The Sunday Times
03 August 2008
The world’s biggest burlesque club night is in… Glasgow, and it’s shimmying into Edinburgh for a festival fan dance
Tina Warren is turning heads. As she flicks her hips through Edinburgh’s New Town in a khaki 1950s US army uniform finished off with glossy red stilettos and a tilted GI cap, eyes stare out of cafes and bars, following her curves as they march down the street.
The burlesque performer is finalising arrangements for Club Noir’s one-night-only appearance at the Fringe, which she hopes will attract an even bigger crowd than last year’s event, when all 900 tickets sold out. Club Noir’s regular troupe of performers will be there - including Jimmy Vee, a tuxedo-wearing doorman who measures a less-than-burly 3ft 8in, and Vanity Kills, a striptease artiste who enjoys pouring champagne down her nearly-naked body - plus cherry-picked acts from the rest of the Fringe. The identical Caesar Twins - whose trademark act is performing underwater acrobatics in a giant glass bowl - are also in the line-up, and ex-Bullseye presenter Jim Bowen has been booked to charm the crowd as a kitsch compère.
“People are much more clued up about what burlesque means now, even compared to two years ago,” says Warren, who thanks the likes of Dita Von Teese for bringing recognition to the louche and decadent scene. “They know it’s a universe where anything goes. It’s risqué, it’s glamorous, it’s sexy and cheeky, and people are surprised when they find out the biggest burlesque club in the world is based in Scotland.”
It’s surprising indeed, but ahead of Las Vegas, Paris and even London, Glasgow is home to the world’s biggest burlesque club night, which can pull in up to 2,000 people.
Formed in March 2004, Club Noir’s popularity has been steadily growing legs, and now dressed-up clubbers fill out Glasgow’s Carling Academy every month. Besides the club nights, the troupe have also brought their dark blend of alternative, underground glamour to such events as the Connect festival, T in the Park and the launch of biopic The Notorious Betty Page.
“It’s like stepping into a parallel universe,” says Warren, who organises Club Noir with her business partner, Ian Single, a self-declared “iniquitous impresario”.
“You cannot be too dressed up,” she says. “I know a lot of people love that excuse to leave their comfort zone and be someone else for a night.”
Keen to distinguish Club Noir from just another night out on the town, Warren insists on a strict dress code where jeans and trainers are banned. Instead, closet showgirls and boys are invited to cast off their inhibitions and dress up in vintage frocks, dandy suits, fetish gear or lingerie.
Before anyone can jump to the wrong conclusions, Single, who is sipping a coffee during a break from his and Warren’s day of planning in Edinburgh, insists it’s all done in the best possible taste. “There is already too much sleaze and tasteless stuff going on. That’s not what we’re about,” he says, adding a firm shake of the head.
He describes the Club Noir experience as a blend of playful eroticism, comic theatre and performance art.
“By teaching women how to have stage presence and transform from a shy hausfrau into a pouting bombshell, we let people find another side to themselves.”
Single, who has produced TV adverts in the past and directed Brigitte Bardot, Liz Hurley and Mick Jagger, likes to get in character once showtime begins. Transformed into Daddy Single, he mingles with the crowd in a white top hat and floor-length white coat. When he gets his diamanté-studded whip out and starts waving it suggestively at passing bunny girls or fishnet-clad dominatrices, it’s all part of the act. “The tease should always outweigh the sleaze,” he insists.
Alongside the club nights, Warren and Single run regular burlesque workshops, which they believe can improve any woman’s confidence.
“Burlesque dancing is done by women for women,” says Warren, who will perform three solo acts at the Fringe night, as well as appearing in Twinset and Twirls, a tassel-spinning striptease with her identical twin, Bunny Warren. “By teaching women how to have stage presence and transform from a shy hausfrau into a pouting bombshell, we let people find another side to themselves.
“It’s about letting people shake off those unhappy feelings - whether they feel they are overweight, a tomboy or not sexy enough.” One Indian woman turned up to a workshop after years in an unhappy arranged marriage. She’d separated from her husband and was glad to be rid of the head-to-toe sari she had grown to hate. When she got to the workshop, she made a beeline for the basques.
“It was amazing to see,” says Warren. “She comes to our club nights all the time now and loves dressing up. She says that we really changed how she saw herself that day.”
Another woman got dragged along to a workshop by her friends after facial surgery had shattered her confidence. She was left badly scarred after an injury and found it difficult when people stared or made comments in the street. “I think her friends had pretty much given up hope. Nothing was making her feel good about herself any more. But we watched her really blossom. By the end of the day she was asking, ‘When can I go on your stage?’ ”
The partners have been making plans to take Club Noir to London for some one-off events in the future, but for the moment, Warren’s thoughts are focused on putting on a spectacular show for the festival crowds.
“A lot of our regulars will be there. Many of them have just got sick of normal clubs and treat our events as their one big night out of the month.” But Warren also hopes to introduce Club Noir to people passing through town for a few days.
“Scotland isn’t often associated with being erotic, or particularly risqué,” she says. “When they walk in and see a room full of glamorous people sipping old-fashioned martinis, being a bit shocking, having fun, then watch 20 unique acts in an evening - I think this is something Scotland should feel very proud of.”
Club Noir is at Venue 150 at EICC, August 16, www.edfringe.com