in London to attend a round of luncheons, tea parties, and, of course, balls.

The Debutante Season kicked off with the presentation of the young ladies at court. Only a lady who’d been previously presented herself could present a debutante to the monarch (to keep out the riff-raff), and the dress code was rigorous. Strictly white dresses only, or, at a push, ivory or pale pink, with three feathers in the hair, to represent the crest of the Prince of Wales. Young ladies took punishing lessons in the court curtsey, a particularly convoluted manoeuvre, which also had to be conducted at the same time as walking backwards out of the royal presence.  In Victoria’s reign, the heyday of the debutante, the girls and their escorts had to wait for hours in drafty corridors without food or water, or access to the lavatory, for the privilege of kneeling before the queen and kissing her hand. The ordeal sounds uncannily similar to today’s Britain’s Got Talent auditions.

The Decline And Fall Of The Debutante Ball

It was the current queen who ended court presentations in 1958, claiming the practice was undemocratic. Her less tactful sister Princess Margaret was said to remark "We had to put a stop to it - every tart in London was getting in." Undaunted, the society mothers came up with an alternative ritual. At the annual Queen Charlotte’s ball, which traditionally kicked off the season, a bevy of debutantes, pulling on ribbons, towed a lavish tiered cake into the room. An obscure European royal was installed next to the cake on the dais, and the rest of the debutantes approached the platform and dropped their curtseys. The presence of the token royal was of course to deflect the all-too-obvious pagan implications of virginal girls paying obeisance before a huge phallic object, which they would later eat.

Coming-out pageantry corralled high society young ladies down the track their elders had decreed for them: straight out of finishing school and into marriage, after one brief summer of shopping for partners. The eligible young men lined up for them were known as ‘debs’ delights’; although girls approached the romantic possibilities of the season with their eyes open. In her book Last Curtsey  (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Curtsey-Debutantes-Fiona-MacCarthy/dp/0571228593) debutante-turned-literary biographer Fiona MacCarthy records the secret acronyms debs devised between themselves for their various beaux: MSC (“Makes Skin Creep”), NSIT (“Not Safe In Taxis”) and VVSITPQ ("Very, Very Safe In Taxis, Probably Queer"). At some point, a deb would have to decide which of the acronyms she was prepared to settle for, because the season wasn’t about romance so much as family business: make a good match, become a society hostess and beget the next generation of social elite. But of course, there have always been women too wilful, or too nonconformist, to accept their fate. And when debutantes went bad, they really went bad.

Debutantes Gone Bad

The most spectacularly bad debutante has to be Rose Dugdale. After attending Miss Ironside's School for Girls in Kensington, and a finishing school abroad, the millionaire’s daughter was presented at court in 1958, then given a debutante ball in 1959, which she described as "one of those pornographic affairs which cost about what 60 old-age pensioners receive in six months." By the 70s she’d become a revolutionary socialist, donating her share of the family fortune to the poor. But she didn’t stop there. In 1973 she and her lover were arrested for robbing her own family home, and stealing paintings and silverware worth £82,000, to raise the money for the IRA. Dugdale received a suspended sentence, as the judge thought it was unlikely she’d re-offend, but she immediately set off for Ireland to join the IRA.  In 1974 she went on a helicopter bombing raid, dropping bombs in milk churns, and appeared on “Wanted” posters across Britain and Ireland.

Dugdale then turned her hand to art theft once more, this time with a violent twist. She and three other IRA members broke into Sir Alfred Beit’s home, Russborough House in County Wicklow, pistol-whipped, bound and gagged him and his wife, and stole IR£8 million worth of old masters, including works by Gainsborough, Rubens, Vermeer and Goya. Their ransom note demanded IR£500,000 and the release of two convicted IRA bombers on hunger strike in Brixton Prison. The paintings were recovered in a car boot in County Cork and Dugdale was arrested and charged with both the helicopter bombing and the robbery. Dugdale pleaded "proudly and incorruptibly guilty", and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. Dugdale was pregnant at the time of her trial, and gave birth to a son in Limerick prison in 1974. The father was Eddie Gallagher, an IRA member later jailed for twenty years for kidnapping. In 1978 Dugdale and Gallagher married inside Limerick Prison. It was a far cry from the match her parents hoped for when they orchestrated her coming-out season twenty years earlier.

A dangerous liaison with a freedom-fighter is not every girl’s cup of tea, but other debutantes’ rebellions against the sexual mores of their times seem quite mild today, even if they once rocked the boat dangerously. Fiona MacCarthy, biographer of Lord Byron, appalled her family by working as a journalist (becoming a 60s poster-girl for The Guardian’s female writers campaign: ‘Should women have teeth?’) then marrying ‘working class hero’ and master metal worker David Mellor and moving to Sheffield, a debutante desert. Their disapproval was ironic, considering that MacCarthy is the great-granddaughter of bricklayer-made-good “Concrete Bob”, the founder of construction company Robert McAlpine & Sons. But by the 1950s two generations was all it took to acquire social respectability. MacCarthy was among the last debutantes presented at court in 1958, and remembers that she wasn’t the only rebel: many of her contemporaries were boat-rockers too.  "A few fast girls were quite notorious. People were scared of getting pregnant then because it was a terrible scandal, but a couple of girls in my year did.” Fellow debutante Nicolette Powell married pop star Georgie Fame, and Sally Croker-Poole married the Aga Khan, while MacCarthy’s “docile” friend Teresa Hayter became an outspoken International Marxist, penning in 1971 her book Hayter of the Bourgeoisie.

My own favourite bad debutante dates from further back. Leonora Carrington was presented at court to George V and subjected to a debutante ball at the Ritz. Exactly how much she detested the ritual is evident from her surrealist short story The Debutante, in which the heroine persuades a hyena to take her place at her coming-out ball. Despite several school expulsions, Carrington seemed on course for a respectable future until she went to London’s first surrealist exhibition in 1936 and fell in love with Max Ernst on the canvas. She met the (married) artist in person at a dinner party and promptly eloped with him. Carrington family gossip recalled that “she went to Paris to become an artist’s model” but this belittles the truth. Leonora Carrington ran away to paint, and to become a surrealist in her own right.

Carrington and Ernst hung out in Paris with Picasso ("A typical Spaniard - he thought all women were in love with him,") Dali (“He certainly wasn't extraordinary then: he looked like everyone else. It was only when he went to America that he started looking extraordinary,") and Miro (“He gave me some money one day and told me to get him some cigarettes. I gave it back and said if he wanted cigarettes, he could bloody well get them himself.“) The couple then moved to Provence, where photographer Lee Miller captured their mutual creative idyll as they painted each other in the sunshine. Until the Nazis turned up. Then Ernst was interned as an enemy alien, Carrington ran away to Spain, had a mental breakdown, and ended up in an asylum. Her family sent her old nanny to fetch her, but Carrington gave them the slip a second time, by marrying a Mexican diplomat friend to secure a visa to the States. Dissolving her marriage of convenience in New York, Carrington headed down to Mexico, where she found the perfect environment to paint. She also met new artistic inspirations: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera (“I liked her better than him”), and her close friend Remedios Varo. Her family remained ignorant of her international reputation as a leading surrealist painter until four years before her death in May 2011.

Modern-Day Debutantes

Leonora Carrington went to the other side of the world to escape her own debutante fate, but ironically, while the coming-out ritual is long gone in England, it’s thriving on her adoptive continent. The British debutante tradition struggled on through the swinging 60s and female emancipation, becoming less to do with match-making and more to do with charity fundraising, until it petered out in the UK in the 80s. Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico the debutante is still oppressively alive and well, as I discovered at a dinner party a few months ago, when my Puerto Rican dinner companion regaled me with stories of her absurdly lavish ball gown, and ceremonial grand entrance over an ornamental bridge, into the arms of her appointed male escorts. She may have looked like a princess on her big day, but the ritual was anathema to my lesbian friend.

Nor is the tradition extinct in Australia. Chatting to burlesque performer Tallulah Mockingbird at the book launch of The Domestic Burlesque, I heard about her debutante experience down under. “I remember feeling like a very awkward teenager rather than a beautiful young woman being released into society. But my mum did make me a beautiful frock, and I seem to recall that was the most important bit for me. Still is.” Tallulah Mockingbird continues to love dressing up, as her photo in Elsa Quarsell”s book The Domestic Burlesque reveals. Not that she could have attended her debutante ball in the risqué outfits she masterminds for her burlesque routines. Fortunately there is a ball coming up next week at which Ms Mockingbird can wear exactly what she likes.

When I set out to research real-life bad debutantes, I never thought I’d find one among my own cabaret and burlesque circle. I bet a burlesque dancer is just about the worst sort of bad girl those stuffy society mothers of the ‘good old days’ could have imagined. But to me it’s the best sort of bad girl. Exactly the sort of bad girl that Wednesday’s Bad Debutante Ball is intended for. I can’t wait to see what Tallulah wears to it.

The Night of the Blue Stockings: Bad Debutante Ball. Wednesday, 23 November, 20:30. Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, 42-46 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB. £9 (£7 advance).

Special thanks to novelist Josa Young, author of One Apple Tasted (http://www.oneappletasted.co.uk) for sharing two chapters of her new, currently unpublished novel charting the debutante experience over several generations.

Tricity Vogue's Ukulele Cabaret - Edinburgh Fringe 2013

TRICITY VOGUE'S UKULELE CABARET returns to the Edinburgh Fringe for its fourth year in 2013 - 9-10pm nightly in the Ballroom of Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, from 1st to 18th August (except 12 August). A star-studded line-up of special guests battle to win the coveted Uke of Edinburgh Award.

LINE UP DETAILS BELOW:

Thursday 1 August
Desmond O'Connor, Joby Mageean, Shit Theatre
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: DESMOND O'CONNOR

Friday 2 August
Vicky Arlidge, Bob and Jim, Oliver Meech
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: VICKY ARLIDGE

Saturday 3 August
Owen Niblock, Liberty Hodes, Jo Stephenson
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: JO STEPHENSON

Sunday 4 August
Johnny Setlist, Tom Harlow, St Andrews Review
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: JOHNNY SETLIST

Monday 5 August
Melissa and Tnee, Eleanor Morton, MJ Hibbett
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: MELISSA AND TNEE

Tuesday 6 August
Katrina Smith, Tomas Ford, Luc Valvona
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: KATRINA SMITH

Wednesday 7 August
Emily Scott, Doug Segal, Myra Dubois
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: EMILY SCOTT

Thursday 8 August
Helen Arney, Calum MacAskill, Paul Gannon
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: HELEN ARNEY

Friday 9 August
Vanessa Knight, Stan Skinny, Colin McLeod
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: STAN SKINNY

Saturday 10 August
Laurence Owen, Ellis and Rose, Mat Ricardo
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: MAT RICARDO

Sunday 11 August
Alistair Greaves, Stuart Bowden, Lady Carol
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: LADY CAROL

Tuesday 13 August
The Frukes, David Pickering, Steve Bennett
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: THE FRUKES

Wednesday 14 August
Emily SneE, Sharnema Nougar, Uke Hoot - Edinburgh's ukulele jam and singalong
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: SHARNEMA NOUGAR

Thursday 15 August
Catharine Rogers, Dusty Limits, Champagne Charlie
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: CATHARINE ROGERS

Friday 16 August
Ria Lina, Lord Hicks, Sarah-Louise Young
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: RIA LINA

Saturday 17 August
The Great Aziz, Ukegnome, Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra
Uke Of Edinburgh Award Winner: WELLINGTON INTERNATIONAL UKULELE ORCHESTRA

Sunday 18 August
Ria Lina, Johnny Setlist, Helen Arney, Eleanor Morton, Steve Bennett
Uke Of Edinburgh Champion Of Champions: STEVE BENNETT

TRICITY VOGUE'S UKULELE CABARET
Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, Ballroom, 38 West Nicolson Street Edinburgh EH8 9DD
AUG 1-18 (not 12), 2012 at 9-10pm
ENTRANCE FREE

Here's the show on the Fringe website.

Tricity Vogue also has a solo show:
CALAMITOUS LIAISONS
Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, Lounge,  38 West Nicolson Street Edinburgh EH8 9DD
AUG 1-18 (not 12), 2013 at 5-6pm
ENTRANCE FREE
More details on the Fringe website.

And Tricity also hosts a FREE UKULELE WORKSHOP on Saturday 3 and Saturday 10 August between 12pm and 2pm at The Third Man and Rae Macintosh Music shop. More details on the Fringe website.

Casting Call for Heels Of Glory, A Drag Action Musical

Auditions

'Heels Of Glory': A Drag Action Musical by Tricity Vogue & Richard Link

Heels of Glory is an original musical with an action movie plot, a ’60s comic book aesthetic, and the kind of tunes that would have graced a vintage James Bond movie — if they’d ever made one with song-and-dance numbers and a drag queen spy.

The Artistic Team:

The show is written by composer Richard Link (Two Blondes With A Passion, Watch Me Shine, A Little Princess) and cabaret performer Tricity Vogue AKA award-winning screenwriter Heather Tyrrell (Byker Grove, My Family, Totally Frank).

Direction & Choreography will be by Russell Lucas (Julie Madly Deeply, Goldsmiths New Musical Festival)

Heels Of Glory will be staged at The Albany Theatre, Deptford on Friday 5 July 2013. We have secured research and development space at the theatre for six days prior to the scratch performance which is when we will explore, direct and choreograph the show. An intense few days - not for the faint-hearted!

This is the third version of the musical, following a rehearsed reading in April 2012 and a sold out work-in-progress performance at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in January 2013. Please note that at this stage everyone will be working for free but a professional approach to the work is paramount. This will be an incredible opportunity for networking though, building experience and being part of an exciting fast paced week, plus the chance to add to the genesis of an innovative piece of musical theatre.

Cast requirements:

We are looking for three “triple threat” drag queens, a “triple threat” diva plus two “triple threat” drag kings.

You do not have to have been a drag queen/king at any point. We are seeking confident performers who will be versatile enough to play anything we throw at them.

Character names and minimum requirements:

- Splendorella. International drag queen superstar (and spy). High baritone singer with star quality. A first class bitch.
- Allura. Creative Director of Supreme Cosmetics, every drag queen’s go-to brand (and evil villainess plotting the annihilation of all drag queens). Singer with strong belt and a heart of pure evil.
- Honey. A drag queen wannabe and Splendorella super-fan. A baritone singer, and a baby bitch with upstart attitude.
- Jay. Honey’s best friend. A vintage James Bond geek and reluctant drag queen. A tenor singer and an innocent with hidden talents.
- Albertina. Allura’s henchman, hit man, barman, backing dancer, bodyguard, and thwarted showgirl.
- Bertilda. Allura’s henchman, hit man, barman, backing dancer, bodyguard, and thwarted showgirl.

Auditions

Auditions will be held on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 May, at a pre-allocated time between 10am and 5.30pm. Venue TBC. These will be workshop style auditions.

When you have sent through your details we will contact you to let you know if you have got through to a workshop audition.

Call backs will be held on Sunday 12 May - time TBC.

Please note that your audition will last 90 minutes and you will be in groups of eight. Although you will perform solo, sometimes other actors will be in the room. We are looking to create a company of artists that are open and supportive and wish to encourage a safe, risk-free environment from the outset. The artistic team will also be leading exercises, games and giving you specific direction.

Material

We ask that actresses bring a song from the 60's and actors bring a song for a female voice from the 60s.

Please also bring a prepared piece of text that you may need to use in the workshop. This can be from theatre, films, poems, books - anything that you love!

Rehearsal dates:

Thu 27 June, Fri 28 June, Mon 1 July, Tue 2 July, Wed 3 July.

Time: 10am to 6pm

Performance is 5th July

The whole company will be needed from 10am to 9pm.

All rehearsals and the performance will take place at The Albany Theatre, Deptford (Deptford or New Cross station, zone 2)

If this sounds like you then we would love to hear from you. Please send a Headshot of yourself a CV or Spotlight number and a one-page covering letter telling us all about you to auditions@heelsofglory.com

Application deadline is Monday 6 May by 12 noon.



Poster art by Steve May