"Le Monocle was a famed lesbian club, opened by Lulu de Montparnasse in 1920s Paris. Marlene Dietrich visited and Edith Piaf's mum sang in the cabaret. It was a rare haven where lesbians could live and love freely. It's also the setting for Rendez-Vous Dance's latest show, telling this secret Sapphic story. We see the clientele arrive, in sequins or suits, to the rich honey voice of jazz singer Imogen Banks, whose understated charisma is at the heart of the show."
"The fluidity of identity is at play, and it's the same in the dance, which can be louche, matching the drunken lurch of the music, or meticulous, playful or sultry. But their revelry is ruptured by a sudden thunderous intrusion, terror clad in a black trenchcoat presumably the spectre of the Nazis whose occupation forced the club to close in 1941. Threat rumbles, never far away. Geffre's previous show What Songs May Do was a hit at the 2024 Edinburgh fringe."
Le Monocle was a 1920s Paris lesbian club founded by Lulu de Montparnasse and served as a rare haven where women could live and love freely. Rendez-Vous Dance stages the club, populated by sequinned and suited clientele, anchored by jazz singer Imogen Banks and BSL interpreter Caroline Ryan, with James Keane's atmospheric score. Choreographer Mathieu Geffre builds an initial Kit Kat–style world that shifts into low-lit, woozy intimacy, exploring identity fluidity through playful gender cosplay, sailor-suited solos and a woman binding her breasts to Mon Homme. The revelry is interrupted by a thunderous Nazi spectre. The production shows originality but suffers from thin characterisation and uneven momentum.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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