2 posts tagged “stage”
Inside every Londoner is an inner hillbilly, just a hoot in’ ‘n a hollering to get out!
With the debut of my new comedy cabaret act the Hee Haw! Whore House this week, I helped the closeted hillbilly spirit inside my fellow Londoners unleash itself for the Finger in the Pie cabaret festival at Madam JoJos.
The venue was packed for showtime last Sunday, April 6th, and
the crowd responded well, whooping it up for our cast of urban hillbillies with
applause, laughter and even participation. As The Madam of the Hee Haw! Whore
House, I packed in some fast & furious slapstick American-style hilarity,
with non-stop silly antics and a few surprises for the performance.
Our little whore house kicked-off a fabulous night for Finger in the Pie, with other really enjoyable new artist acts. I particularly liked the creativity and friendly backstage camaraderie of Lheila Oberman & Timothy Dodd of Aliens Ate My Schnitzel. It was also a pleasure to share the stage with Kittyktja, Victoria L'Etoile, Marianna Harlotta & Ruby Corsette, Miss Rose Thorne as Squaw Blimey, and Frankie Chalet. Many thanks to Vixen DeVille, the evening’s temptress MC who held the night together, and super American-style cheers for the organizers of the monthly Finger in the Pie cabaret festival, a fantastic showcase and supportive environment for new London performance acts. Do check out a future show, for details about upcoming performances make friends with them via MySpace or find the group on Facebook.
Who Loves to Hee Haw!?
James Whatley, aka Whatleydude, was fantastic as our drunken punter, stumbling about with his very own bottle 'o moonshine and making audiences laugh during his performance and a pantomime-style chase scene. No whore house is complete without some whores, and we had two! One pretty, and one, well, butt ugly. The audience oooh’d and ahhh’d over beautiful Tiara Diamond who wowed them with her burlesque dancing skills and sparkly pasties. Shock + horror was on order for Stewart Wright’s hilarious portrayal of our ‘bargain bang bang special’ whore. Stewart saved the show, stepping in last minute as 'understudy' for the night, as our original cast member had a family emergency to tend to.
Our crew also made sure the Hee Haw! Whore House made its stage debut, with my
supportive husband John having to make a mad dash back home to get my forgotten makeup case and costume accessories. He also helped on many fronts, from helping to make our flyer, to burning our music tracks and the list goes on. Costume designer Diana Munduru helped us get ‘in character’ backstage in the dressing room, with her skilled ability to make clothing do what it is supposed to do.
Hee Haw!
Comes to London's West End Stage
It was an honour to officially perform on a ‘West End’ stage, of sorts. Madam Jo Jo’s is in the heart of London’s Soho district, which, in addition to being the centre of West End theatre is also the city’s red light district. Next door to Madam JoJos is the Soho Revue Bar, which historically was the very first strip bar to open in London. That venue was hosting the grand finale of London’s Burlesque Festival on the same night, and, I was thinking that the spirit of porn pioneer and baron Paul Raymond, who recently passed away at age 82, must have enjoyed such a fantastic festive night in his corner of London.
I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I’ve found from the
night, and our Hee Haw! Whore House may even feature in a restrospective book in
the future, as the photographer Peter Lavery, who
documents circus performers, joined the artists backstage to take pictures of
our pre-show preparation. Plenty more photos can be found here.
Credit for the above pictures goes to Flavia Fraser-Cannon, courtesy of Finger in the Pie Cabaret Festival, and BigShinyThing.com's Darrell Berry.
It was all great showbusiness experience, and I’m now thinking about what’s next for the Hee Haw! Whore House here in the UK. Festival season is coming up, and there are plenty of other venues that might appreciate a good ‘ol hillbilly time. If you have any suggestions for where this comedy performance may be appreciated, please email me at info@haimediagroup.com, or leave me a comment.
Can't wait to hee haw! again,
-Lisa
Who’s Lisa Devaney?
I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com
Hee Haw! Whore House 'Playbill'
Here's your very own memento, from the Hee Haw! Whore House:
Just print out these PDF flyers (front and back side) and you've got your own DIY piece of our show:
I’ll be debuting my new comedy cabaret show with the Finger in the Pie cabaret festival at Madam JoJos in the heart of London’s Soho this weekend. Come on down for my:
Hee Haw! Whore House
When: Sunday, 6th April, 2008
Doors open at 7 PM
Tickets £8
*Advised that you pre-book or come by 7 PM to be sure you get in, and get seats.
You can expect to have a hee haw! of a
good time if you come down, where there will be plenty of a hooting ‘n a
hollering in hillbilly style.
Simon Harris, who is the head of the Hand of Glory record label and a co-organizer of fantastic random clubbing nights with events like The Human Zoo, inviting people to get in touch with their inner beasts, and the Nativity Hoedown. This spring he debuts a new CD from artist Mary Epworth and the Jublilee Band. Connect with Simon over at myspace.com/handofglory7.
James Whatley, who studied drama and spent a few years working in television before finding his niche in the mobile technology industry where he is fondly known by his colleagues as Whatelydude. Connect with James at whatleydude.vox.com
Tiara Diamond, who is studying drama
at Thames Valley University, is a graduate of BWI’s Ultimate Burlesque Workshop
and performs burlesque under her stage name Tiara Diamond. Her play ‘Breakers’ featured at the
cornerHouse festival. You can find her on The BurlyQ Blog at tiaradiamond.wordpress.com
Our stage hand for the Hee Haw! Whore House is my husband Dr. John Fraser Laird Devaney (he’s smart
because he has a PhD in physics, and is
figuring out some crafty set challenges we’ve had). We’ve also got our own
stylist and costume maker Diana Munauru who sews bespoke costumes and clothing
for theatre performers, fancy dress and gowns for charity and society
functions. You can book Diana by emailing her at Diana.langa@hotmail.co.uk
And me! When it comes to entertainment
experience I don’t have any real formal training, except having studied
improvisational comedy with the fantastic Upright Citizens Brigade in
New York City, a group that can claim a number of comedy stars, and having absorbed knowledge from being around show business since childhood, with my father, who was a
Julliard-trained Broadway musician. I’ve also performed a one-woman show, having
turned myself into an online/offline cartoon girl of the New New York who took to the stage and became known as (((Futuregirl))), or the FutureG among some. With that adventure I pulled my
friends into my art project (those who were willing and surprisingly no one declined to be turned into a cartoon) by giving them cartoon ‘treatments’ and having
them come out for a party dressed in their self-created cartoon selves. It looks like I'm up to similar tricks here in London, and I'm really looking forward to being on stage with others this time.
No sparkly star studded cast and crew is complete without fans, so we’ve even got an entourage coming along, with the fabulous Miss Risk (Kate Risker) planning to attend, and others.
I’ve produced this Americana slapstick-style comedy, with a bit of old fashioned British pantomime influence that I hope will entertain London audiences. With this show, I’ve also unofficially anointed myself as being:
Having witnessed British people really
adore a bit of down-home American-style music and entertainment, when I
was
part of the Nativity Hoedown, I’ve decided to carry on with this theme,
presenting a bit of hilarity with my new cabaret act.
Made with inpsiration from: The Original Hee Haw! Television Show. View clips here:
For those of you who remember American sitcoms in the 1970s, you may recognized this performance is inspired (not at all copied as an fyi to any copyright cops reading this blog) by that popular show Hee Haw! that I watched often, while growing up with my family in America. Having lived here nearly four years now, at a time when my country is terribly unpopular, I'm inspired by the inevitable upcoming political change that will happen in November, and I'd like to be a little bit more courageous in offering up examples of the more positive things about America that I feel have been extremely overshadowed by these year's under an unacceptable presidential leadership in my country. So hee haw! for my America and hip hip hurray for whoever takes George Bush's place in November.
If the Hee Haw! Whore House is well-received with this performance, expect to see more hee hawing here in London in the future.
Practicing my hee haws for Sunday night,
-Lisa
Who’s Lisa Devaney?
I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com
