MY LIFE IN THE NUDE (2016)

Written and performed by Maude Davey

1 – 16 July 2016
Theatre Royal Backspace

Co-presented by Maude Davey and Blue Cow Theatre.

WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT “MY LIFE IN THE NUDE”

“We see it in the visual arts. A mature artist presents a retrospective, providing a collection of the artist’s development and distilled craft and knowledge over decades. Its much rarer in the performing arts.   The rarest of projects - a retrospective of one performer’s tiptoe through three decades of alternate cabaret, contemporary performance and queer theatre – is both hugely entertaining and deeply impressive (and moving) in its reflective power.

“Naked for most of the show, Davey’s performance, more directly than any show I can recall, embraces the idea of the body as a source of deep knowledge. 

“It seemingly presents so simply. Red velvet drapes, a mic-stand, a household projector and collapsible screen. Davey chats, tells some stories, sings a few songs, deftly solicits some audience participation. But within this frame Davey works such subtlety and depth. This is a performer who has something profound to say and the 10 000 hours of stage time to know how to say it.

“So many astonishingly original moments. The Jeannie Little costumed cover of pub rock anthem Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again and then the haunting late show reprieve. The dreamlike Bhutto sequence of a stag with its heart cut out. The show stopping gender bending version of Van the Man’s Gloria. The final image of the show - an aerial moment with its whispers of mortality.  

“How appropriate that this much lauded show from veteran Australian writer/performer, Maude Davey should be presented as part of Tasmania’s performer focussed festival (FOV) and Blue Cow the local actors’ theatre.”

- The Mercury