By Luke Voogt
Marie Antoinette is more than the “Party Queen” of the 1700s to cabaret songstress Anya Anastasia.
For Anastasia France’s most famous queen embodies decadence and our modern culture of “having whatever you want when you want”.
“Decadence is a really beautiful thing to have in a cabaret setting,” she said.
“Cabaret is such an indulgent experience. It’s just such a wonderful way to connect with the audience.”
Initially Anastasia was attracted to garish and striking costumes of the era. But Antoinette soon became her satirical take on over-indulgence and the “disconnect” of leaders.
“I just became fascinated with her with her as a character,” she said.
“She was all cake and champagne and when we take that to the extreme there are consequences.”
Anastasia penned Torte E Mort: Songs of Cake and Death in 2014 when Tony Abbott was Prime Minister.
But she said Donald Trump’s rise to power had given her plenty of fodder to rewrite and tweak the play since.
“I’ll put it down when it’s no longer relevant, but I just keep finding moments of parody.”
But most of all the cheeky, fourth-wall breaking play had to be fun, she said.
“There’s nothing more addictive than seeing people burst into laughter.”
Anastasia strips Antoinette’s character bare in this burlesque satire – a genre she described as “liberating”.
“I think it’s a good thing to have this body-positive attitude. But I really want the core of the work to be words and the story.”
Her fascination with cabaret began as an 18-year-old.
“I certainly jumped headlong into the burlesque scene without meaning to,” she said.
“I grew up in Adelaide and I used to put on these variety nights.”
“I always really wanted to make a difference in the world. I went travelling around Europe and realised so many things I needed to say.”
Anastasia began writing musical pieces “beyond my singing ability“, so she trained herself to sing.
She spoke to the Indy having just finished performing her latest show at Adelaide Fringe Festival.
Her voice had held out during six weeks of performing, but was “a bit worse for wear” Monday morning.
“I promise my voice is going to sound better Saturday,” she rasped. “I’ve got vocal chords of steel – they only fall apart when they know they can.”
Despite having performed Torte E Mort for crowds of up to 2500 for the past two years, she was excited to play at The Potato Shed Saturday.
“I really love an intimate setting for cabaret,” she said.
“(Torte E Mort) would definitely suit a venue that’s going for edgier programming.”
