The Maiden City Tease

Derry Journal

08/04/2025

Burlesque and Cabaret show, the Maiden City Tease.

Transcript

00:00So I am Rita Peach and I am the producer of the Maiden City Tees in Derry.

00:05So the Maiden City Tees is a cabaret and burlesque show in Derry.

00:11We've had 10 shows now since 2000 and the acts range from anything from burlesque to drag,

00:20singers, dancers, comedians and we have acts from all over the island to come and perform with.

00:29Would you say most of them are from Derry or is it a broad spectrum?

00:33No, it's a pretty big spectrum. We usually try to have one or two of our local performers in

00:40but we also have performers from Belfast, Dublin and further afield.

00:45Is there any other big burlesque companies in Ireland that you've had with yourselves?

00:50There isn't really. Down south has a really good thriving scene now.

00:56Through the, they have a thing down there called the Irish Burlesque Academy and a lot of their

01:01performers have come up through that academy. In the north we have slightly less of a scene

01:08but we are trying to build one. So I live in Belfast at the minute and work in a place called

01:13Cabaret Supper Club and I normally perform there every weekend but apart from me there are a good

01:21few other burlesquers who also produce shows. There's the Sin City Cabaret in Belfast as well

01:28so we are starting to create a lot more of a scene here.

01:32It's definitely, from what I've seen, you've definitely gotten a lot bigger.

01:36I've said it before we came up here but I've actually caught one of your shoes

01:38when you were working in a bar. Yeah, brilliant.

01:41From what I've seen, you have a pretty decent crowd.

01:45Again, that is the good thing I suppose. The silver lining of there not being

01:49a big scene yet is that we attract a lot of good crowds and big crowds, especially in Derry

01:57being the only cabaret that's going on at the minute.

02:01Can you tell me about the beginnings or maybe even your beginning in the mid-70s?

02:06Yeah, so I first started burlesque as a hobby in 2018. I used to go to Belfast for classes with

02:16a woman called Soup du Jour who was a resident burlesquer in Cabaret Supper Club. She's moved

02:24back to England since, unfortunately for us, so she was really integral in building

02:32that initial burlesque scene in Belfast. Then through her, she was very supportive in building

02:40my confidence and beginning my performing career. Then she was very supportive in

02:49pushing me to produce something in Derry because there wasn't something like this in Derry going on.

02:57I started that then. We had our first tease in 2020, actually right before pandemic. It was

03:04the Valentine's Day before pandemic. I think that was the one I was at.

03:07Yeah. It was amazing. The energy is always really, really good at the tease. I'd say it's

03:15one of the biggest things. The audience always bring a lot of high energy and a lot of love and

03:22a lot of support. We had our first one pre-pandemic. We obviously had a bit of a break then

03:29during the pandemic, which was a bit precarious because when you are trying to build a bit of a

03:33following, hoping that people did enjoy it and they're going to come back even after that big

03:39break of time. It was brilliant. Everyone kept coming back and kept supporting us.

03:48We've accrued a great following of core people that seem to come back every time, but we also

03:52attract a lot of new people who, again, they just are interested in having a new experience of a

03:59night out in Derry. What's it like having those people have your back? It's brilliant. It's

04:06really heartwarming. Sorry, that's why I went into that tangent. It really gives the vibes of a

04:14family party is what I see it as sometimes, which is it has that strong Derry connotation of

04:24everybody getting up to do their wee number and everybody giving full encouragement and

04:30full support, being very vocal in that same way that your drunk aunties would when they

04:36make you get up to do a number at your family party. That's the energy that it always

04:42seems to bring. It really is magical. The support is something that I think is

04:48actually really unique to our Derry audience. I've had so many of our performers who aren't

04:54from Derry or who are even bigger, more international performers who not only have

05:00said but have wanted to come back because of it, but have said that it's one of the best

05:06chords they've performed for. The energy and the support is so good that they just love performing

05:13from up there. Yeah, definitely. You're coming up to your 10th show. We spoke about it there.

05:19Can you tell me a bit about it? What should people expect? So as this is our 10th show

05:25and it's the Jazz Festival, we are really trying to step up our game a bit this time.

05:31We are bringing seven internationally acclaimed acts here and there's going to be everything

05:38from hoops to singing, dancing, drag, comedy, potentially even a bit of fire.

05:51So we are really bringing and amping up the vintage glamour for the Jazz Festival.

06:00What does that mean by the glamour? So burlesque obviously it has its roots in a sort of more

06:07vintage aesthetic. That's definitely not what fully encompasses burlesque and burlesque can

06:12kind of be anything. I sort of like in burlesque on its bare bones it is taking your clothes off

06:19to music but it is like saying you know the term movie or film in terms of there are so many sub

06:25genres under that and you can really do that, execute that in any sort of way. So there's like

06:31comedy burlesque, there's burlesque that makes you think or like moves you, there's political,

06:39controversial and then you know there is stuff that leans into that again old-fashioned classic

06:46vintage glamour. Like I personally, I really like doing things that are, I like presenting

06:53like a vintage pin-up aesthetic and then I like completely subverting that by doing

06:58like something silly. Can you tell me a wee bit about your audience? What kind of demographic

07:05do you usually see at your shows? I would say we get like a complete motley crew of

07:13people at our shows. There's people of all ages, there are people of all genders, people of all

07:20sexualities and again where it really fits into that overall Sandino's ethos I think of

07:28it's just a welcoming place for everyone and that we can all come together and enjoy this

07:34thing together despite what our interests are outside. So there's a lot of like obviously the

07:40usual young crowd that would go to these things but also a lot of mammies, a lot of aunties. We've

07:46had like social work nights out, like nurse Christmas do's, things like that. So it really

07:53is for everybody and then I think it's because of it's a cabaret show so it's a variety show.

07:59There's like something there for everybody to enjoy and to get something out of. So you wouldn't

08:05give the stereotypical you know male gaze at one of these performances? Definitely not. I think

08:09that's one of the big misconceptions about burlesque is that it's for the male gaze and I

08:14would, I think anyone who knows anything of burlesque would really refute that. Especially

08:21in the modern day if anything burlesque is more of a reclamation of you know your ability to present

08:31or present yourself to people and your body to people. How you use that to express yourself and

08:37that when you're performing burlesque you're the person that is in complete control of like

08:42who perceives you, how they perceive you and you know what you are showing to the world.

08:50Would you describe it as an empowering performance? Absolutely, definitely. It's

08:55definitely empowering. It's definitely, it not only gives you confidence when you're doing it

09:03but it, through your performances a lot of the time, that's what makes the audience enjoy it

09:09so much is that their secondhand enjoyment of you being empowered yourself to do this.

09:16And it I think helps, it inspires a lot of people I think to have more confidence in themselves and

09:23in their own authenticity. Wow. Has anyone ever said anything to you like that? Like you know

09:29watching your shows make me feel a different way about myself? Oh definitely, definitely. I mean

09:35again where I would hear that a lot from women, that women find it inspiring and again I think

09:42it's because of the variety that you can bring into that too and the story you can tell through

09:48it or the again subverting, like for me personally it is that presenting yourself as a standard

09:56beautiful image for the male gaze and then completely subverting that with your personality.

10:00Yeah so it's definitely, it's definitely something that is supposed to inspire confidence

10:07within yourself through even watching it not just performing. But it's called The Maiden City Tease

10:13because there is like a famous 1950s film called Teaserama that stars like some of the

10:21like old greats of burlesque like Betty Page and Tempest Storm and it's set around a burlesque show

10:27and then in the 2000s that term kind of got revived in America as a term for a burlesque

10:34focused cabaret show. So Teaserama and then it got shortened to Tease so you'll hear if you're

10:42ever doing a bit of googling about you know like the San Francisco Tease or like the Elm Street Tease

10:49so that's where I got the name and then like The Maiden City Tease just fits together perfectly.

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