Le Gateau Chocolat at the Christchurch Buskers Festival

So I was super lazy this Buskers Festival and only made it to one show! Lucky it was the best show I have seen in years!

Le Gateau Chocolat’s one man drag sensation is a show unlike any you have ever seen before. Part social commentary, part flashy extravaganza, this is a show that relishes in ambiguity and confusion. Those in the audience looking forward to straight forward escapism may have regretted not buying tickets to the Buskers Burlesque instead, but for me it was the clashing of genre, medium and mood that captivated me from beginning to end. Le Gateau Chocolat began his show the way he intended to carry it through; stripped bare, honest and refusing to stay within the confines of expectation.

The genius of this show is the sense of slowly building anticipation alien to high energy, give-it-your all philosophy of traditional drag queening. But do not despair; Le Gateau does not shy from sequins, drama and light hearted show tunes. But, refreshingly, this is constantly punctured by more serene moments that cause more thoughtful contemplation than dropped-jaw gaping. The lightest moment had Le Gateau roaming the audience while we danced on our chairs, looking for someone to zip him into his Zebra patterned lycra body suit. The lowest had our performer sitting on a lonely chair in a dimly lit stage belting “Old Man River” in one of the most exquisite baritone voices I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Never knowing whether to laugh or cry kept you feeling alive and on edge for the entire show; Le Gateau clasps you in his intriguing weave of story-telling, song and poetry and doesn’t let go until the climactic end. Whether it is in extreme sadness or collective ecstasy, we as the audience feel inextricably intertwined in the emotional journey of our star.

The highs and lows of life are a constant source of human inspiration, and Le Gateau Chocolat is no exception. Mimicking the roller coaster that is our journey into the world, and into ourselves, this show leaves you feeling simultaneously ecstatic and as wrung as Le Gateau’s post show make-up towel. But most of all this show makes you question, not the things you don’t understand, but our own reactions to these things. Not satisfied in merely entertaining, Le Gateau Chocolat revels in revealing to us the beauty of acceptance, tolerance and the glorious possibilities of the new.