Ballet Noir
See the trailer here Q Theatre will be hosting Mary-Jane O'Reilly's uber elegant, uber dark Ballet Noir - this October 27,28,29 Performed with great success at the Bruce Mason Centre in 2021 as part of Auckland's Elemental Festival, Ballet Noir now comes to the CBD. O'Reilly and co-creative Phil O'Reilly will be revisiting their contemporary ballet work, adding an entirely new experiential element of fragrance to enhance the visually stunning production. Fluidly straddling the worlds of classical ballet, contemporary dance and more recently in her hit Edinburgh Fringe Festival neo burlesque work In Flagrante, Mary-Jane is a shape-shifter in the language and story of dance in New Zealand. Where her only rule is it must exhilarate. Drawing on her gift for sizzle and polish Ballet Noir is a fiendishly clever contemporary ballet work that channels the tragi-romantic narrative of the great ballets through the cryptic and edgy lens of 1940s film-noir, with all its greyscale tension and stylish vainglory. |
A meditation on the mysterious forces of darkness, characters include jaded femmes fatales, a young innocent abroad and two friends out for a night on the town, who by chance get trapped in the Ice Queen and her Cynic's night of vengeance. Featuring fifteen of Auckland’s finest dancers, Ballet Noir is an exquisite blend of dance, music, filmic imagery and fantasy. Clad in sharply tailored authentic vintage jackets, skirts and hats, the dancers inhabit a world of secret rituals, rivalries and power struggles, where salvation only comes with a broken heart. Review and audience quotes from Ballet Noir: “The sombre sensibility of this elegant work – a characteristic of the archival and experimental style of this much-respected choreographer and her collaborators” - Felicity Molloy, Theatreview “We loved it - passionate, strong, striking. A visual and an emotional experience throughout” - Audience survey comment “Very original choreography and production. World class” - Audience survey comment “It was enthralling. The set, music, film, costumes, stunning choreography and beautiful dancing” - Audience survey comment Friday 27th October 8pm Saturday 28th October 2pm and 8pm Sunday 29th October 2pm Booking info coming soon |
See the trailer here
World premiere of a totally new concept in Cabaret Burlesque. MaryJane O’Reilly’s Mouthfeel. A wickedly hilarious and provocative blend of whisky and cabaret. Mouthfeel is a totally unique experiential cabaret burlesque show. The audience, should they wish to, can sip their way through a flight of four carefully curated eclectic whiskies, whose heady complexities (including their ‘mouthfeel’) are matched to a series of fiendishly clever short performance pieces of sexual provocation and dark comedy. Drawing from MaryJane O'Reilly's celebrated neo-burlesque show In Flagrante - Mouthfeel is an all-female cast of classically and contemporary trained dancers MC'd by the deliciously left field comic, professional MC and agent provocateur Ali Beal, whose talents also include opera - and telekinesis - only joking on the second one, who introduces each whisky to the audience (there’s a special show offer at the bar) matching their individual characteristics and loquacious attributes to each section of the show: |
Fetish | Slapstick | Disruptive | Classic
Tightly costumed and performed to a luscious mix of tracks from the smoky covers of Klaus Waldeck's trip hop classic album Ballroom Stories, to Nick Cave's spooky Waters Edge and Laurie Anderson's haunting History of Memory. A specially commissioned track from renowned LA based Kiwi composer Andrew Keaghan fuses Sergio Leone with Mariachi and Narcos latino beats for extra sleaze. Best shared with friends. Review quotes from ‘In Flagrante’, who’s individual pieces feature in Mouthfeel: “Knives out choreography complemented by killer designs” – Fringe Review - UK “A sexy thought-provoking sensual experience” – Frodo Mc Daniel – Broadway Baby UK “The whole thing, all these little stories, it was all so good” - Lee Bemrose - Australian Stage “A feast of fetishes and fantasises in dance” - Fiona Anderson - Weekend Notes – Melbourne |