What was the original inspiration for the burlesque week? I had already produced two festivals in Canada called Burlesque Goes North before I created London Burlesque Festival. The f irst was in Toronto May 2004 and the second in Vancouver December 2006. The festivals were only a few days in small venues but with great international acts. The idea was to showcase good performers from the USA and bring them up for the shows. I had also done some really extensive touring again from 2003-2006 in countries including the UK, Switzerland and Germany. After I produced the second BGN in Vancouver I felt there just wasn't enough support and realised the only way I could produce a successful event was to go bigger and take it to London, where the scene was just starting to ripen.
You’ve retitled London Burlesque Week as the World Burlesque Games this year. Has burlesque taken over the world? In many ways yes! Burlesque is like a spider web. It continues to grow in almost every country, and if not in shows at least awareness through the media, social networking and YouTube. Like the spider web it has a lot of dips but always has peaks, dies down and then comes back up again.
You’ve had to cut the acts down signif icantly (from 400 to 100) this year. Does that make you the Simon Cowell of burlesque? I suppose so – I make more enemies every year than I do supporters! I always have to say no to people and when I give them a yes, I still have to put my foot down and enforce the
terms of being involved. I regard my festival as the best in the world and have high standards.
Burlesque impresarios from past decades had, shall we say, colourful reputations. Are there any you’ve taken inspiration from? No not so much, I do like to read some of the old books, or imagine a time when touring and performing long runs existed pre- television. I'm quite intrigued about entertainment in the late 1800s when vaudeville and burlesque theatres were in every city. I read Members Only, the biography on Paul Raymond and was inspired by his early days touring the UK with novelty and moderate burlesque. The Minsky Brothers in the US eventually had a chain of theatres which would have been nice. But I have carved my own path in this new-found industry!
The Burlesque Week/Games are in their sixth year, how have they evolved? The festival in 2007 ran from Wednesday to Saturday, f ive shows in four nights and drew an estimated 1,200 spectators. Every year the event has grown in the number of shows, days and people, now running a full seven days with nine events for 2012. Every year I like to show growth and change. That is my main objective, but still in a grassroots way. The festival was rebranded in 2010 and 2011 to London Burlesque Week and now we have the World Burlesque Games running – hopefully – every two years. For 2013 we intend to bring back London Burlesque Week and run all new theme shows. I hope that for the 10th annual event we might be able to run a full 10 days but only time will tell.
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