The Apothecary
Speculation
Haunt, 6th June
Hosted by Jack Kristiansen
Fanny di Favola (Germany), Odelia Opium, Sirona Thorneycroft, Benjamin Butch
Loretta Lebonke, Max Legroom, Isobel Midnight
I had to look back through the show pictures to remind me of this show’s shenanigans. Hmmm, let’s see… from the pictures and my notes it suggests CREATIVE and MESSY. In fact, very, very, very… messy.
YES. MESSY.
So breezy notes again… no time, need words [usually our Apothecary show pieces are longer than this).
But anyway. Here. We. GO!
Who’s the funny guy hosting? It’s JACK KRISTIANSEN…
Yeah, that’s him. Cheeky fucker, and a fine and naughty host.
And for the first act, we have
FANNY DI FAVOLA!
A bit of Be-bop music for this. A touch of elegance, mystery, and a subtle hint of danger underneath. Oh, and that HUGE set of fans. Outstanding work. This was a sassy performance with a bit of a quirk to it, good fun. More on this lady later on in the show 🙂
Who next, who next!?
MAX LEGROOM!
Uh huh!
A fucking blistering psychedelic performance from Max Legroom… Marijuana a go-go… a massive joint… plenty of surreality… some kooky outfits and way more than a few bits of text can do justice to. Oh, and a mix-tape of music… a recorder, and a kazoo. Much fun. Picture takes you some way there man.
Ah, this next thing involved a game of Chinese Whispers… some beautifully bizarre interpretations and drawings… and some carnage. Some wicked cackling from MARIPOSA BOP as well. Ha ha!
Have some bottoms to tide you over until the next act:
And the next act is…
ISOBEL MIDNIGHT!
Now this act was fucking great. Really clever. I’ll do what dodgy car salesmen do (no, not a papier-mache fender)… I’ll wind the clock back.
The lights go down… a figure shuffles around in the darkness at the back of the room… just what is going on… who is it, what is it? The figure emerges from the shadows… they’re wearing a HUUUUGE, LOOOONG coat made from shopping bags…
This performance was incredibly clever. It was more drama than cabaret, and spoke about homelessness. I like performers/performances that sneak up on you and make you think a little bit more, or make you consider a different angle. Once again, words couldn’t do this act justice. Very lucky if you were there so see it, or if you catch it. So go find it!
Now the next act… MESSY!
Very fucking MESSY!
LORETTA LEBONKE!
So the act goes that Loretta stinks, needs a bath… so that’s what we got!
Rubber dub-dub.
Water and sploshing and soap and sauciness everywhere…
A good time for an…
INTERVAL
Gin!
ACT II
JACK KRISTIANSEN is off on a song… his own mix-tape of hits… Bop is waving a lighter…
Which leads us kind of sweetly into…
SIMONA THORNYCROFT!
What a wicked little devil of a performance this was. Simona arrived on stage looking like this:
And proceeded to get fiendish and macabre. A bit of music from Rob Zombie and some eating of brains. Yup. EATING OF BRAINS!
Speaking of brains…
ODELIA OPIUM!
Odelia’s act started with some slow and mysterious music… fans moved around with teasing suggestion… then…
A BIG SWEEPING CAPE swishing around the stage. Look:
Sweeping! Swish, Swish, SWEEP!
Up next:
BENJAMIN BUTCH!
Hard hat, tool belt – a blue collar king of chaos and abandon!
Workers of the world unite and all that…
And finally…we’re back where we began… a reversal in time, full circle, we’ve ended where we started, and we’ll start where we ended.
FANNY DI FAVOLA!
Fanny arrives on stage in her lingerie…
As the music flows, so do her clothes… on… on… on… boop-boop-boop… more clothes going on… boopdy-boopdy-boop-BOOP!
Voila!
A full clothed Fanny Di Favola!
A very cool end to a typically mad and brilliant Apothecary.
Thank you, we love, goodnight!
X
Mardi Gras Magazine 