Bowra’s Big Burlesque Bash | Review and photos

And it’s all thanks to the star-power of one woman – Miss Sofonda Blackmen, AKA, Linda Wiltshire – who has this year been introducing a group of the Valley’s bravest and most curious to the world of tease on Monday evenings.

The theatre was at capacity on Saturday as the local glitterati flounced down the art deco aisles and into their seats for the first professional burlesque show the Valley has ever had the pleasure of hosting.

Smoke swirled through the coloured lights, and the sound of a champagne cork popping was heard from backstage.

The anticipation thickened and the wolf whistles gathered in intensity; it was clear the audience was here for a good (adults-only) time.

Finally we got a taste of what we had come for – feathers, frills, furtive eyelash flickers, and flashes of flesh.

The first half was a tribute to the ‘golden era’ of burlesque and featured the tasteful teases, tresses and turnout of the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Sutherland Shire’s Miss Evie Va Voom smouldered in a lavender number which quickly ended up on the floor, Miss Danica Lee’s classic bump and grind routine to AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ got a few engines purring, while the buxom Miss Tiffany Blue came in like a warm ocean breeze for her ‘day at the seaside’ number which likely stirred the ladies in the crowd to have a more generous appreciation for their own curves.

There was even an Auslan interpreter, Miss Mama La Roux, who signed a sexy rendition of the Beard’s classic hit ‘You should consider having sex with a bearded man’.

The darling of boylesque – Joshua James – made sure the audience were not just passive spectators, prodding the seated gentlemen to undress him piece by piece.

And with feathered fans that would make an ostrich blush, the Miss Burlesque of Sydney herself, Ginger Foxx, bewitched the 200-odd oglers into an intoxicated trance-state.

The second half was a more modern and risque affair and the finale came like a volcano as the UK’s Miss Satin Spitfire did just that. In green satin lingerie, the ‘Dame of flames’ spat and swallowed fire before setting her nipple tassles alight for a visual experience you’d have to see to believe.

It was the perfect spectacle for the Bowraville Theatre to test out its brand new lighting and sound system, and a show that will surely have tongues wagging for months to come.