Berlin Burlesque Week in full swing! Report & Pics from BIG Tickle & Der Grüne Engel

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Mondays are generally pretty shit, right? Tuesdays are hardly better. Well they certainly weren’t this week with the grand opening of the Berlin Burlesque Week 2017.

We sent Chloe with her quill to the Ballhaus, confident that the Big Tickle would deliver on its label. 24h later Jem showed up at Bassy Cowboy Club with his camera for Bana Banana‘s Grüne Engel. All pictures by Jem Bosatta from Der Grüne Engel.

The Big Tickle, seen by Chloe Gale

“With producer Lilly Tiger‘s and host Elena Gabrielle, I laughed out loud more times than I can remember. Elena, a beauty with a mouth of filth, crass with class. She delighted audience members with jokes, an abundance of puns and two fantastic songs about shagging and anal sex. She took a fancy to a young man sat on the front row who remained the ‘butt ‘of her jokes for the rest of the evening. The poor guy didn’t know what to do with himself. 

Martini Cherry © Jem Bosatta

The performers brought their best showcases for the sake of comedy – and they didn’t disappoint. Only in Berlin would you see Queen Elizabeth 1 take on Mc Hammer as brought to us by Pearl Grey, glitter filled balloon dresses from Mama Utila and a politically relevant striptease from Angel Merkel (Zizi Zinonna). That’s right: the Chancellor of Germany whapped out her domes for the crowd. We were even treated to a boylesque performance when Rock Hart gave us his best Rocky impersonation.
Veteran performers Amber Topaz and Valentina del Pearls gave us two screaming performances each. I must admit I never really thought about Roger Rabbit orally pleasuring Jessica Rabbit up until now, so thanks Amber for that image. We were also treated to a tribute to the legendary Josephine Baker by Miss Knockout Noire, bananas most definitely included.
I’m still finding glitter all over my body but as I’m attending many of the Berlin Burlesque Week’s shows I think I’ll leave it there. Moral of the story: Mondays should always come with tits and tickles.“
Grune Engel review below gallery

Der Grüne Engel, seen by Jem Bosatta

“I’ll keep this quick. It’s not so difficult to explain. In the words of the utterly flamboyant, utterly fabulous Martini Cherry, ‘The more you see dentelle, the more you scream’. You know what you’re getting with a Bana Banana burlesque night. Or do you?

You you can expect more than just dentelle – wonderful, wonderful diversity. Diversity of costume: thanks to Magenta Lust I’ll never see R2-D2 the same way. Diversity of style: I’m sure Hotti de Paris and Rosie Riot spent half their set upside down. Even better, diversity of bodies – darker, paler, bigger, shapelier, older, wiser.

© Jem Bosatta

This is what burlesque is all about. It’s a beautiful contrast. They pour all their love and energy into something beautiful and unique, and they throw it on the floor. And we end up screaming and shouting about the most basic, ordinary thing in the whole room – the thing Mother Nature gave all of us, with absolutely no say in its appearance – a (nearly) naked human body.”