Petra Elliot’s Petrasexual. Photograph by Alison Hoelzer.
It is a small stage – barely as big as a table – but cabaret performer Petra Elliot and her band of two (Adam Rudgeair on the piano and Ben Christensen strumming a double bass) make the most of it. The act fits the Butterfly Club nicely, complimenting its kitsch decor from various eras. As this is a cabaret, the style of the 1940s and 50s stood out, emphasised by Petra’s cocktail dress, jazz influenced vocals and the honky tonk piano. However, this was all performed with a progressive twist. Simply, it is a cabaret show all about confronting sex, specifically, sex from the perspective of Petra, a broken-hearted woman who admitted she once did just about anything to please a man. But she has certainly had enough of that, and now her sexuality is reclaimed for her benefit only. The whole notion of cabaret tied with burlesque to please the male gaze is abolished in this performance. Petra performs to please herself and does not care what anyone thinks. This is very empowering.
Petra developed the term ‘Petrasexual’ (named after herself) meaning, an individual’s own sexuality that is not determined by the limitations of conforming to modern social standards, however, completely left to personal choice – quite literally, it could be any sexual identity one chooses. The performance opened with Petra behind glittery curtains, scantily clad, almost to suggest that the cabaret will be a strip tease. But it was just the opposite – she dressed up in a 1950s inspired lingerie while singing the infamous song ‘Blurred Lines’ cleverly spinning the lyrics to discuss sexual assault and unwanted attention from men. The cabaret continues its frank and open discussion about relationships, heartache, boobs, the demand for equal marriage and the ill-fated belief of falling in love like a Disney princess. Life is not so easy for a woman, yet, her ‘failings’ transform into a hilarious and confronting narrative. Petra encouraged the audience to sing along with her, turning the performance from a spectacle to an evening shouting the word ‘cunt’ – a word that women should not be afraid of.
Petra Elliot’s Petrasexual is certainly something to see with a few friends with a few drinks or more.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Petrasexual
Written and performed by Petra Elliott
The Butterfly Club
2-6 November 2016
