Hello to one and all,
For the sake of the forum, and because I picked up an internet stalker many years ago (
), I go by the name of Gehenna.
I don't have a magical bone in my body, my best attempts where with Paul Daniels magic toys as a child, nearly 30 years ago. Suffice to say I wasn't a natural, but I've still enjoyed watching magic and illusion for many years - what a shame that TV is now polluted with Reality TV and being a parent makes going out very difficult.
I became interested in the Burlesque scene a few years back, and after much thought I started up a small scale Burlesque show in Birmingham City Centre - a concrete jungle in the West Midlands of the UK. My wifes claims it has some green bits.
After running our first show members of the audience came to us and said great show, but how about something other than Burlesque and singers."
Much head scratching later my wife and I came up with a couple of ideas - comedians, freak show performers (bed of nails etc.) and magoicians/illusionists. Of course, the issue was, where do we go to get people of this ilk - so finding this forum has been a boon to me.
Now for the bad bit - we are a small event and still building an audience. We have no way of paying the money that a corporate booking would pay. The only things we offer are a great backstage atmosphere where performers are treated as people as well as profesionals, not just someone who has been payed to offer a service. Yes, we do pay performers, but the budget is poor so please don't approach us if you need or want hundreds of pounds or more.
We have also built good relationships with other Burlesque promoters - so we ofer them guest passes to our shows. The other promoters run much bigger events than us, so if someone performs on our stage they might end up getting better paid work elsewhere. Not a dead cert but the possibility is there.
The last thing we offer is a place to work and try out something new. Because we offer stage time to new Burlesque performers we are also open to new illusionists and those who want to try out new acts without the risk of getting a bad name on the pro circuit if the act tanks.
Of course, we are still open to the professionals who just want to wander back to the small event days.
Anyway, nice to say hi to everyone. Hopefully I may get to work with some of the members on here at some point.
Kindest regards
Gehenna of The Silk Stocking Striptease Show.
