Miss Blue stuck around after her Burlesque Art Class to speak with organiser Miss Tipsy Shenanigans.
 
Miss Blue: Well hello, Miss Tipsy. I must say you are looking resplendent in top hat and corset. Can you perhaps tell me a little about your background and how you got involved in Burlesque?

Miss Tispy: (sips her red wine with great aplomb) As a student, I got involved with a circus performance group learning to be a stilt walker. I took this act in front of audiences and soon I began to experiment with new acts – circus, cabaret, burlesque. Since 2004 I have been involved with the Edinburgh Fringe, bringing Burlesque to a new audience with the Vaudeville Cabaret Club.

Miss Blue: Why the current popularity of Burlesque?

Miss Tispy: Entertainment in general has become so freely available, whenever and however you want it, so there is no longer that communal feeling. Entertainment is so much more special if it is actually live because you only see that one version of that show or gig and that’s something that you share with the people there. It’s something that over the last couple of years has given live cabaret a real boost because you see something that’s unique. Something you cannot download or record. The whole point of a live show is being there and whole burlesque genre is highly focused on being audience interactive.

Miss Blue: And what of Burlesque’s other quality - humour?

Miss Tipsy: We live in a rigid society ad the glamour of burlesque offers a kind of escapism. Ordinary people can go out on a night and enter a different kind of world. They can also watch something that is intelligent and tongue in cheek. Burlesque began as a satirical piss-take of café culture in cities such as Berlin or Paris.

Miss Blue: Burlesque is heavily associated with strip tease and comedy. How does this fusion work?

Miss Tipsy: Sexual comedy is one way of mocking and sending people up. For some reason that now has become the public face of burlesque. The most interesting work and the performers who make it big, are the ones with more substance to their acts.

Miss Blue: Who would you class as ‘big’?

Miss Tipsy: One of my favourites is Moira Finucane who came over and did a show in Edinburgh two years ago called the Burlesque Hour. When you say ‘Burlesque’ people think Dita von Tease in nice underwear and nipple-tassles taking clothes off but the show she did was playing with lots of different ideas of female identity and availability. Indeed actually quite dark; balloon popping with nails protruding from nipples and crotch.

Miss Blue: Who do you recommend at the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Miss tipsy: Well, there’s the Misty Vine troupe from London, Ali MacGregor’s Opera Burlesque, and late-night mischief with Cabaret vaudeville.

Miss Blue: Why is Burlesque such a controversial art form?

Miss Tipsy: Well, I have been accused of being a “porn peddler”!

Miss Blue: Why do you think this is?

Miss Tipsy: I think that people feel threatened because they see it as striptease, and they see you doing it as trying to be sexually provocative…

Miss Blue: But there is an element of titillation?

Miss Tipsy: People are afraid of titillation. We have male models too. At the end of the day I see nothing wrong with enjoying a performance that as a format allows you to express yourself and have fun and act out an alter ego. It’s no more sinister or sexual or morbid than fancy dress

Miss Blue: So Burlesque in a nutshell?

Miss Tipsy: Lots of talent, fun, a sense of humour. It’s not all about the sex!

Related links 

Feature: Burl-fest

Dr Sketchy's Burlesque Art Class