"People like the darkside, but they are afraid to show it." - Madeline Glasseater on making a feast out of occult and sideshow

Banquet is the upcoming show by the Chevron Showgirls that promises to be a delectable feast of all things dark and dangerous. It’s a toothsome combo of burlesque, sideshow, dance and performance art, but with everything amplified to a whole new level with sideshow skills and occult dreams. We chat to creative wunderkind Madeline Glasseater about what to expect at this wintertime extravaganza.

Image + cover image: Joel Devereux

What can we expect when we walk into the performance space at the Triffid?

A cult-theme sideshow but with burlesque, striptease, and danger. There’ll be lots of fire, sharp things, even a little bit of acrobatics which is a bit cute. Putting that all together will be like in a haunted mansion with paranormal activity. We wanted to do a really big theatre show for once and put it up on a big stage and use that to our advantage.

There’s a fairly heavyweight line-up of performers and guests, including Dahlia Gunn, Frenchie Darling, Lilith Revere, Archie Arsenic.  

This is my core group – so that’s all the members of Chevron Showgirls running since 2014 but it wasn’t until last year we had a full crew. Lilith who swallows swords and studied at Coney Island.  Frenchie Darling and Dahlia Gunn who are my show daughters. Archie is like a gender-fuckery drag artist. So it’s a really eclectic excellent crew that covers a lot of different types of performance art.

We have one special guest who we have worked with before, Chris Braithwaite, who is coming in to be our resident slave for the night. Let you mind run wild.

This performance falls on the cusp of midwinter, which is traditionally a time for gathering and feasting. How important is ritual in our lives and art?

I think even in everyday life I am always trying to be quite ritualistic about the way that I do things. Presenting our art in this way is powerful, and really magickal. And yes, coming into winter, into cold times, drawing people together and having an energy in the place is 100% important to me. We’ve got to cultivate that stuff, it doesn’t just happen by itself. So with Banquet, obviously the show is the feast, but it’s more than that, it’s an energy exchange. 

You have a history of delving into the darker aspects of your performance arts, exploring skills that most people would never dare. Can you tell us about your fascination with sideshow, shibari and how has it shaped our trajectory as an artist?

Image: Joel Devereux

You know, in the beginning I never really touched on that stuff, even though it was stuff I loved to see and watch. After time I was like screw it, I’m gonna do it, I want to represent everything that I love. Occult and sideshow, that stuff goes hand in hand when you think about black mass and magic and rituals.  My fascination with shibari comes from kink. I’ll do more self-tying and that’s really a big feminine power fuck-you to the world.

Representing that dark side is important because I think so many people like it but are afraid to show it. For me it’s really powerful to be able to represent it, and to let a little bit of a way for people to realise that it’s okay to delve into that stuff as well. You can’t have dark without light, or light without dark. It’s important to have those polar opposites.

There was never one specific thing the drew me to the world of sideshow. It was just going to shows or events and seeing people just do exactly what they wanted. I was like cool, I can delve into that, I can do what I want.

I tested the waters… with the public [laughs]… five years ago with the Red Room Revue. It’s funny cause that first show sold like eight tickets, and now it sells out seasons. But it took dipping your toe, giving it a little go. I don’t think it’s desensitisation, but nowadays people are a bit more like, it’s okay to watch this...

Is there anything that we absolutely must know about Banquet?

You got to come in with an open mind.

It’s kind of like a David Lynch film, it doesn’t run linear.

You’re probably going to interpret it a hundred different ways and so we will, so that’s definitely something to keep in mind!

Whatever you’re going to see will be spectacular but you might know what’s going on!

Banquet starring The Chevron Showgirls played one night only at the Triffid, Sunday 27 June 2021. Read our interview with Banquet creator, Madelaine Glasseater, here.