Words by Lou P Scarlett | Photography credited in captions
How to establish your performance persona and how creating a character can set you apart from the rest.
In the 1959 musical, Gypsy, three burlesque veterans sing to the baby burly performer, Louise “You gotta get a gimmick!”. One showgirl plays the trumpet, one is an elegant ballerina with flowing wings, while the other shines with a costume made out of lights. Here, they reveal the secret to showbiz survival; Being entertaining, having a unique character and having a god damn gimmick. Gimmick; A trick or device that attracts attention, publicity and moolah $$$
#bookedandblessed
My virginal ‘wholesome’ dress-made out of wholegrain products
Today I’m going to serve you the tea strong and hot. Everyone can take their clothes off. Most people do it everyday. So, what makes what you do worthy of the stage? Why will people want to spend their hard earned cash to watch you? And, what will make producers book you in a line up of gorgeous, talented and already established performers? Seriously… ask yourself.
When I started creating my very first burlesque acts, I asked myself these questions. The answer: a gimmick, a character and a mother flipping BRAND.
Today I am going to give you a list of questions you can ask yourself to help establish or further develop your burlesque persona.
But first! A little bit of my history. Like all good things, the Universe, Rome, Harry Potter and Pavlova, Lou P Scarlett wasn’t created in a day - and apparently in that time she didn’t learn humility either. > Insert [Queen-like wave, followed by a cheeky self-love celebration booty-shake] <
Lou P started as an idea, that slowly but surely evolved.
There were five defining moments for me that saw the fruition of Lou P Scarlett.
1) Writing original music and creating trash dresses! In 2014 before I performed solo burlesque, I was the front-woman of a band called Cohlaj. We were a three piece that created theatrical electro-pop. When performing with this band I wore, what I liked to call ‘garbage-glamour couture’.Meaning dresses I made out of trash. At this time, I was obsessed with the concept of etiquette and consumption. Every song I wrote was about the facade we use to disguising these animalistic urges. I wrote about our desire to consume; be it food, people, or art and I made a decision that I wanted this concept to be illuminated lyrically, sonically and aesthetically. Moral of the story… Have a concept. Choose an aesthetic!
2) Around this time I was also singing/dancing/hosting residential shows at a cabaret lounge
called Slide. For one of these shows, Gin Mill Social, I had to create my own character to host. I called her Lou P Lou. A sassy 1920’s broad from the Bronx. I called her Lou P because yes, she was a little bit loopy, but also because I thought it would be a good pun when I performed songs using my vocal looper (the first of my gimmicks). Moral: choose a name that speaks to your gimmick, aesthetic or your characters personality.
My colourful 100% trash dress-made out of all the food I ate over a two months period.
3) Dying my hair pink. I always wanted to do it but never had the guts because I was mainly booked as the classic seductress or as the girl next door. One day, I got asked to dye my hair for The Mad Hatter Tea Party, a show with the Sydney Opera Companywhere I played a jazz singing flamingo. I called my mum and was like, “Mum! They want me to dye my hair pink. It’s for the Sydney Opera Company! I have to do it!” At the time it felt like a brave and bold decision. That was 2017 and I never looked back. Moral: Make bold decisions!
4) A clown called Spencer. I watched him perform in a show called Blanc de blanc. In this show, instead of using a song, Spencer performed to chopped up samples of ads, films, songs and random sounds, to create a fragmented narrative. This is something I adopt in my own performance to set up the preface of the tease. I hadn’t seen any other burlesque performers do this. Moral: 1) Go watch other performers and shows for inspiration! 2) Research what other performers are doing in your field and be a point of difference.
5) My solo burlesque show TIME IN LOU (Sydney Fringe 2018)and Miss Burlesque NSW 2018 (in particular creating my Emoji Act). These things bought all of the above elements together. Original music, garbage-glamour couture and my newly found obsession with artificial intelligence. And so the techno-tease burlesque fembot, Lou P Scarlett, was born. Moral: Characters are created by doing! Make acts! Make shows!
Four years! That’s how long it took for me to truly find my niche as an eccentric, neo-burlesque showgirl. And to be honest she’s still evolving. The thing is, every performer’s creation story is wildly different. When starting, it can feel overwhelming because there is no ‘one way’ to establish yourself as an artist. Some people begin as models, others singers or dancers, some create an act and a character grows from there, others pick a name, or do a burlesque class, google lots of burlesque performances at Hall of Fame or learn a trick and some simply choose a strong aesthetic. Ultimately…
There is no right or wrong way to create a burlesque persona because the very essence of burlesque thrives on individuality.
So… Who are you? I look around at my fellow burlesque performers and I admire them for so many different reasons. Porcelain Alice for her immaculate art deco aesthetic, Eva Devore for her seamstress ability and incredible skill to tease, Miss Arizona for her sexy AF floor work, Rosie Rivette for her comedy, Diesel Darling for her fuck off amazing dancing, Memphis Mae for her irreverent and hilarious acts and hosting, Bella Louche for her political and social satire… and these are just to name a few!
So, you want to create a Character? Here are 15 questions to help you get started.
1. What’s your performance name? Why? It can be as simple as, its my mums maiden name, or its my drunk alias! Perhaps its a reference to a Greek god or historical figure that inspires you.
2. Five words or personality traits to describe your character? (Vibrant, cheeky, sultry, playful, angry…)
3. What are your characters likes and dislikes? Write 10 of each. It can be anything! Maybe they hate sunny weather and public transport. Maybe they love Frank Sinatra and talking about cat memes… Anything!
4. What is your characters aesthetic? What do they wear? What’s their makeup and hair style? It may be from a specific era, it may be masculine or feminine or maybe you have a specific colour palette. Create a folder of visual references.
5. What’s your characters goal/message/purpose? Why? It might be, I want to make a commentary on present day feminism, or I want to address environmental issues or classism. Or, alternatively, maybe you want to create something that is a visual fantasy that celebrates the beauty and opulence of a culture or time.
6. How does your character move? (Slowly with purpose, messy and erratic, are they bouncy? Controlled?)
7. If someone had to intro you at a show, what would they say in 1-3 sentences.
8. If you were the love child of 2-3 people, who would is be? (Lou P Scarlett’s is: If Marilyn Monroe, the Spice Girls and your local garbage man had a love child)
9. If your character was a film, which film would they be and why?
10. If your character had a theme song, what song would that song be and why?
11. Why will people love this character?
12. What burlesque do you like to watch and why?
13. If someone was to compare you to another burlesque performer who would that be and why?
14. What are the similarities and differences between you (the person) and you (the character)? Name five of each.
15. What’s your damn gimmick?
Photo by Amy Benjamin.
These are just a handful of questions you can ask yourself to create a character that is nuanced, relatable and unique. Lou P Scarlett is a heightened version of who I am in real life. I embellish, stylise and hyperbolise her but what I present on stage is always authentic. Keep that in mind as you create your character. As Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”.
Photo by Amy Benjamin.
“You gotta get a gimmick” lyrics by Bette Midler
You can pull all the stops out
Till they call the cops out
Grind your behind till you're bend
But you gotta get a gimmick
If you wanna get a hand
You can sacrifice your sacharo
Working in the back row
Bump in a dump till you're dead
Kid, you gotta get a gimmick
If you wanna get ahead
You can uh, you can uh
You can uh, uh, uh
That's how burlesque was born
So I uh, and I uh
And I uh, uh, uh
But I do it with a horn
Once I was a schleppa
Now I'm Miss Mazeppa
With my revolution in dance
You gotta have a gimmick
If you wanna have a chance
She can uh, she can uh
She can uh, uh, uh
They'll never make her rich
Me, I uh, and I uh
And I uh, uh, uh
But I do it with a switch
I'm electrifying
And I ain't even trying
I never had to sweat to get paid
'Cause if you got a gimmick
Gypsy…