Talking to Moira Finucane is the literal equivalent of looking at a kaleidoscope. She is bejewelled, made up of many sparkling fragments that expand and contract on one another to create a dazzling spectacle.
I spoke to Moira recently about bringing her carnival burlesque to Tasmania, something she and her writing partner Jackie have pondered on for some time. Moira said if they could take the caravan to Hungary why not Hobart? and the pop up set has made that a reality.
Moira sees Tasmania as a unique place and speaks highly of the clean air wafting in from Antarctica; as we know Tassie has the cleanest and purist air in the world.
It may be that Moira’s background as an environmental scientist gives her a greater appreciation of Tassie’s wild beauty. Moira was in Tassie recently to talk to other artists about their work and at the same time made sure she was able to make a trip to that destination of all artistic inclined visitors, Mona.
‘Caravan Burlesque’ was dreamed up in 2004 over a cold winter in Melbourne and it has been strutting it’s stuff, (which doesn’t reflect it’s cool beginnings, in fact it’s content is decidedly hot stuff) for eight years.
Moira is reinterpreting burlesque for modern times. No longer is it just the reserve of late night cabaret but it now gets to a wider audience, while still including elements of the macabre, mockery, the grotesque, parody, exaggeration. Circus themes in it’s eclectic mix.
Moira’s caravan is all these things and more and she uses it all to explore the path to humanity and what it means to be human in all its dazzlingly different conceptions.
There is a juxtaposition of images and words in the production where we will see visual representations inspired by fairy tales and the Gothic moving to the music of ABBA’s ‘Waterloo’ as well as Bollywood and Mexican dance and music. There are stark contrasts like wearing a brilliant white dress while balancing a bowl of rich, red tomato soup.
The production is provocative and aims to invite and stimulate, and it seems to be working and instead of standing ovations, we have dancing ovations with the audience continuing the ABBA connection and singing ‘Dancing Queen’
Moira attributes her interest in the Burlesque to a Irish catholic childhood filled with contrasting images from fairy tales and the lives of saints, both the gory and the redemptive quality and both of these hold forth in her burlesque show where dreamscapes and German expressionism take flight.
It may all seem that you need to be very worldly to appreciate this show but Moira believes everyone will get something out of this wild exploration which has and continues to evolve over the eight years it has been in production. Moira is always adamant of taking care of her audience on this adventure and rewarding their intellectual curiosity. Moira and her cast have been met with care too. at many of the regional towns they visit, including vanilla slices and scones being served up and honoury memberships bestowed.
Moira calls her show ‘charming and alarming’ and that’s probably the perfect description.
An indication of the high esteem in which this production is held is the fact that many artists from all over the world have foregone performing as far afield as New York, to instead join the caravan. Indeed the production has impressed audiences from London, Tokyo and Hungary to name a few. This heady cocktail will also have a ‘wolf woman’ in attendance as well as the skills of Paul Cordeiro the choreographer of the lion king and the associate choreographer of the Sydney Olympics.
You can join Moira and the caravan at the Theatre Royal on 26th and 27th September.
Paula Xiberras
