Back in the seventies, decent pop leaned into the avant-garde, with artists transcending mere gigs. This was pop as theatre. Bowie, Kate Bush and even prog rock charlatans like Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Genesis could be found using stage craft, props and exquisite scenography to boost their strange and otherworldly music. This elevated it above the usual, quotidian gig going experiences of sweaty musicians, cigarette stubs and beer flying.
So it’s quite heartening to see that theatre and pop has made, if not a comeback, some kind of continuation of this format. Bjork’s ‘Cornucopia’ was a global phenomenon, likewise David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’. Lily Allen has been touring her ‘West End Girl Live’ show across the world recently, to mixed reviews. In the show she utilises props like female legs sticking out of a refrigerator; an oversized receipt of her philandering now-ex David Harbour’s spending on other women, a mocked -up glamorous boudoir, ironic persona and many costume changes. It’s nice to see ambition coming back.
Self Esteem, too, recently fused her love of theatre (she successfully portrayed Sally Bowles in ‘Cabaret’) with live pop concert with her full run of ‘A Complicated Woman’ which used a dramaturg; costumes, choreography and beautiful visuals reminiscent of ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’. It raised many eyebrows among many pop fans, unaccustomed to such high production values.
Self Esteem live, photo by Aaron Parsons
There’s a strange adjunct when music and theatre collide. Pop audiences and theatre audiences rarely overlap, and the result can be confusion in audience expectations. I’ve seen it firsthand when watching Gazelle Twin- who’s admittedly not pop, but more alternative electronic music – where a seated audience want to dance but can’t, aware of the fact that it’s THEATRE and not a GIG that they’re attending.
Character performance artist Christeene (Paul Soileau) pictured below, often has a similar effect: noone knows how to respond to the surreal character, even though the tunes are absolutely banging, and hilarious. Plus, Christeene can be extremely intimidating: absolutely no fucking filter.
Christeene, the “drag terrorist”, aka Paul Soileau
Regardless of the response Allen has received, it’s great to see her challenging herself, as well as those in her audience who have never seen live theatre before. It can be a hard sell, but at least she’s giving it a go and providing an alternative to the standard gig format. The wave of bonhomie from her fans is surely recompense from her well-documented recent struggles. Cue the curtain call.
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