Dorothy Sayers said that the Holmesian game “must be played as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord’s; the slightest touch of extravagance or burlesque ruins the atmosphere.”
Maybe not. I present to you Isadora Persano, my burlesque performance alter ego.
I chose the name because I liked the idea of a canonical reference and because the combination of the female name 'Isadora' with the fact that the character is explicitly described as male fitted with the fact that whilst I am myself male, I also crossdress, and perform burlesque en femme. Anyway, whilst I have performed as part of a troupe in the past, last Saturday saw me perform my first solo as Isadora, with a proper intro and, of course, my own curtain call. I doubt many members of the audience recognised the name or its source, but it gave me a thrill hearing it, and I thought I'd share it with you as well.
Here's our group at the curtain call:
Here's our group at the curtain call:
And here's Isadora again, second from right, as part of a Vegas Showgirl routine we performed in the same show.
I even have a short bio:
"From the naughty Nineteenth Century comes well-known journalist and duelist Isadora Persano. This crossdressing chrononaut delivers a dose of Victorian vivacity and gender-bending jollity to the stage. Catch them now, because who knows when their temporal travels will whisk them away to new adventures?"
"From the naughty Nineteenth Century comes well-known journalist and duelist Isadora Persano. This crossdressing chrononaut delivers a dose of Victorian vivacity and gender-bending jollity to the stage. Catch them now, because who knows when their temporal travels will whisk them away to new adventures?"
