Fringe World is coming. Are you excited? You should be. It’s a showcase of some of the best Fringe acts the world has to offer, a teaser for the biggest and best boutique Fringe happening here, at the edge of the world, that will take place in 2012.
One of the highlights of Fringe World is the triumphant return of Empress Stah. Sydney-born Empress Stah is known to Perth audiences. After all, it is here she first began performing as Stah Power Girl, pulling out kooky cabaret performances, filled with body piercing, aerial work and a flourish of fluro and neon.
She left Perth 13 odd years ago armed with a one way ticket to Amsterdam. She now calls London home and is considered one of the world’s preeminent neo-burlesque cabaret performers in the world.
‘I’m a neo-burlesque cabaret performer and trapeze artist slash aerialist,’ explained Empress down the line from London, her voice tainted with a slight educated Oxford accent, at other times tearing at the edges with an Aussie twang.
‘In a nutshell that’s what I do and I’ve sort of not described it in the past because my work straddles so many genres and encompasses bits and pieces from different genres of performance.
‘But I’ve had it described as it being too pornographic for circus, too colourful for fetish, too entertaining for live art and too avante garde for burlesque.’
Curious? You should be. After all, back in the ’90s Empress won a Connections Talent Show and as a result produced a five-part show call Stah Up Your Life, in which she took on Spice Girls inspired characters, one of them called PornStah. And girlfriend, you should have seen what she could do with a dildo.
Not that Empress’ shows are pure smut – they balance precariously between the ballsy and the beautiful, her knack at dipping between the profane and profound one that remains largely unchallenged. So who should see her shows?
‘That’s a really good question,’ she laughed. ‘Anybody with an open mind that’s looking to be entertained should come to my shows. I think bring in an open mind and just accept what you’re seeing for what it is, it’s entertainment, it’s fun, it has depth and you can read stuff into it as well.
‘It’s not explicit just for the point of shock value, it’s certainly not about shock value. It’s a very common misconception about my work that I set out to shock but I actually set out to entertain people who are living in the 21st Century, who are alive and awake and aware of what’s going on around them.
‘That said however, the degree of pornography in the work that I’m bringing to Perth is minimal. I’m presenting two acts, one of them Gold Stah which is a cabaret act and is naked so it’s explicit, and the other one is a brand new aerial act which I’m choreographing under the banner of Star Lite which is kind of Empress Stah, it’s a diffusion label if you like, it’s Empress Stah but not quite as explicit and challenging. I’ve been learning to vogue dance, so it’s a disco aerial number and it’s really fun.’
Of course, other than the return of Empress Stah, the biggest buzz this Fringe World is the appearance of The Pearl, Perth’s very own Spiegel Tent, an opulent fin de siecle performance venue complete with ornate gilded trims, mirrored walls and a 19th Century carousel charm.
‘The beauty of the Spiegel Tent is that the venue in itself is an ornate gorgeous wooden tent venue with a lot of mirrors and decadence so that just by entering the venue you feel opulent and like you’ve entered a different world.
‘I’m not sure how they plan to lay this cabaret out but traditionally the shows are performed in the round so everybody sits around it and you’re sort of performing to a 360 degree audience. And you’re up very close so there’s a certain intimacy, you know, you can see the sweat on the brow.’
Tickets for Fringe World are available now through www.fringeworld.com.au with Fringe World kicking off February 3rd. Empress Stah appears February 24, 25 & 26 at the Spiegel Tent. Stay tuned next issue when we take you further into the deep dark adventurous heart that is Fringe World.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
