Not Suitable for Children

Hilariously Obscene Little Beau Peep Show Redefines “Sexy”

Fringe ArtsMaxellende Pycke — Published June 13, 2013

Presented as part of 2013 Montreal Fringe Festival by local burlesque troupe Glam Gam Productions, the show crushes the innocence of fairy tales by mixing dance, theater and singing with indecent performances.

All body types are invited onstage—curvy, tall, short, hairy, hairless, skinny—breaking the genre’s common definition of “sexy.”

Julie Paquet, the show’s co-producer with Michael McCarthy, feels representing diversity is how to reach an equally diverse audience. She hopes the crowd will adopt a new perception of body image and self-consciousness by recognizing their own shape on stage.

“We want to show people it’s OK to be naked—that bodies are fun, bodies are beautiful,” she said.

Storybooks are Glam Gam’s main inspiration. In the Beau Peep Show, the Little Mermaid sells her “purity” to become a cabaret dancer, and just guess what grows when Pinocchio tells a lie (hint: it’s not his nose).

“Fairy tales often have a very dark, perverted origin,” Paquet said. “We like to make them more adult, more sexual.”

Glam Gam Productions was founded in 2009, the morning after a night of debauchery between Montrealer Julie Paquet and lifelong friends and Newfoundlanders Sarah Murphy and Michael McCarthy. Over the years, other performers joined—mostly amateurs.

“I never did theatre before,” said Paquet, laughing. “Just tap dancing when I was young.”

Although male performers have been stripping in Glam Gam productions since the group’s beginnings, no woman in the troupe would until Paquet took the lead.

“It was a Halloween show,” she said. “We did Thriller by Michael Jackson and I went out butt naked.

“I thought: this is fun! Honestly, it was the better thing I’ve ever done for my self-esteem.”

Passion, fun and group cohesion seem to be Glam Gam’s ingredients for success.

“When people see us having fun, they have fun,” said Paquet. “It’s a lot of work, but a labour of love. We are all friends and we definitely enjoy performing together.”

Café Cleopatra will host the Little Beau Peep Show until June 15. The strip club is not only famous for its second floor cabaret, but also for resisting expropriation by the municipal government in 2011.

Glam Gam has other raunchy events up their sleeves. On Saturday, they will host a pants-off Little Beau Peep Show after-party, No Pants No Problem at Theatre Ste. Catherine.

And if you feel like stripping down yourself, you can join Julie Paquet and Michael McCarthy every last Thursday of the month for a Lipster Strip Karaoke at the Second Floor Bar on Parc Avenue.

The Little Beau Peep Show has four more shows until June 15 / Café Cleopatra (1230 St. Laurent Blvd.) / $12