Last Saturday I performed in Wood Street Market in Walthamstow as part of the Original Army Cabaret for the Stow Festival. The market is a little treasure trove of independent shops - my favourite being the one pictured; Gigi's Dressing room was full of sparkly things, and I ended up chatting to her after the performance. You can read Gigi's blog here.
   The Cabaret was a lot of fun; some street dance, giant pass the parcel, and Captain Fontaine (Gavin Fowler) playing several songs in the ukelele - the best being an improvised number about the shopping centre itself that the audience could sing along to.

On Sunday I took part in a dance workshop in Stoke Newington with Dark Island Dance. It was pretty intense and I'm still suffering! The company are looking to build up a team of collaborators, and we will be meeting once a month to train and work towards a piece that we can perform at festivals.

We are half way through The Original Army Low-Life Cabaret in the foyer of the Broadway Theatre in Barking. I've been performing my Mary Poppins and WAG acts, and although it's been a difficult space to work in, it's been a good challenge, and has helped me develop my burlesque characters through the walkabout performance I've been doing before the actual acts. It's also been nice to store all my props at the theatre and not cart them back and forth every night!
More Original Army antics to report next week, plus a Saturday Arts Club live podcast and a local gig at the Ram Jam Club in Kingston - Bawdsville Cabaret and Curry.

I grew up in Hampshire, near the River Itchen, which links the Solent to Winchester. It was used in Saxon times to transport timber. Towards the village of Shawford are some pretty houses, and this is what is in the garden of one of them. I love Romany Gypsy caravans, there is a whole exhibition of them nearby at Paulton's Park. Along my river walk I also discovered three Ostrich's and about ten Llama's grazing in adjacent fields.

During my stay at home, my mum and I went to see 'Anna Karenina'. The film concentrated on the love stories, and the role of women in the 19th century, but I suspect the book is a whole lot more political, as it was an interesting period for Russia. I know a little bit about this from studying Chekhov and Stanislavski, but am now curious to read the book. The film constantly references the theatre, framing many scenes in a prosenium arch, and the movement is very stylised and choreographed. However, the main draw for me was the costumes, and I found myself staring at Keira Knightley's hats, rather than concentrating on what she was saying for a great deal of the film! I make pillbox hats quite similar (though a lot less lavish - that is about to change since seeing this film!) and you can view them here.

This is the calm before the madness, as this weekend and all of next week I'm performing with Original Army, see details here. This Saturday we are doing a street performance in Wood Street Market, where I'll be mingling with the shoppers as Florence from the Magic Roundabout.

Lots more news of other arts events next week, but for now here's me as Florence, photo courtesy of the lovely Tigz Rice, styling Miss Honey Bare.

I've been soaking up some sunshine and cabaret performance on the Southbank this past weekend. On Friday evening I went to The Tassel Club in the Speigeltent. The photo is of Laurie Hagen, who hosted. I've never seen her perform before, and I was very impressed with how fluenty and confidently she held the show together. Madame Gallina was fantastic also, and I loved Craig the Incredible Hula Boy. The burlesque on offer was glamorous, but rather too predictable. On the Saturday I watched Miss Behave outside the National Theatre, her show was pretty shambolic, but she has a great onstage presence.

On Sunday I watched The Lords of Strut, Hoop lala and Mario Queen of the Circus. The Lords employed some excellent clown moments, and although their act took a while to get going, it built beautifully. Mario Queen of the Circus was hilarious, I loved his unicycle trick.
I saw a little bit of the Burnt Out Punks and the Carnival later that evening. Watching so much street perofrmance and cabaret over the weekend has given me lots of insight into how to handle audience volunteers. I've always heard that any audience volunteers need to leave the stage a hero, but they need looking after while they're onstage, and watching these performers handle this dimension so expertly was really useful.

The past weekend I was in Leicester for the Red light Burlesque Revisited, alongside some familiar faces such as Miss Chantilly Lace, Foxie la Roque and Aurora Toxique - as a well as the lovely organiser Miss Venus Star.
I had a bit of a disaster with the screen I use for my A-Team act, as it broke on the journey, and the screen nearly fell over part way through my act. I managed to just about rescue it, but I wasn't as happy with the performance as I could have been.

It was a terrific night though, and I was lucky enough to stay with Stephanie Bowry, who is writing a PHD thesis of Cabinets of Curiosity. I have seen them used in performance before, and it struck me that the idea of a 'cabinet' would make an ideal concept for a show.

I'm having to fix and/or replace a great number of props and costumes this month, they take such a battering being transported to and from gigs, and set up in tiny dressing rooms, and being hurridley packed up to take home or to my overnight accomodation again. I have a huge list to get through!

I'm looking forward to the Thames Festival Carnival this weekend. Having been to the Carnaval in Rio in 2005 and danced samba religiously at University, it always makes me nostalgic.

I'm also in meetings for the Original Army Cabaret Resisdency that is happening in the Broadway Theatre in Barking at the end of this month.
I'll be performing two acts a night, and will probably rotate so that I perform all seven of my acts over the week.

Lots of pictures next week - promise!