ARTS Westport Arts Festival’s retro extravaganza

Perfectly pitched pin-ups in vintage Vaudeville show


Everyone is invited to step back in time into a perfectly pitched parallel universe with the Boudoir Sessions experience at Westport Arts Festival (October 1-9).
Presented with the look, feel and allure of an urban club from the middle of the last century, this Vaudeville show charmed and disarmed all comers at Electric Picnic, the Flat Lake Festival and Body and Soul in the recent past. Expect the sights and sounds (and possibly even the smells) of a bygone era, from flapper to swing to jumpin’ jive.
Audience members will be actively encouraged to add to the occasion and dress to the pre ’60s theme, from trilby trimmings and flapper feathers to the full Great Gatsby garb.
The evening will be a smorgasbord of Vaudeville-style artistes, including The Boudoir Boys, a dastardly dapper DJ duo – these cats have dance floors swinging and swaying with grandpa’s finest gramophone grooves. The pair play upbeat tunes from the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s – lots of boogie woogie and swing with meanders into calypso, mento, jump blues and rockabilly too.
The evening’s proceedings will also be enlivened by Aranois, an ageless sage and true Bohemian (really, he was born there). This wandering contortionist gypsy fiddler plays atmospheric tunes and dance-floor fillers with a contemporary flourish. Think Tom Waits meets Stéphane Grappelli. Three-O-Troupe, a trio of singing and dancing sirens, styled with a 1940s pin-up resplendence, will also beguile those gathered.
Throughout the night, rare, oddball and gloriously quirky moving picture treats to match the mood of the music and décor will be provided courtesy of The Magic Lantern. Ned Mac’s photo shack will also be there – a genuinely old-school photo experience brought to you by an inimitable snapper who captures that moment when you were all dressed up with somewhere to go.
The Westport Arts Festival club night has in recent years become a key fixture, providing a celebratory party-like feel. Recent years included Kormac’s Big Band (2010), which brought the energy of live musicians onstage and the Amsterdam Beat Club (2009) which also featured a live musician and a solo burlesque performance, along with projected visual imagery in the background.


The Boudoir Sessions is on Saturday, October 8 at 10pm in The Wyatt Hotel, and is priced at €15/€12. Vintage clothes hire available on the door from €5. For more information or to buy tickets visit westportartsfestival.com. To keep up with the latest news, check out facebook.com/westportarts or twitter.com/westportarts.