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. 

Brave- Finally, a movie that realises that most little girls couldn't care less about boys

When I was a little girl my all time, hands down, favourite Disney Princess was Arial. Not only did her flaming ginger hair give me hope for my own future (“one day, I’ll be a beautiful red-head, fish-lady too!”) but, she was also a fricken MERMAID! Honestly, what would you rather be rocking, a frilly pink dress and glass slippers? Or a TAIL and crazy under-water parties? But this generation has been given a new flaming ginger to look up to, and she is one good kyunt. She fires arrows, rides horses and the boasts the best animated haircut since Yugioh. You won’t catch this chick walking on glass feet and sitting in silence for no man, and she is looooooooong over due!

As Brave is the first Pixar film to feature a female protagonist, there has been a lot of noise made in feminist and gender aware circles about it. But, as every Disney movie featuring women as the main character demonstrates, having a female lead does not equate to having a positive representation of women on the screen. But Brave defies the trends of children’s animation (and, let’s face it, almost every other main stream movie ever created) and proves that stories can be uplifting, simple, entertaining and explore gender in a positive and mature way.

Finally, we have a kid’s movie with a happy ending that has nothing to do with a kiss and a wedding. The love story trope is abandoned in exchange for a story line that most young girls can actually relate to; the struggle between mothers and daughters. For a story aimed at children, this film explores the intergenerational clash of femininities in a complex and grown up way. Our heroine, Merida, resists her mother’s gendered and classed expectations of how she should behave, and desires the opportunity to forge her own feminine identity, one which involves way more bows, arrows and ass kicking than her mother would like. But, on the flip side, the more traditional femininity represented by her mother, Elinor, is not criticised or shown to be inferior to Merida’s transgressive femininity; in fact, it is Elinor’s tapestry, a powerful symbol of feminine activity and refinement that becomes key to resolving the story. There are also some hilarious moments that involve a very polite and courteous lady-bear with one bodacious booty, so a win from all angles when you think about it. I just wish Merida had been in my Disney Princess VCR collection when I was a young whipper snapper; I may have had quite a different outlook on life from a much earlier age.