ONE OF Reading’s most enduring entertainment troupes is celebrating ten years of tantalising performances at a much-loved venues this year.
The Scarlet Vixens have been dazzling audiences with burlesque and cabaret for a decade, bringing diverse talent to some of the town’s most celebrated hotspots and events.
With regular residencies at The Purple Turtle since 2014 and appearances at annual favourites such as Here Comes The Sun Festival and Reading Pride’s Love Unites Festival.
They have also performed further afield with shows all over Europe under their belts, ranging from burlesque to cabaret.
The troupe has fourteen members currently, managed by Tootsie Rocques, who said that hard work and a love for the art form are what has kept the group going for so long.
“Dedication, drive and a desire to never give up; we’ve had a lot of love in the local community over the years and we’re proud to be one of Reading’s longest running alternative arts collective.
“We have a great deal of passion for what we do– we’re fiercely protective of our outstanding reputation, and we just love entertaining.
“You’d have to try really, really hard to bring the Vixens down.”
As for what draws people to the art from, she explained: “It’s mainly the humour and shenanigans we get up to at our shows– we focus on making people laugh as much as possible.
“Whilst some of our burlesque acts might be intense and straight-faced, it doesn’t mean our hosts can’t make you belly laugh between acts.
“We like to think there’s something for everyone at a Scarlet Vixens show as we’re so eclectic and diverse in our range of performance styles.”
She explained also that burlesque’s ability to empower both performers and audiences was a vital aspect of the troupe’s shows.
“We represent a range of different body shapes and sizes within the troupe and size never gets in the way of anything we do at the Vixens.
“Everyone is treated equally no matter their size and our audience love the fact we showcase a wide range of different body types– why shouldn’t everyone be given the same platform regardless of what they look like?
“Every person is beautiful in their own way and performing burlesque is a great way to demonstrate that.”
They have continued to innovate and experiment with burlesque, with memorable performances including one member of the troupe performing as a Dalek.
“Like everything in life, we are constantly evolving as people and therefore our performances are constantly evolving.
“We have the beauty of being able to reinvent ourselves whenever we feel our brand needs a refresh, and the innovation to create new material derives from this.
“We still get super excited before any performance but we are experts on handling our nerves now after all these years.”
Despite this, there are still some challenges faced by performers and audiences alike.
“We tend to keep ourselves in a bit of a bubble from the outer burlesque world, but we believe that the future of burlesque lies in the accessibility of shows from venues.
“If venues decide not to showcase us then we don’t have a show.
“So–making sure no more of our burlesque and cabaret venues aren’t shut down and people still want to buy tickets–we’ll be performing into our 60’s and beyond!
The Purple Peepshow returns to The Purple Turtle on from 7pm on Saturday, featuring performances from Miss Sugar Rush, Lady Intrepid, Dutch-S, and Tootsie Rocques.
It returns on the last Saturday of each month.
Full details and tickets via: thescarletvixens.com
