Stories of Love and Passion
Rutherford School (8620 91 street) August 14 – 22
More information: bestbitts.com
Rosie Bitts in Stories of Love and Passion. Photo used with permission from Rosie Bitts.
An interview with Rosie Bitts.
Describe your show in five words.
Subversive, Raw, Hilarious, Sexy, Taboo
Okay, now that we’re intrigued… what’s the longer description?
In Stories of Love and Passion, the Fabulous Miss Rosie Bitts mixes jazz and burlesque with raw seduction in heart-breaking, hilarious, and taboo tales of sex work, unplanned pregnancy, loss of virginity, and more. Rosie creates a night of entertainment that is a luscious pleasure to the senses while also being subtly subversive, perfectly frank, and completely titillating.
Drawing inspiration from your own life and the life of your friends, I imagine you had a lot of source material to work with for Stories of Love and Passion. How did you select the stories that are part of Stories of Love and Passion?
The show was originally well over 2 hours long. My director, Suzanne Bachner, and I narrowed the show down by picking the stories that most focused on Rosie/me and had a meaningful emotional impact. Even the stories that are not totally true to me have at least a grain of my truth in them. The thread that runs through this show is Human Connection, and I think each of the stories we choose strongly illustrates that.
It’s probably easy for people to be caught up in thinking about the music or the costumes or the burlesque, but what ideas or issues does Stories of Love and Passion explore?
Stories is a theatrical show with Burlesque in it. In the truest sense of the word, it is a burlesque show in that it subverts (Burlesque pre striptease was always about subverting something) the standard ideas of love and passion. Stories explores the issues of women having agency over their bodies, sexual consent and at what age are we able to consent, true love and sacrifice, the healing nature of sex, sexual dynamics involving power, age and gender, among other things.
In your press release you say, “These are the stories of love, sex, and passion that people don’t always want to talk about or admit happen.” – what makes the mix of cabaret, burlesque and storytelling in Stories of Love and Passion a good way for people to talk about the ideas your show explores?
I think taboo subjects are always easier to explore when they are mixed into well told stories or with song and dance or comedy. It humanizes the subject when we can laugh or cry or feel titillated together.
Anything else you want audiences to know about the show?
Come with an open mind and an open heart. This show is full of twists and turns and equal doses of darkness, fun, and sexy. Be ready for far more than a burlesque show.
Bonus question: Any names you want to drop who have been involved in your show (Edmonton arts people or otherwise)?
Suzanne Bachner (director and writer of Circle, and Director of Spitting in the Face of the Devil) is my director and dramaturge. This is one of the first years she’s not on the fringe circuit and we are missing her terribly!
This show is banned in Saskatchewan. As am I, at least if I want to perform there without having to self-censor my work.
The 34th Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival is August 13 – 23. Get your tickets at tickets.fringetheatre.ca.