Lose yourself in the Velveteen Valley
Lock up your daughters, batten down the hatches and pour yourself a stiff drink …
When the clock strikes midnight, Nozstock’s home of all things thespian – the Bantam of the Opera – takes on an altogether slicker, sleazier and silkier edge. On Friday and Saturday night the Theatre tent plays host to the Velveteen Valley, your one stop shop for all things burlesque, cabaret, comedy, circus and all the little oddities that wallpaper the cracks in between.
After a long day’s dancing, surrender yourself to sheer sensuous delight down in the Hidden Valley. Prepare to be engaged on every sensory level: let your eyes be dazzled by the sight of bodies doing things you never knew bodies could do, with hula-hooping – of both the fire and LED variety – by Indira Skyflower and Nula Hula and mesmerising, James Bond-inspired bellydance from Doe Demure.
Serving you up a big, sizzling platter of burlesque, we have Ci Ci Noir, who’ll have feathers – and your hearts – a’flutter, and Mike Bathke, who’ll be taking the medium apart, shaking it about and sticking it back together again topsy-turvy in his ‘talk’ on How to Burlesque… maybe even inspiring a few of you to give it a go for yourselves.
Finally, once the Laughing Stock has closed for the night, our cabaret-comedian-comperes will take up the mantle of their daytime peers to give your funnybones a sly old tickle. Shamefaced circus maverick Tom Hunt will be attempting to juggle and charm his way into your affections; Ursula Dares … to go places no act has gone before with her ingenious character comedy; Owen Niblock comes armed with poetry, flute skills and a ringing endorsement from Russell Howard; and Jolene Dover and Vicky Lee bring up the – ahem – rear with their outrageous cabaret stylings and larger than life stage presence.
Ladles and jellyspoons, while our cabaret acts are a sight for sore eyes, they’re certainly not a show for young ears, so once the kids are asleep, climb out the bathroom window, down the drainpipe and into the Velveteen Valley for a little taste of what makes Nozstock oh-so-special…
