Vamp - Meow Meow
 
The Studio, Sydney Opera House      

until October 5th
 
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777
 
From under her swirl of raven black hair Meow Meow glances up at a projected image of herself and simpers with mocking surprise, "Oooh I am beautiful". Showing the diva crouching with her smooth naked back and bum to the camera, the image is immediately reminiscent of Man Ray's Cello. And she is beautiful. And sexy, kinky, over the top, hyper-romantic and she can sing up a storm. Her new show Vamp is witty too and very camp. Viva Oscar Wilde! Why? Because the diva sings her songs of love and death and conjures some of the most volatile seductresses of all time, but it is Salome, the Jewish princess with a penchant for shedding veils and severed heads, as imagined by Wilde, who takes centre stage. What could be better than a girl needing a little horror to get off?
 
Backed by a smokin' band called Orchestra of Wild Dogs, lead by collaborator Iain Grandage on piano, Meow Meow, known in the daylight hours as Melissa Madden Gray, a classically trained singer and dancer with a couple of honours degrees, is the consummate professional. But you never know where the show is going because like a true diva she might drive off a cliff or get her scarf caught in the wheel. I feel she knows this will bemuse or even befuddle her audience so she allows us our distance in the first half but in the second she asserts her presence. While quaffing our wine she invites male members of the audience to undress her while doing unspeakable things to manbags. Consider yourself warned. She won't let you remain indifferent.
 
I was often amazed by her performance but was never moved until the encore. And what did the diva sing? With another male plucked from the audience, who on bended knee stood in for her mike stand, she wrung out an achingly beautiful version of 'Fake Plastic Trees' by Radiohead. A fitting conclusion I thought to a show essentially about the culturally constructed female. As Thom Yorke’s poignant lyrics reveal "It wears her out, it wears her out".

- Victoria Hannon

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Title
Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Email
Website
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment