Review: Welcome to the Gaybourhood at Connections Nightclub

Welcome to the Gaybourhood at Connections Nightclub
Saturday, April 6, 2024

Local burlesque troupe Basement Productions celebrated their third anniversary this month with an encore performance of their 2024 Fringe show, Welcome to the Gaybourhood.

A lovingly constructed, immensely fun, and utterly camp romp of an evening, Gaybourhood showcased the depth of talent the Perth burlesque scene currently has and the extremely wide array of performance styles the artform can provide.

With a touch of everything from classic bump and grind, sultry slow burns, and musical theatre, all the way through dancing fruit to fringed chaps, roller skates, and whip cracking, there was a niche or a genre to cover all the colours of the queer burlesque rainbow.

MC Mae Dae, with the biggest hair on this side of Surfers Paradise, was a comedic revelation, at ease equally with the pre-prepared dad jokes and awful puns as they were with the on-the-spot rapid-fire ad libs. A special mention also goes to CC Satine, a vision in translucent red, their every inch paying tribute to Jessica Rabbit, as much with look as with song choice.

Other music selections in the show ranged from the queer standards of Donna Summer and Queen, through the classics such as Aretha, through to some quite left-field choices, such as a mashup of Frank Sinatra and Michael Caine, as well as The Muppets’ Mah Na Mah Na, which got some of the biggest laughs of the evening.

Being an encore to Basement’s Fringe run, almost all of January’s guest performers were able to attend. This extended the show from an hour to ninety minutes, but it also emphasised the depth and range of local performance talent.

A celebration of all that the troupe has accomplished in the last three years, Gaybourhood was as much a loving note of appreciation to each artist that Basement has worked with, their connection to their audience, and the wider community, as it was a singular performance.

PAUL MEEK