The Admiral Bar

Review / Round-up of April Show

Years ago there was a football manager who was asked about his formation.  He replied, “I look at the players and then pick the formation” This was very true of the April show.  We had a mixed bag of acts available but they weren’t really your normal Enterteasement lot as we had contact juggling, boylesque, comedy music and a sketch troupe to finish the show.  But they were all so strong individually that we knew they would work well together and decided to “give it a go” and hoped the football theory that ‘good players can play together’ would work out.

April 13th – Events

Running this show once a month it always amazes me how I forget how all the people involved in the show aren’t mind-readers and need information off me.  So the day of the show involves a lot of printing.  From the running orders to the stage directions it all needs to be done.

So on headlining to the venue I really was pushed for time and decided to gain some precious seconds  I would go a little faster than the silly old 50mph speed limit on the Motorway.  However, one driver didn’t like my theory and put on his flashy blue lights and asked me to come into his police car.  Note to self, when the cops ask you if you are in a rush…don’t say “yes, and if you could speed this up that would be great” they really don’t like that.

So I arrived at the venue later than normal only to discover that one of my assistants had fallen down the stairs and had to be taken to hospital.  Luckily it was only a bad sprain and we’ve sent “Get Well Soon Hugs” over and hope that combined with Paracetamol and plenty of rest she’ll be on the mend soon.

So because we were a man/woman down, the doors opened a little later than normal so we’d like to say sorry for that and thanks for being so reasonable.
Billy Kirkwood had another performance on that night so I knew he’d be arriving just before 8.  He arrived at 7:55 and went into the toilet but as the show had to start at 8 and I was introducing the moany but all important:

“Scream at burlesque, don’t talk during the acts and introducing the staff bit”

So I entered the gents and saw one cubicle door shut and said, “Billy, are you in there?”  He replied “Yes mate” It might be slightly unprofessional but I just decided to slide the running order under the toilet door and proceed to take to the stage.  You might think that’s a bit out of order but I thought since he had been in the bathroom for so long that he might like some reading material.

So, show started, people were a little quiet, the rules confirmed and then Billy’s Head appeared from the Gents and BOOM it was showtime.

The Show.

Billy Kirkwood is one of my all time favourite compere’s.  Scotland  is blessed with some World Class Compere’s but for Enterteasement Billy  ticks all the boxes.    He’s fun, playful, his audience interaction is second to none and he does wee party games and things as well.  With this show being so different to the other Enterteasement’s  I was glad Billy was at the helm and he excelled as always.

Kevin McMahon.   I’ve known Kevin for years but I’ve only seen him perform once and that was about 4 years ago.    Kevin runs the Edinburgh International Magic Festival.  Which runs for a week in June.   I run Enterteasement once a month and it stresses me out beyond belief. Kevin has about 20 magicians from all round the world, 20 venues, 40 shows over one week and even packs a proper theatre.  So it was a pleasure watching him perform but also nice in that we can share the “event management” chat and I’ll look forward to picking his brains for ideas.  http://www.magicfest.co.uk/

So Kevin’s act included a lovely signed card to mouth, the appearance of several objects  and he finished with a trick that I first saw performed by Paul Daniels which was the toilet roll over the head.  Kevin has taken it to a new level by throwing other things over the head as well.  I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it but it was a solid original piece that the audience loved.

Cat Aclysmic is the girl we use on our artwork and is one of our regulars at Enterteasement.  So we often get that look of “I know her but I can’t think where from”. 

Cat took to the stage with one of her signature acts ‘Hanky Panky’.   We throw Cat into the deep end at Enterteasement as we still have many people experiencing burlesque for the first time and don’t know how to react.  We’re also attracting lots of couples and the men are a bit scared to scream for the burlesque in the first half.  Cat is in her 4th year of the World Burlesque Games and is up and down the the UK performing so she’s seen it all before.  She took to the stage in a bright red sparkly dress and performed a classic burlesque routine, very sultry with some moments of comedy.  The audience’s cheered at all the right bits so we’re happy and it was a good performance to set up the burlesque in the second half.

Eleanor Morton was making her debut for us and this was also our first music comedy act.  Eleanor has a lovely aura about her, very innocent and posh.  She’s the type of girl you’d want your son to marry.  When she took to the stage the people in front of me said “That’s her from The Stand”  I don’t know if the TV show with her on at The Stand has been aired yet but it’s good to see she’s got fame already and I’m sure there will be plenty more TV appearances in her career.  Maybe one day someone will say, “There’s her from Enterteasement”.  Her act was very well received and her audience control was brilliant. Unlike a lot of comedians she uses silence in her act which is normally a terrifying experience for comedians.  However, she scripts in long silences to create tension and relieves the tension with punch lines that you wouldn’t expect from the ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ character portrayed earlier in the act.  This is especially true in her hilarious song: ‘Slightly Awkward Situations’.  Overall very good, well received and it’s good to know Comedy Music works at Enterteasement and no doubt we’ll have some more on the bill in the not too distant future.

Tom Harlow: In keeping with the music section we put Tom on stage next.  I first seen Tom perform at another burlesque night in Glasgow about a year ago we got in discussions about him performing at Enterteasement.  At the time Enterteasement was still breaking in the audience for Burlesque and just wasn’t ready for boylesque.  However, I knew I wanted Tom on the bill and if anyone is going to convert an audience it’s Tom.  Something you have to understand is that burlesque dancers have it ‘easy’ because men love boobies and women love the whole empowerment thing.  So when a women get’s her boobies out the audience will be happy (well that’s the theory anyway).  However men / boylesque performers don’t have this luxury and therefore the audience can be left slightly bemused by the whole thing.  So to get them introduced to the idea we had Tom sing first of all.  Tom has a strong stage presence and a strong voice.  He sang ‘All That Jazz’.  When he took to the stage there was an aura of “that’s not a burd”  but within minutes the audience were singing along to the chorus of “All That Jazz” So not only a good song choice but an excellent performance from Tom.

Star – Happy Birthday

Then to give Tom a few extra minutes to change into his burlesque outfit, we gave Star a Birthday Cake and we sang happy birthday to her.   There have been many nights like Enterteasement that have died really badly in the last 2 years and let’s be honest, anyone could book a venue, some acts and put on something similar; but, the one thing we have that no one can replicate is our staff and Star is indeed a wee star. It was a pleasure to present her with a birthday cake (and no Billy, it did not come from the Govan Asda….it came from the Toryglen Tesco and it had friggin Stars on it) Anyhow Star appreciated the cake so much that she left it under a table upstairs but it’s the thought that counts.  But once again – Thanks for being a member of the team and for all your hard work.  We couldn’t do it without you.   We hope when you’re big and famous you remember us!

Cat Aclysmic

Cat is one of the elite burlesque performers in Scotland which is weird because she’s from the USA.  But everything she does is to such a high standard that when she told me she wanted to try Contact Juggling at Enterteasement I was happy enough to give her the nod and we weren’t disappointed.  She even combined the contact juggling with a bit of burlesque to keep us happy.   We owe her an apology though as she used a black ball and we had a black curtain so some of her skills didn’t really show. This was our fault because the lighting wasn’t strong enough but we’ll get that sorted for next month.  Sorry Cat.  However, considering she’s relatively new to Contact Juggling and having attempted to learn it myself I can confirm it’s a really difficult thing to learn I think she done amazingly well.

Tom Harlow Strip

So it was finally time for Boylesque to take to the stage and I’ll be honest…I was nervous! However, Tom did fantastically well and even some of the hardened men (no pun intended) in the room were clapping and screaming by the end of the act.  We’ve even had requests for more boylesque from our audience…how times have changed.   Tom did say that 2 of the girls in the audience kept staring at his crotch so if you saw him adjusting himself it wasn’t a Michael Jackson move – he was just making sure the mouse was in the house so to speak.

After a short break we Billy came back to the stage and got some audience up for ‘The Catwalk’.  Ah how we love Billy, The Birthday Boy Kev, Dell and The guys house we were going back to all strutted their stuff and that injected that perfect party feel into the room.

The Colour Ham

The combination of Comedy, Magic & Burlesque is a tried and tested formulae…we know this! But, Comedy, Magic & Mind-reading?  Well having witnessed it for myself at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe I was really impressed and delighted I managed to persuade The Colour Ham up to be our headline act (it’s amazing what you can get people to do when you kidnap their goat)

Colin McLeod took to the stage and did a mind-reading trick where he asks an audience member to think of a name and he successfully guesses it.  I actually know lecturers on Mind-reading that say this can’t be done but having worked with Colin and shared a few car journeys with him (where he still wouldn’t tell me how he does it) I’m putting it down to The Real Deal and I have no idea how it’s done and it amazes me every time.  Burn the Witch.

This was followed by Kevin’s “amazing” appearance on stage, the hypnosis sketch with Gavin and An audience member and the Big Finish was with their special celebrity guest.

All of their sketches went very well and it was good to have something different from your normal Comedian to end the show.  This was part of their 2012 show but they are actively writing and performing  new material for a brand new hour long show which will be appearing at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe – so keep your eyes open for them.

Most notable audience members include; Spikey Hair man, Dell, Craig, The 2 blonde hotties down the front who kept talking during the show (try somewhere else next time ladies)  Kevin (the birthday boy) whom I purchased a Gin & Milk for as it was his birthday, Jenniffer, the girl who couldn’t understand English who was from Glasgow and the Fletchers who are mini celebrities in the Magic World.   The women up the back who refused seats because they would rather have sore feet and a good view than miss any of the show.

Best comment of the night came from Graham Colvan who is a sound technician who specialises in Magic shows.  He’s up and down the county going to similar events and he said to me during the show.

“Why haven’t I been to this before?”

I know that sounds daft ; but, when you have someone in the industry who pays to attend an event and is in a bad mood that he hasn’t attended more of them…you know you’re doing something right.

How Did We Do?

If you attended and you’d like to leave some feedback anonymously then please fill in this Survey 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WWCMX8X

Thanks

Thanks to all these people who made the night another great success.  Feel free to add them on facebook and leave a wee comment.

Star – Our Manager
Mel – Lady Of Door

Wullie Marr: Our Photographer http://www.facebook.com/wulliemarrphotography

Alice Black:  Sound and light. http://www.facebook.com/AliceBlackSoundAndLights

Billy Kirkwood: Comedy http://www.facebook.com/mrbillykirkwood

Eleanor Morton: Comedy http://www.facebook.com/eleanor.morton.54

The Colour Ham: Comedy, Magic & Mind-Reading http://www.facebook.com/thecolourham

Cat Aclysmic: Burlesque & Contact Juggling http://www.facebook.com/cataclysmicburlesque

Tom Harlow: Boylesque & Singing.  http://www.facebook.com/tomharlowboylesque

Prize givers:

Show Girl Sessions for their Burlesque lessons for 2 and chair dance lessons. donations

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Show-Girl-Sessions-Ltd/270962472937119

Introduction to Magic Lessons

http://www.facebook.com/topclassmagic

Cart
Up Coming Events

MAILING LIST

For 30% Discount Codes, Competitions and Back Stage Gossip