March 8, 2014

Skindiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Harlot: An Indiana Jones burlesque

The new Fringe Bar (sadly no longer located next to the kebab place) is currently hosting a mixed bunch of burlesque dancers, actors, singers, comedians and puppets performing an Indiana Jones inspired - I want to call it burlesque but it’s more like theatre. Yes, gloriously unexpected, theatre.

An educational show; there’s a classroom scene and you'll learn about appropriate clothing to wear in the desert and how to identify a monkey; it still shows a lot of flesh, some of which we waited the whole show for.

It’s a star studded cast: you’ll recognise former Miss Burlesque NZ, Willow Noir; former Mr Pole Dance NZ, Andre Corey, was also on the cast list but unfortunately was injured. His understudy was so good that I couldn't pick which role he was performing. Songstress Gracie Hart and our sexiest comedian Alexander Sparrow (who had the most lines of any to memorise) round out the names I recognised.

It was the best show I have been to in a long time. The variety of performers and trying to guess what ridiculous thing they would do next as well as an ongoing storyline rather than a new story with each performer, more commonly seen in burlesque, kept me enthralled.

The Philadelphia-based GDP Productions have met their goal to “blur the lines between traditional theatre performance and burlesque, providing satire, nuance, and production value in addition to the traditional glitz and tease.” I sincerely hope that more of their productions will crop up in Wellington.

The final show is tonight (Saturday 8th March, 10pm), go early to check out new talent at Burlesque Baby and watch two shows for (just) under $35!

You can buy tickets ($19) at the door or go here.

Raiders of the Lost Harlot is written by Cubby Altobelli and directed by James Kiesel.