A Small Mind At The Theatre

It was all about deja vu at The Burlesque Show at Royal & Derngate this year, and that wasn't the name of one of the exotic burlesque dancers. The feeling set in very early as Miss Peggy Sued our host once again, launched into Copacabana in her own inimitable style. It set the scene for perhaps a good sixty per cent of the evening having uncanny similarities to the 2015 show. To be fair it was great to see much of it again, Miss Peggy Sued (aka Abi Collins) is a wonderfully enthusiastic and very funny host and looking beyond the fact that many of the jokes had been heard before, she constantly entertained. There were some lovely little extras, I am sure indeed that the "giveashitometer" has indeed been used since people heard it on the show, and I loved the local touches, including the departure of our Greyfriars bus station since her last visit. However I would have liked to have seen the "other host" this year as I thought on the night I was going to get...

My first trip to Royal & Derngate of 2015 provided myself with an interesting first of its own, my first burlesque show, suitably titled The Burlesque Show. Now I knew quite well what burlesque entailed and wondered what the experience of going to such a show would be (erotic, arousing, or uncomfortable?). However I was greatly advised on Twitter (@chrispoppe and @mudbeast76) that it would be a well worth experience. Turned out that it was really rather entertaining and great fun all round. The sensible plan of this review would be to cover the burlesque first I suppose, although for me it was a great deal more than that (and t'other was indeed the best part). There were three main burlesque artists performing on the evening; Immodesty Bliaze, Alexandra Hofgartner and Miss Betty Blue-Eyes. Immodesty Bliaze we were informed was one the the greatest of the art and without doubt the show(wo)manship was exemplary, however I suspect personal tastes are quite prevalent with this ki...