Tassle do nicely: Burlesque in Hackney

Bistrotheque in Hackney is leading the capital in bringing burlesque to the public, as well as attracting the best international acts around. Jane Fulcher donned her boa and sequins to discover one of London’s hidden gems.

Bistrotheque sits on a quiet, inconspicuous Hackney street opposite a cash and carry. It is hard to find amongst the council estates, scaffolding and boarded up windows. Walking past you would never know that inside was one of the most exciting, cutting edge venues in London.
Bistrotheque wasn’t the first venue to bring Cabaret and Burlesque back on to the chic side of London nightlife but it is the one that is doing it in a totally different way.
With popular acts such as the Lipsinkers, international acts like Baby Dee and minor Hoxton celebrities like Jonny Woo appearing, it’s clear that schlepping across London on the 388 bus isn’t enough to put people off.
And if the entertainment is not worth coming for, the food might be. Bistrotheque is also a very successful restaurant attracting both critical acclaim and a loyal following.
I went to Bistrotheque for their Underconstruction night, showcasing the newest cabaret and Burlesque acts to hit the scene. I have been to burlesque nights before. Usually, apart from a couple of nipple tassles and a feather boa, the acts have been quite lame. Once, at the Volupté Lounge in the City, I watched a woman in her sixties play a banjo and sing Norman Wisdom songs for over an hour. Bistrotheque is different.
The main act of the night was a man, known only as Rosella, re-enacting Princess Diana’s life in “Through the Eyes of a Queen”. For over an hour Rosella lip synched convincingly to pop songs, danced (even going on point in ballet shoes), acted, held a mock interview with another man dressed, less convincingly, as Sarah Ferguson and sang an original song entitled “The Worst Thing I Could Do”. The song started with the line: “I could have shagged James Hewitt; I could have had his Nazi child.” The show was satirical, hilarious and fabulous. It ended with Diana’s death, at the hands of a breadknife-wielding Queen Elizabeth, and her body, held in a coffin/doll box, being auctioned to a man dressed as a frog, who represented Prince Charles.
Rosella was followed by a woman reading, in a monotone voice, the lyrics to Eminem’s ‘My Name Is’ while removing her dungarees to reveal the words “trailer trash” written in silver paint over her breasts. Vicky Butterfly and Lily Noir appealed to the more traditional side of Burlesque. Dressed as sadomasochistic dolls they fought, pulled each other’s hair and then resolved their dispute by undressing to reveal the obligatory nipple tassles.
Rather than being seedy, however, in an atmosphere like the one at Bistrotheque, the moment of tassel revelation is one of joy. No dirty macs and no leering, just a raised cocktail to a woman’s uncovered bosom.
The crowd at Bistrotheque are a mixed bunch. The only other person on their own apart from me was an old man with a flat cap drinking Guinness. A group of American pensioners wandered in and seemed to enjoy the show. “It wasn’t what I was expecting” said Ellen, 74, from Chicago. “But I enjoyed it, they gave very spirited performances.” A married couple sat in the corner looking confused left quickly after the first act, but everyone else was having a whale of a time; especially considering this was a Wednesday night in Hackney. The rest of the audience were made up of girls with flowers in their hair, many of them wearing kimonos, gay men who all seemed to know each other – at least well enough to snog everyone that walked past - and a few business men and their dates, looking either slightly uncomfortable or completely enraptured,
“I come here all the time” said John Conley, 34, a management consultant from Dalston. “I think it’s absolutely hilarious and some of it is beautiful. I bring clients and dates here. It’s completely original and always a surprise. It looks like nothing from the outside; it’s like an Aladdin’s cave.”
Bistrotheque is making waves. What remains original and progressive about this venue is that it refuses to make cabaret, drag and burlesque a fetish. By placing burlesque purely in the sphere of performance art and tying it to what might be called a “destination restaurant” it remains entertainment, and great entertainment at that. By opening this kind of venue in an ordinary area of Hackney it becomes unique. If this is what East London regeneration leads to, long may it continue.

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