Sweet like candy

One of the more unusual theatrical concoctions playing the Mardi Gras festival is Hard Boiled Lolly, a camp comedy coming to the Oxford Hotel’s Supper Club on March 2.

Cabaret performer Liesel Knievel plays Lolly P. Jones, a ‘glamorous private investigator who always gets her man’.

Knievel is a long-time fan of the film noir detectives of yesteryear, “but those PIs are always men, so I’ve put a real Mae West spin on the character. I’m a sucker for those glamorous blonde wise-cracking dames,” she told the Star Observer.

Research for the show came from “a very misspent youth — watching too many old films and hanging out with folk of ill repute”.

In a cabaret-style setting, audience members will tag along with Jones as she trawls steamy Shanghai, the truck stops of Nashville and the cutthroat kitchens of competitive baking to solve a series of murder mysteries. Accomplished jazz pianist Leonie Cohen will come along for the ride, providing musical accompaniment to the on-stage hijinks.

“The show is absolutely an affectionate parody [of film noir], a homage even,” Knievel said.

“The style of noir is so identifiable and specific that it’s really easy to satirise — but you’d never presume to mock something so wonderful and influential.”

Part Dick Tracy, part Jessica Rabbit, Lolly P. Jones seems tailor-made for queer audiences. Knievel said that Mardi Gras seemed a natural fit for the show.

“Gay audiences seem to have a far greater appetite for cabaret in all its manifestations. They are extremely open-minded and really respond to theatricality.Somehow, queer audiences are less inhibited in the way they respond to and interact with the performer, which in turn gives the performer licence to go further and further. That’s so inviting when you’re on stage.”

info: Hard Boiled Lolly, the Supper Club, 8pm, March 2.
Tickets ($20/25) through Moshtix.