This Saturday at Club 120, Scarlett Laflamme (Bomshell Burlesque) is bringing the 2nd installment of her “Bad Girls of History” show. The cast is a real cool mix of performers, one of the most diverse I’ve been a part of in a while! Many ladies will be performing acts inspired by women they share a heritage with, or are inspired by.
I will be portraying the gal with the worst reputation in Versailles: Marie Antoinette. This is maybe the 4th version of this act, which I originally conceived for specific request for Miss Mitzy Cream’s Roadshow tour 4 years ago.
Marie Antoinette’s scandalous legacy has lasted and touched popular culture for nearly 250 years. Although the quote is innacurate, her famous line of “let them eat cake” still resonates and is parodied today. There are many interesting facets to her life of infamy, but I am particularly intrigued by her sex life, and the way it weaved throughout her political life with fact and fiction being made difficult to separate.
The bizarre 7 year limbo between her marriage to Louis XVI and it’s consumation caused much speculation and tittering in court, but even after the royal couple began a sexual relationship, it was rumoured to lack passion. Later in life, the paternity of the King’s heirs were even contested as a result of the assumption that the King was incapable of satisfying the frivolous young Queen. In 1774, King Louis gifted Marie Antoinette with the Petit Trianon, a chateau located within the grounds of Versailles, to use as her own fortress of solitude. Marie visited the Petit Trianon not only to escape the formality and immense pressures of court life, and to shake off the burden of her royal responsibilities. None were permitted to enter the property without the Queen’s express permission (not even her husband). Such exclusivity alienated the court nobility, which she did very willingly, and only the queen’s “inner circle” were invited.
The favourtism displayed towards the Queen’s confidantes, coupled with the public’s desire to undermine the image of the monarchy, were often outlined in slanderous and sometimes pornographic pamphlets called libelles. In 1975, after the birth of the King’s nephew (with the royal couple still without a son) these pamphlets were relentless and mocking, commonly centered on the king’s impotence and regularly depicted the queen’s searching for sexual relief elsewhere, with men and women alike, particularly the Princess de Lamballe, with whom she shared an intimate friendship. During the Revolution, sexual allegations of this sort (from incest to orchestrating orgies) were used to justify her execution.Ultimately, none of the charges of sexual depravity has any credible evidentiary support.
Marie Antoinette was simply an easy target for rumor and criticism, however it is easy to fantasize about the ways in which the Queen would relieve the lust produced by a lack of spark in her maritial bed. That’s what I’m hoping to convey! So history buffs, feminists and fans of the debauchee female take note, and come party with us!
SATURDAY APRIL 12
CLUB 120
$12 + SERVICE CHARGES
Dolly Berlin | Burlesque Performer | Toronto 